I looked over at Pilar, whose face looked pained. We exchanged a look. Char got up to get a napkin.
“I didn’t know about Lucas. I’m so sorry,” I said.
She shrugged. “Yeah, that sucks. But thanks for not telling Charlotte I’m not over him. I don’t get what he sees in Reagan though. Why do guys say they don’t want drama and moody girls and then that’s exactly what they go for? I’m so over this crap.”
“I don’t mean to make this about me, but…Nick says that too and he went out with Reagan. So is he going to…?”
“Want that again?” she asked. “I dunno, but Nick’s not like Lucas. I just thought Lucas liked me and then suddenly he was going out with her.”
“I don’t get it. Reagan’s not even a nice person. She’s pretty and that’s about it.”
“That and she’s easy,” Pilar said.
My face must have given me away because she immediately backpedaled.
“I’m sure that’s not why Nick was into her,” Pilar said. “I shouldn’t have said that. I was just upset.”
“No, it’s fine.”
The bell rang and we went back to class. I couldn’t shake the sick feeling and I had trouble concentrating in my next class.
Nick was waiting by my locker after school. “Hey, I know we were supposed to hang out, but I have to stay after to help tutor. Someone else was supposed to do it, but she forgot she has to babysit today. I’ll call you later, okay?”
I nodded and he kissed me on the forehead.
“Love you,” he said, squeezing my hand as he walked away.
That was the first time he had said it at school. I felt like I was walking on air as I went to meet Asia.
“What’s with the dopey grin?” she asked.
“Nick just told me he loved me.”
“Aw, puke,” she said. “Kidding! He must like you a lot that he told the guys he said the L-word. I’ve never seen him like this. Makes me want a serious boyfriend.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but I think I’ll wait for Jack Brogger,” she said, laughing. “See, I can say that and you can’t get mad at me because the way you and Nick are going, it sounds like you two will still be together then.”
“So you can just go after my fake dream boyfriend?” I asked, smiling.
“Well, you apparently broke up with him if you’re with Nick now. That or you’re cheating on Jack. Which is it?”
I cracked up. “I can’t imagine anyone cheating on Jack. I guess we’ll have to say we broke up, then. You can have him, I guess, but I still want to stalk him when he comes back to the area next summer.”
“Okay, we can do that, but you can’t look directly at him. He’s mine now. Hands and eyes off.”
“Gotcha. Hey, do you have to be right home? I told my dad I was hanging out with Nick after school, but he had to bail to help tutor.”
“Want to go to the new gourmet cupcake place downtown? The guy behind the counter is adorable and they have great snacks,” she said.
We went to Cuppy Cakes and I ordered a vanilla cupcake with blue buttercream frosting and candy hearts on it.
“That is the prettiest cupcake I’ve ever seen. It’s so Valentine-y,” Asia said. “I’m going to get the red velvet one with cream cheese frosting.”
We sat down to eat and she told me she was worried about Simone. “Normally, she tells me everything, but she’s been super closed off on this breakup. This whole thing has been different.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, she made Chase change his online status to say he was in a relationship. She never does that because she says it looks desperate when you have to change it back to being single.”
“Weird. She’s always told me to never change mine unless I’m a step away from engagement.”
“I know, right? And she was trying to get him to make future plans. He’s thinking about college and keggers next year, not planning stuff with a girl who will still be in high school,” she said. “And he wanted to hang out with his friends and she was always acting like they had been together for a long time—as if no one knew they broke up a long time ago.”
“She was?”
“Yeah. Did you see her picture where she put the caption about how she was ‘making the face she always gives Chase’? I mean, hello. They haven’t been together long enough for that. And she put how he’s always teasing her about how much nail polish she owns.”
Asia’s dad called then to ask if she wanted a ride home because of the rain.
“I didn’t even notice it was raining,” she said. “He said we could give you a ride home—no worries.”
We finished our snacks and then waited at the front for her dad.
“I’m so glad he’s coming,” she said. “I would not want to walk home in this.”
“Well, if we’re going to be trapped someplace by rain, a place full of cupcakes is the way to go.”
Mr. Milanowski dropped me off and I started in on my homework. Dad was working late, so mom ordered a pizza and brought a couple slices to my room.
I put on a movie and as soon as it was over, I picked up my phone to see if I had any messages from Nick, but nothing. So I wrote him.
Me: Hope you didn’t get caught in the storm.
I stopped for a minute and then took a deep breath and decided to send a second message.
Me: Love you. <3
I couldn’t believe I finally had the nerve to put that in writing. I waited and nothing. No message back. That was weird since he had said it didn’t feel right going to bed without talking to me first. But it was already ten, so maybe he was tired and went to bed early. He’d probably write me in the morning. I was so lucky to have such a thoughtful boyfriend.
Chapter Sixteen
I woke up and grabbed my phone, wondering what sweet message Nick had sent. Nothing. All I had was a message from Charlotte.
Charlotte: Grandpa said it’s going to be cold today, so he’s willing to drive us to school if you want.
Me: Sounds good. Thanks!
I went downstairs and Mom had made waffles. They smelled amazing, and even though I wasn’t a huge breakfast person, I ate three with tons of butter and syrup. I was just finishing when Charlotte texted to say they were outside.
“You staying after with Nick today?” Mom asked.
“Not sure. Maybe. I’ll message you if I am.”
I went out to the car and Charlotte had brought me hot chocolate in a thermos.
“Grandpa thought we could use a little treat,” she said.
“This is going to be an awesome day,” I said. “First homemade waffles and now hot chocolate.”
Mr. Lidstrom dropped us off and I went to my locker. I thought it was weird that Nick didn’t stop by, but maybe he was running late today. Pilar came up to me.
“Have you talked to Nick?” she asked.
“No, why?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but something happened.”
“Oh my gosh! His grandpa?”
“No, he’s fine—”
“Is Nick okay?”
Pilar looked away from me. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…Simone and Nick kissed.”
All of a sudden it was like I was in a tunnel. Pilar was right in front of me talking, but her voice sounded so far away and it was like everything had gotten darker. I felt lightheaded and queasy.
“What are you talking about?”
“Simone told Morgan last night and Morgan told me on the way to school,” she said.
“Morgan must have gotten it wrong.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then she’s lying. She lied before to ruin our relationship. She’s obviously jealous and making crap up again,” I said, slamming my locker shut. “I don’t know why she’s so mean to me. I’ve never done anything to her.”
Pilar put her hand on my shoulder. “Honey, I don’t think she’s lying. She seemed surprised. I think you need to
talk to Nick and Simone yourself.”
I went to class, but Simone didn’t come in until after the last bell had rung.
“Miss Hendrickson, are you planning to make a habit of these late, grand entrances?” our teacher, Mrs. Feldman, asked.
“Sorry. No,” she said. She didn’t look in my direction.
As Mrs. Feldman began to talk, I took out a piece of notebook paper and wrote her a note.
Simone,
What is going on? I’m hearing a rumor and I want to find out what really happened from you first.
Hadley
The bell rang and I got up to hand the note to Simone, but she took off down the hall. Was she avoiding me because it was true? No, she wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t do that to me either. This had to be some huge misunderstanding. Either that or Morgan Kemp was playing mind games again.
I almost never saw Nick during the day, so there was no way to run into him, but I knew Simone couldn’t avoid me at lunch. She’d have to talk to me then. Except when I got to the cafeteria, she was nowhere to be found. Pilar came over and sat with me.
“Did Morgan say anything else?” I asked.
“That she feels bad for you. I wanted to ask Asia what she knows about it, but she didn’t come to lunch either.”
“Is this for real?” I asked.
“Has he said anything to you?”
“No, but we never see each other or text during the school day,” I said. “But he didn’t message me last night. He said he was going to call, then he didn’t.”
Pilar bit her lip. “Okay, what I heard was he was tutoring and when he was done, she was waiting in the library. It was raining hard, so she asked him for a ride home since he had his car. They were waiting out the rain, sitting on a bench, and that’s when it happened.”
“Did she kiss him or…the other way around?”
“I don’t know.”
Charlotte sat down and put her hand on my arm. “Is it true?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said as my eyes filled with tears. “Do not let me cry. Not in school. Just…don’t let anybody see me right now.”
I managed to hold it together until the end of the day. I went to my locker and Nick was nowhere to be seen. Was he hiding from me? I opened my locker and there was a note sticking out in the slats that someone had slid in there.
Hadley,
Wait for me and I’ll give you a ride home after school. I need to talk to you in private about something.
Love,
Nick
“Well it says ‘love,’” a voice said. I jumped and Pilar was standing there reading over my shoulder.
“Sorry, just wanted to make sure you had backup in case they came over to you. You said you didn’t want to cry in public and I get that, so I thought I’d show up for moral support,” she said.
“Thanks. What do you think this means?”
“Well, normally I’d say he just wrote love as an automatic reflex, but he’s not the type of guy who throws that word around, so it doesn’t sound like he’s going to ambush you with a breakup. I don’t know, but I want to hear his side of the story and hers.”
I noticed Pilar was staring behind me and I turned around. Simone was standing there.
“Hadley, we need to talk,” Simone said. “I am so sorry, but Nick and I kissed last night.”
My stomach dropped. I couldn’t even get my mouth to work.
Pilar spoke up before I could. “What happened?” she asked.
“I can’t explain it or excuse it. It just happened. I’m so sorry. We were alone and—you’re my friend and I don’t want to lose you, so I wanted you to hear it from me. We never meant to hurt you. It just happened.”
“You never meant to hurt me, but you both broke my heart,” I said, and I turned and ran out of the building.
“Hadley, where are you going?” Charlotte called after me as I ran past her. I just kept going and didn’t stop until I was at my front door. Tears were running down my face and I realized I had left all my books in my locker. I couldn’t believe my friend and my boyfriend had betrayed me. My phone was ringing, but I ignored it as I tried to compose myself before I went inside the house so I didn’t have to explain why I was dry heaving on the porch to my mother. Finally, I got it together and put my phone to my ear like I was talking to someone so Mom wouldn’t question me. I walked all the way to my room while having a fake conversation and then I collapsed on my bed and sobbed.
Chapter Seventeen
I looked at my phone and saw I had missed calls from Simone, Nick, Charlotte, and Pilar. I didn’t want to talk to any of them. I just wanted to stay in my room for the rest of my life and never have to deal with reality again.
“Hon? Nick’s here. I’m sending him up, okay?” Mom called out from downstairs.
What? Was she joking? How did he have the guts to come to my house and tell me what a cheating pig he was? I sat up.
“No, I’ll come down, Mom. Give me a minute,” I said. I went to the bathroom and washed the mascara tracks off my face. I couldn’t believe he would show his stupid face here.
I walked downstairs and he was waiting in the hall.
“Let’s go outside,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Hadley, I thought you were going to wait for me after school,” he said.
Seriously? That was his starter? He was going to have hurt feelings over my standing him up after he kissed another girl?
“Are you joking?”
“I was hoping we could go somewhere and talk,” he said.
“About how you’re going behind my back with Simone?”
“Hadley, it’s not like that at all.”
“Really? How is it, then?”
He looked shocked. “She was waiting for me when I got off of tutoring and said she wanted a ride. It was pouring and she said we should wait a little to go out to the car—she didn’t want to get her hair drenched—so we sat on the bench in the lobby. We were just talking and then she leaned over and kissed me. I didn’t even see it coming. It was so random. I think she—”
“So she kissed you?”
“Yeah, I would never kiss another girl while I was with you. I love you. You know that,” he said.
As I stood there trying to figure out if he was telling the truth, my phone rang. It was Simone.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hadley, I’m so sorry. Neither of us meant for it to happen—it just did. Nobody wanted to hurt you.”
“Why did you kiss him?” I asked.
“Wait, what?”
“Why did you kiss Nick?”
“It—it wasn’t like that,” she said. “We kissed, but it was mutual. It wasn’t planned, it just happened.”
The blood drained from my face as she spoke. I was hearing her words while watching his face. He had no idea what she was telling me and was just standing there looking concerned, but he didn’t seem worried that his side chick was spilling her guts. Did he think I would just believe him no matter what? Who was telling the truth?
I put my hand up to him as if to say just a minute and walked to the side of the house.
“So he kissed you?”
“I mean…I can’t remember exactly how it started, but yeah, he kissed back. I’m so sorry. Hadley, you mean so much to me and I never wanted to hurt you. Maybe he was just bored, or wanted to see what it would be like to kiss me—it might not have meant anything to him—who knows with guys. Just know I love you. You’re one of my best friends,” she said in a pleading voice.
“Really? Because I missed where it says best friends kiss each other’s boyfriends.”
“Please don’t be mad. I mean, Morgan kissed Chase after I was seeing him the first time, and Pilar isn’t mad at me for going out with Connor after her. Guys are so flakey, but girls need to stick together.”
“Maybe you and your friends kiss each other’s guys like it doesn’t matter, but it matters to me,” I said.
“Well, Hadley, yo
u yourself said you haven’t had a lot of experience with guys. This is just what happens.”
“Seriously? People say they love you and then just kiss whoever they want? Who does that?”
“I get that you’re mad. You have every right to be upset, but just know I would never purposely try to hurt you.”
“Well you did. I have to go,” I said, and hung up.
“Hadley, are you okay?” Nick came around the corner and put his hands on my shoulders.
“Don’t touch me. Do not touch me,” I said, backing away.
“What? Why?”
“Simone told me everything.”
“What did she say?”
“That you kissed.”
“Well, you knew that.”
“No! She said…” I realized I wasn’t sure who kissed who first, but the part that was making me so sick was that she said he kissed her back. “You kissed her back.”
“No, I didn’t. She’s making that up. I sat back and said, ‘What was that?’ and then told her we needed to go home. She kept talking all nervously in the car about all kinds of random crap and I thought maybe she was embarrassed and she’d just let this go. And then I wondered how I was going to tell you. I didn’t want to keep it from you and have you find out and wonder what went on, but it was nothing.”
“How could you tell me you loved me one minute and kiss another girl the next?”
“It meant nothing.”
“Really, Nick? Because everyone knows what a huge crush you had on her and you even told me you were in love with her. It must have been a real thrill for you to kiss your dream girl,” I said, and then I ran into the house and shut the door.
He called me and I hit ignore call. He sent a text next.
Nick: I would never cheat on you! I love you. Simone was just messed up after her breakup. She was rambling about how guys don’t know what they want and then she kissed me. I did NOT kiss her back. Please talk to me.
Me: There’s nothing left to say. You obviously did or said something that let her think you were interested. I can’t talk to you right now.
Competing With the Star (Star #2) Page 11