I hug her and then find Kayla. She smiles and laughs as I hop up and down with joy. “Fletcher!” Amber shouts as Kayla and I head out the door. “We expect you at practice tomorrow at five in the morning. We’ve got a meet at four thirty in the afternoon.”
“Thanks, Amber.”
My happy high should last all night, but it leaves as soon I approach my car. Danielle walks up to me and Kayla. She’s got a gloating smile, which makes my insides twist. “Just the person I wanted to talk to.”
Kayla snorts and I arch a brow. “What do you want?”
“I want you to know, no hard feelings. I didn’t plan this.” She rubs her stomach and I swear her smile grows bigger.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
She rubs her hand over her belly some more. “Didn’t you hear? I’m pregnant. Caleb’s the father.”
The earth shifts under me, sucking me into a black hole. This can’t be happening. He did have a relationship with her, though. They did stuff. Lots of stuff I’d rather not think about right now. The thought of it makes me want to hurl.
Danielle has a twinkle in her eye, like she’s laughing this up. I push past her and launch myself into my Mini Cooper. Kayla is whipping into the passenger seat and I honestly can’t tell you what happened next. I barely hear her mumble, “This is what I was trying to tell you about earlier.” I think she says more, but I tune her out. My heart feels like it’s in a vise and someone is slowly squeezing it to the point at which it will explode.
In a daze, I somehow managed to drop Kayla off. Her lips move, and I think she says, “Goodbye,” or maybe it’s “Call me.” I don’t really know. Once she shuts the door, I drive to Summit and enter Coffee Junky’s Dream. Alex talks to me, but I swear it’s like watching my life go on without me. A few fake smiles, laughs, and nods later, I convince Alex to give me my job back.
It’s pushing seven twenty when I arrive at Brian’s house. My mom smiles at me when I enter and tells me my dinner is in the microwave, but I ignore her. My eyes land on Caleb, who’s coming toward me. “How did it go?”
I flip him off, run up to my room, lock the door, and sit on my window seat. I can’t tell you how long I stare out the window. But it turns pitch-black outside. Hell, to make it worse, I had no idea my mom unlocked my door and set food beside me. But sure enough, there’s a plate with roasted chicken, potatoes, and green beans with bacon bits. I blink and push the food away. The last thing I want to do is eat.
A deep sigh from my doorway pulls my attention. “Did it not go well?” my mom asks.
“It went fine. I have practice in the morning and a meet after school.”
She closes the door behind herself and sits on the edge of my bed. “Liv, what’s wrong, honey? You haven’t said a word to me or anyone for hours now. You aren’t even eating. Were people at school … ” She swallows.
“No. Everything was fine.” Well, most of it. Up until Danielle told me she’s carrying Caleb’s child. I can’t tell my mom this. I barely want to believe it. I want to scream, “A part of me died. That’s what’s wrong. That stupid, sexy, jerkfaced boy across the hall stole my heart and got someone else knocked up!” But again, I can’t tell my mom any of this.
Oh God, did he know about this before he came to New York and brought me here? Because if he knew this and still confessed this supposed undying love to me then he’s such an asshole!
My mom watches me with worried eyes. I have to tell her something so she’ll leave and not pry what’s really wrong out of me. “I had a busy day, and I’m tired. That’s all. I’ll be okay. I promise.”
“Liv, you’ll tell me if someone is bothering you?”
I fake a smile and nod. “Yeah, Mom. I’m okay though.”
She comes over, takes my plate, and kisses my forehead. She walks out of the room and closes the door again. I’m thankful for the emptiness, but it doesn’t last. My door swings open and closes within a matter of minutes. Caleb marches over to me, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. “Baby, what happened today? Why have you been shutting me out? I texted you because you locked door.”
His sexy scent assaults me, almost causing me to forget. I push him away and glare at him. “Don’t touch me.”
“What did I do?” He looks so dumbfounded. I want to punch him in the face. Is he serious?
“You touched her! That’s what you did. You ruined us forever because you got Danielle Samson pregnant!”
He jerks back like I slapped him. I wish I had slapped him. “Who the fuck told you that?”
“Danielle! She came up to me and Kayla rubbing her stomach, gloating about the two of you making a goddamn baby together.” He tries to swipe a tear from my cheek, but I swat his hand away. “Don’t come near me. Don’t touch me. Don’t even look at me. Don’t do a thing when it comes to me, ever again! Just leave me the hell alone.”
His face is ashen. “Are you serious? This could be some bullshit rumor. I used a fucking condom for Christ’s sake!”
I shove him again, toward the door. “Have you read the labels on the box? Not every condom comes with a hundred percent guarantee! There are risks, Caleb Alexander, and yours ruined us! We’re done! I’m not getting tied down to whatever stupid shit you did. Get out!”
With a determined glare, he yells, “Fine!” He stomps out of my room, slamming my door shut. My chest aches beyond belief, and I fall against my bed and curl up in a ball. I thought being taken from my friends and beloved school would be the worst hand dealt to me. But I didn’t ache then like this. This right here is like someone murdering me from the inside out.
***
Kayla walks with me on deck. We follow the strip of tile between the diving pool and the swimming pool, a couple of divers leading, Amber trailing behind us. I should be nervous or worried that the team will turn on me, but today, I wouldn’t care if they did. It has nothing to do with the simple fact it’s five in the morning and I had literally two hours of sleep. My eyeballs ache from crying. My head hurts, too. None of this matters, though, especially when I zombie-walk over to the group all formed in a circle, setting up for team stretching.
“Huddle up!” Amber shouts from behind me. Normally I’d jump at the explosive voice coming from behind me. I don’t move an inch.
“Kayla is going to count us off.” Amber moves in front of Kayla and me and gives me a half smile. “You okay, Fletcher? You look like you’re going to hurl.”
“I’m good.” I shake out my arms. It’s go-time. It’s time to become numb, forget; I can do it.
The shaking and internal pep talk isn’t doing shit, though. All I see is flashes of his smile. Hear his laugh. Feel his kiss. I hate it! I hate it so much. Why did I let him get to me? I knew what he was. I knew he’d destroy me.
I blink back some tears, sniff the air, and breathe out of my mouth. Kayla counts beside me, and I’m going through the motions of each stretch, but it feels like someone else is doing each move. Amber shouts, “Floor! Seals!”
Laying on my stomach with my hands beside my chest, I push up at the same time Danielle’s smug face flashes in my mind. A scream rips out of me, and I lay back down, too afraid to look around the circle. I’m positive everyone is staring at me.
Kayla drops beside me and whispers, “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay, Sky.”
I nod and mumble, “I know. I just. I hate them both.”
“What’s going on?” Amber asks. I won’t tell her. I will never tell her. Not her. She might be my teammate now, but I still see her as my nemesis. And she totally had the hots for Caleb, and they had sex, too. Shit, he seems to have his claws in every girl’s heart at this school.
“Sky, I’m telling her. We’re a team. This is what we do. This is how we build,” Kayla says. I know she’s right, but shit, I can’t have these people knowing my business. I can’t be seen as weak. I’m not weak!
Before I can stop her, she blurts, “Caleb apparently knocked up Danielle Samson. She
found out yesterday after practice. And Sky here is dealing with a shattered heart because as most of you know, she and Caleb were dating. So, can we all not mention bitch-face Samson or dickwad Caleb for a while?”
“I’ll be right back,” Amber says. I look up. Everyone is staring at Kayla and me, but there are no traces of laughter in their eyes. No traces of sadness either, just genuine concern. It’s nice. I missed this, and for the first time since yesterday, I’m starting to feel a little better. Just a little.
Amber thrusts a Snickers at me. “Not allergic to peanuts are you?”
“No.”
She grabs my hand and places the candy bar in it. “Eat. It will help. I promise. As for the other thing, we’re a team, Fletcher. When one of us gets knocked down, we’re there to pick you up. Got me?”
What the hell? Amber Ortiz is nice? Who would have guessed that? I smile and she helps me up. “Eat.”
“Got it. And Amber … thanks.”
She nods.
Coach Grim steps out of her office and walks over to us. “Team, listen up. Amber is going to be giving you instructions on what we’re going to be doing today.”
Amber makes her way to the starting blocks and hops up on one. “All right, Bobcats and Bulldog!” She winks at me. “Skylar and I are going to watch you go off the blocks. I need one line on lane two. I need another on lane five.” I walk over to lane four and sit on the footstep on the starting block while Amber shouts, “Swimmers in both lanes will go off the blocks as soon as Coach Grim blows the whistle. That’s your cue to dive into the water. If your start is shit, you’ll work that much harder to win the race. So let’s get this right!”
Coach Grim walks over to the sideline and nods to Amber and I. I take a bite out of the Snickers Amber handed me. Using our fingers, we silently count down, and each time we hit three, Amber yells, “Swimmers, step up!” Three seconds pass and she says, “Take your mark.” I count down and Coach Grim blows the whistle.
Henry and Brock drive in; both have good form. Brock, who is closer to me, needs to sling himself back more so he skims the water more. But it’s an easy fix. “Hey, Brock!”
He looks over at me. “I know I dove too deep.” He sounds pissed at himself; I smile because it reminds me of myself.
“Just a bit. Rock back more when they say ‘Take your mark.’ You’ll get more spring, and it will help you skim dive instead.”
He nods and hops out of the water. This goes on for about a half hour before Coach Grim tells Amber and me to drive off the blocks. Between the Snickers bar and being distracted with helping my teammates I feel a little better. I’m not thinking about Caleb or his impending fatherhood.
With a clearer head than I started my day with, I step up to the blocks, take a deep breath, and adjust my goggles over my eyes. “We’re going to shake things up in here. I want you to race. Hundred-yard free sprint. Are you ladies up for it?” Coach Grim asks.
I nod. Amber does too. “Winner gets first pick of who’s on their team for a good game of water polo.”
Amber looks over at me. “You’re going down, Fletcher.”
“Oh, Amber, keep dreaming,” I chime back.
Coach Grim tells us to take our marks. I grip the edge of the starting block and rock my weight. I glance to my right at Amber. The whistle blows, and I shoot off. The cool water awakens me from my comatose state. I’m sprinting through the water and flip into the wall with ease. Each time I take a breath from the right I make a mental note of where Amber is. I’m ahead, doing well. I can hear the other swimmers shouting our names. Screaming at us to go. And then I hear him—“Sky!”—when I ran out of the YMCA in New York, and “Don’t touch her,” when we were outside the coffee shop and Kevin was telling me how he’d been cheating on me for three months. All these memories of Caleb pour in and I need them to stop! I shake it off, but it’s almost too late. I’m coming into the wall too hot. I turn, and miss my mark.
“Fuck!” I scream into the water. This is going to cost me. I watch Amber catch up with ease, and I feel sick.
She will not beat me. I kick as hard as I possibly can and glide through the water. But I’m getting tired. My lungs are on fire. And my muscles, if they could talk, would be using a healthy amount of profanity to describe the pain I’m putting them through. I flip into the wall again, sprinting out my last twenty-five.
It’s not enough. I tap the wall and know without looking Amber has a gloating smile on her face. She beat me. Since eighth grade, I’ve won every match between Amber and me. This shouldn’t have happened.
Clawing my goggles from my eyes, I pull myself from the water and swallow hard. I force myself to glance over at Amber. Is she smiling? Yes. But her eyes tell me she knows Caleb completely warped my brain and that’s the only reason she won.
Chapter 21
Caleb
Sky hasn’t talked to me in a week. I thought her being in New York was a ball-buster. This beats all. I see her walking the halls, laughing at lunch with a group of swimmers, and at the house, what with her room so close to mine. Skylar is killing me.
Danielle isn’t making this any better. She insisted on having a sit-down with my uncle. Danielle’s mom apparently couldn’t make it, something about nips and tucks. I don’t know. But Erin was there, which somehow made it worse. I listened to Danielle babble on and on about how she wanted to do the right thing, while Erin gave me the evil eye. My uncle gave me the “I can’t believe you did something so freaking stupid” stare. But my entire body went numb when he said, “Erin did a test using the urine sample you provided.” He made a face. “It seems you are, in fact, pregnant.” He sighed. “Don’t worry, Danielle, Caleb will be responsible for his actions.”
Then he looked over at me and said, “That means he will not only be in the child’s life, but he’ll be in yours, too.”
Before I could ask what that meant he said, “Caleb, I know this is not how things are done these days, but I’m old-fashioned and you’re going to marry Danielle as soon as she graduates.”
“What the hell? No! I’m not ever marrying her!” I screamed.
I was practically off the couch and running for the door, but my uncle snatched me up and pushed me right back down into a chair. “There is not going to be a debate. You’ll do this or you can kiss the trust fund your parents left you goodbye. This is called being responsible, Caleb. We’re men and we own up when we mess up.”
I don’t give a shit about the money. But he wasn’t just talking about the trust fund and he knew I was aware of this. On my twenty-first birthday, the deed to the house I grew up in will transfer to me—providing that nothing happens to me and my uncle doesn’t step in and state otherwise. That’s what my parents will stated. Currently, the house is being rented out by a nice family, and my uncle has been putting that money aside for taxes and repairs. And any leftovers go to me.
I started to tell him how much he sucked at the same time I spotted Sky in the entryway. I’ve never seen Skylar broken until that very moment. God, the look on her beautiful face made me want to rip out my own heart and hold it out for her to stab. I’ve never felt so disgusted with myself.
In English class, I tap my pencil against my notebook. The whispers and rumors whiz around the room, and all of them are about me. Skylar flinches in her seat when some of them reach her. I should say something, defend myself, but what’s the point?
Ms. Norris lectures us about a new assignment coming up. Apparently it’s worth half our grade. Again, I don’t really give a rat’s ass. My life is officially ruined. There’s no college for me. There’s no future life with Skylar. Nope, I’m going to be stuck in hell with some shit job.
“Caleb, you want to partner up?” Kayla asks. Skylar stares at her desktop and I want her to look at me. I need to get some kind of idea of how she feels about this. “Caleb?” Kayla asks again.
I shake my head and decide to find another group. The choices are slim. There’s Cindy Fisher and Heather Zorn, who are the b
iggest damn gossip queens ever, so I can see us not getting shit done. I didn’t pay enough attention to what we’re supposed to be doing for all that bullshit, either. Then there are the two nerds in the back, Jackson Rivers and Gary Hicks. Both guys I’m pretty certain might hate me more than Skylar but I’m taking my chances.
Stopping at their group I say, “Hey, you two looking for an extra?”
Gary looks at me like I’m an alien. Jackson has a sour expression which is a clear indication he’d rather eat shit and die than have me as a partner.
“Do you really think we’re stupid enough to fall for your bullcrap? Gary, he’s clearly playing us. Well, we’re not going to let you sit over here only for us to do all the work and your lazy, dumb, jock ass to get an A. So go leech onto some other group.”
Wow. I mean, props to Jackson for telling me off. Freaking kid finally grew a pair. I shrug. “Look, man. I know you don’t want me here. I know you hate me because I probably made fun of you in the locker room during gym. But I need a group to work with. I’ll do my fair share. If I don’t, you can tell Ms. Norris so she gives me an F. Fair enough?”
Gary and Jackson huddle up. Every few seconds they look over at me and begin whispering again. Finally, Gary and Jackson break apart. “You have to do us a favor. We want invites to two parties, and we want dates with Emily Wheeler and Amber Ortiz,” Jackson says.
Okay, the parties I could totally do, the dates, though … I’m not sure even the son of God could pull that off. I mean, these damn kids are super nerds. Dressed up as warriors and shit and doing battle crap on the weekends. Yes, full on weird, pretend reenactments.
“And what if I can’t get you dates with those girls? Would you settle for any girls at all?” I mean ’cause seriously, those chicks are way out of their league. Surely they must realize this because this is life, not some bullshit romantic teen movie.
“As long as they don’t have man hands and could be mistaken for a guy, I’m cool. Oh, and not Selena.” Gary leans in close and whispers, “She smells like dirty feet. And she pretends to know which is the better ship, the Enterprise or the Death Star, but she doesn’t know.” I’m pretty sure half the girls on this planet have no freaking clue about that. Hell, I don’t even know the answer, but guessing from his tone, I’d say the Death Star.
Rival Hearts (Rival Love #2) Page 9