Chapter 15
It was a week or two later when I ran into Henry's little sister at the creek.
Bailey was her name, and I knew a lot about her, but she had no idea. I had met her briefly, but she had no clue I was getting to know Henry. I wanted to make friends with her, so when I saw her from a distance one afternoon, I approached her. She was alone and sitting under a tree, and I headed that way.
"Hey, Bailey," I said, going up to her.
"Hey, yeah, I didn't know if you'd remember meeting me," she said, smiling and half-glancing my way.
"Yeah, of course," I said.
I had talked to Henry a lot lately, and felt like I knew her well.
"I'm excited about the movie," she said. "I keep wanting to watch you guys rehearse and film, but I never know if it's okay. All my friends want to come out here, too. They all want to be in it."
"Oh, it's fine if you watch. I know Alex wouldn't mind that with your parents owning the place. As far as your friends being in it…" I trailed off, smiling at her and feeling unable to read her feelings. "No, seriously, they probably can. I know he's going to need extras for some upcoming scenes. He needs dancers for a couple of things. I know with you being a cheerleader, your friends are probably…"
"Yeah, they'd be good at it. I've already talked to Alex about bringing a few people for those scenes."
"Oh, well, good."
There was a pause.
"If I'm even friends with any of them by then."
"Oh, no," I said.
She propped her head against the tree, not looking at me. "High school sucks so bad."
"I know. I remember it like it was yesterday. I'm glad it wasn't. I flew under the radar mostly."
There were several long seconds of silence followed by a long weary sigh. "I wish that were true for me," she said.
She rubbed her face, and it was at that moment, I realized she was close to crying, or maybe she had been crying. She was emotional. I almost apologized for intruding on her alone time, but instead, I just sat there next to her. She seemed okay with my presence. I reached out and grabbed a small stick that had fallen, and I absentmindedly started making light lines in the dirt.
"Is it anything specific, or do you just not care for high school in general?"
"No, it's specific. I used to love it. It's specific, the thing that happened to me, and it's recent. My life sucks right now."
She just stared out, looking at the mountain range in the distance. I thought she would elaborate, but she didn't. I felt like she wanted to, though.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.
She sighed and hesitated, but then went right into telling me about it.
"I basically got humiliated in front of the whole school. It was two days ago, and everyone knows. I have, I had this boyfriend, and he was, we were… hey, I don't know if you ever see my brother around here, or my parents, but please don't… especially my brother… just please don't tell anyone what I'm telling youright now." She paused and turned to stare at me with eyes that I could now see were tear-soaked. "Promise?"
"Yeah," I said, having no idea what she was about to say or if I could keep that promise.
"My boyfriend cheated on me. Oh, my gosh, I can't even believe I'm saying that out loud."
She sighed and sank her face into her arm. I was sitting next to her, and I just reached over and put my hand on her back. She didn't shy away, so I left it there, touching her for a moment.
"Pretty much everyone knew about it but me. Of course, it was my best friend that it happened with, and they were sneaking around for months before I found out. I caught them at my brother's house."
"What?" I said.
"Yes. My brother, Henry. You've met him, I'm sure. He lives in Butte. He has a house there."
