Ever since Courtney had suggested I stay with her while my mom was with her sister in California, Beth had seemed weird about our friendship. My aunt was literally dying of cancer, and apparently all Beth could see was how Courtney was stealing me away.
“Buttering you up,” Beth added. “You know Courtney. Don’t you think it’s weird that she insisted you live with her while your mom is with your aunt?”
“No, we’refriends.” I followed Beth inside Mr. Guthrey’s classroom, trying not to take offense at what Beth was implying.
“Yeah, but not like that,” Beth said over her shoulder. “I’m guessing she wants something from you.”
Now I was irritated. Beth already shared a room with her younger sister, so I couldn’t impose on her like that.
“Would you rather my mom pull me out of school and homeschool me in California? That’d be awesome, spend half my senior year in a completely different state.”
Beth didn’t say anything, her gaze on the whiteboard at the front of the class.
“I think it was generous,” I said, “Courtney offering to have me stay.” Was it really so hard to believe that Courtney and I could be close? “You’re just jealous. And mad that I never called you back last night.” I slid into the desk beside Beth.
“Whatever.” Beth flashed me a dirty look that I hadn’t seen since elementary school. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Come on.” Courtney squeezed my arm, lowering her voice. “It will be so funny. Every volleyball captain deserves a little initiation.”
I shook my head, glancing at the outline of Emma washing her hair behind the shower curtain on the other side of the locker room. Two other girls from our team occupied the shower stalls on either side of her. “I feel bad. What if she gets hurt?” I thought of the division championship game we had coming up this weekend. Emma was our best player, and if we won, we moved on to regionals.
Courtney rolled her eyes. “It’s just a joke. Don’t be a pussy.” She pressed the dish soap against the towel wrapped around my chest.
I started to shake my head again when a twinkle appeared in Courtney’s eyes. “Does Jake know you have that photo of the two ofyou from our sophomore yearbook in your locker?” She smiled. “I’ll tell him if you don’t do it.”
My mouth fell open in horror. “You wouldn’t!” I’d had a thing for Jake since freshman year, even though he was way out of my league. And he was now dating Emma. I don’t know how Courtney had seen the photo—I’d kept it tucked away. And the only person who knew about my secret crush was Beth.
“What would Emma think of you burning a candle for her new boyfriend?”
I glanced at the door of the gym. Still closed.
“Come on!”
Reluctantly, I allowed Courtney to pull me toward the three occupied showers. Emma was singing Alicia Keys’s “If I Ain’t Got You.”
Courtney slid the rubber mat out of the way with her foot and pointed to the concrete floor.Do it,she mouthed.
I leaned over, then paused. Hearing a click, I looked to Courtney, who held up her phone.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Just capturing the moment so we can laugh about this later.”
I straightened, letting the dish soap fall to my side.What if Emma breaks something?“I can’t.”
Emma turned off the water. Courtney’s eyes rolled upward in exaggerated annoyance. She swiped the soap bottle from my hand and squirted the clear-blue liquid over the floor in front of Emma’s shower. My mouth fell open at the soap glistening on the concrete floor as Courtney pushed me back behind a row of lockers.
The door to the gym swung open while Courtney and I crouched. Courtney pressed her finger to her lips when we recognized Gigi’s voice as she entered the locker room.
“Those laps were brutal! Next time—”
An ear-piercing scream erupted from the showers seconds before a thud—and a crack—sounded against the cement floor.
“Emma!” Gigi shrieked.
Courtney’s eyes doubled in size, and she buried the soap bottle beneath the clothes in her locker.
“Aah,” Emma moaned in agony as Coach Kelly came flying through the door.
