Positively bursting at the seams, Mina could hardly wait for Hailey to come within earshot so she could spew the latest news to her fellow cheerleaders. When Hailey sat down at her desk in History, Mina gave the signal, and no fewer than four girls galloped over to her to receive their daily gossip.
“You guys,” she said, her fingers spread out in front of her, “Tage wouldnotstop texting me last night. He was on a horrible date with you-know-who…” Mina shot a sharp glance at Hailey. “…which his dad totally made him do, and so he spent the entire evening on his phone with me,” she said, very pleased with herself, and her friends giggled.
In a few years, these hags would fit right in with Fin’s skanky fans, Hailey thought, though she didn’t know if she or the pub or even the city of Pittsburgh would ever see Fin again.
As she wondered about him, she frowned.
Mina seized upon it immediately, no doubt convinced her gossip forced Hailey’s sad face. “Hailey,” she jeered. “How was your date with Tage last night?”
Hailey sighed, wishing she could go back to being the invisible girl. “Not bad.”
“Did you guys talk about your dead sister?” Mina hissed behind her.
Hailey thought about throwing a punch, but decided Mina already felt threatened enough and simply shook her head instead. At the end of class, when Hailey stood to leave, Mina, who was a good four inches taller than her, stood in her way with her hands on her hips.
“He doesn’t even like you,” Mina spat. “Why don’t you just tell him you’re not going to prom and get it over with?”
Hailey looked up at her, waiting patiently for Mina’s nostrils to stop flaring before she spoke.
“I already did, Mina.” She said it loud enough for her hag friends, who waited in the hallway, to hear, leaving them to fabricate a new reason why Tage hadn’t yet asked Mina to prom.
Mina’s jaw fell open, and Hailey brushed past her, out the door, and onto the bus. Five minutes later, Tage stepped on board and walked past Hailey as if he didn’t see her, which felt strangely comforting, like the way things used to be—normal.
But as soon as he stepped off the bus behind Hailey, he found her suddenly and inexplicably visible again and threw his arm around her shoulder.
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked.
Hailey stopped walking.
“Why do you only talk to me when your friends aren’t around?”
Tage’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Hailey said walking again and at a brisk pace, “you’ve ignored me for three and a half years— which is how I like it—but then you asked me out, and you must have told somebody, because I’m sure not spreading rumors, and now the whole school is flabbergasted, because you haven’t asked Mina to prom yet, and she’s having a conniption and blames me, of course, and then I have to sit through History and pretend I can’t hear her telling all her friends—which is everybody, though I don’t understand why—that you spent the whole night texting her because you can’t stand me.”
She drew a deep breath and heaved a great sigh.Wow that felt good.
“I wasn’t…that…I can’t stand Mina. And I was texting my recruiter, Hailey, I don’t know what Mina’s trying to pull, but… She’s a manipulative bitch,” he said, mostly under his breath, and Hailey laughed.
“I don’t know why that’s funny,” she told him.
“Because it’s true?” he said as they reached the intersection. “When can I come see you dance again?”
Hailey shook her head. “I’ve never danced without Holly,” she said, her throat tightening. “It hurts to even think about it.”
“Oh, man, I upset you again.” He rubbed Hailey’s arms. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I really do like you.”
“It’s okay,” Hailey said sniffing loudly. “You didn’t know.”
He gave her a quick hug, and then he waved as he strolled away.
That was the last day Tage took the bus. Hailey heard his dad had given him a car that night. Since he no longer saw Hailey during the privacy of their walk home, he made a complete recovery from his social amnesia. He remembered Hailey didn’t exist and never spoke to her again.
It was strange behavior, for sure. But considering the events of the past few months…Holly’s murder, Fin’s disappearance and—oh, yeah—the revelation that Envoys were indeed real, Tage’s sudden personality shift seemed in order.
Whatever his malfunction, he finally asked the girl he couldn’t stand to prom, which greatly improved Hailey’s standing among the hags. She no longer had to endure their passive-aggressive, behind-her-back hissing and sputtering during History, and the rest of her senior year flew by.
Chapter fifteen
