Last weekend, he and Mira got into a fight at the Puppy Bowl our families went to, and he was abnormally quiet. It was weird, and I didn’t like it.
Then, a few days ago, he showed up at school with his blond waves cropped short like Hunter’s. It looked good, but it was still a surprise.
“Do you want to go with me to the season opener for the soccer team after we both get done with practice today?” I ask Hunter as he takes notes over the section we’re supposed to read for AP Government tonight. I should be taking my notes too, but I’ve been doodling flowers and clouds all over my page instead. If I don’t get it done now, then I’ll probably end up falling asleep at my deskagainsince I won’t get home until after the soccer game.
Procrastination is a bitch, but it’s a choice I keep making. I do my best work under pressure at the last minute.
His hand jerks, causing his pen to slip. “Shit,” he mumbles under his breath, frowning at the page. “Um, no, I don’t think so.”
Holy shit.Is something going on between the twins too?I literally can’t keep up with all of this.My brain already hurts trying to wrap my head around the fact that Henry and Mirabelle have been having a secret relationship none of us knew about. I’ve only gotten into half a dozen arguments with my dad over the way he’s treating Henry like some kind of criminal. Mom tried to explain it to me, but even then, I don’t understand what the fucking problem is since they’re two consenting adults. I’m barely talking to Dad, though.
“Why not?” I press, before the dots connect Hunter just might not want to go withme. He’s being welcomed with open arms by the popular crowd, and I’m not surprised, but I’m also not expecting an invitation to be extended to me because we’re friends. “Sorry, do you already have plans to go with someone else?”
He nudges my foot with his from underneath the table. “Are you serious? You really think I’d pick someone else over you?” he asks, his nose scrunching.
I look down at the doodles I’ve been drawing on my paper, praying my face isn’t as red as I think it is. “Fine, then why didn’t you say yes? It’d save me a trip to the gas station if we carpooled to the game.”
“You do know that you still have to go to the gas station to get gas, right?”
Of course, Hunter has to point that out. “There’s nothing wrong with waiting until the last second to go to the gas station,” I argue, defending my logic.
“Didn’t I have to come get you this summer after you ran out of gas on the side of the road?”
“Okay, so you have a point there. I did wait too long that time, but it said I had four miles left. How was I supposed to know that four miles didn’t actually mean four miles?” I ask, and Hunter laughs quietly to himself.
“You shouldn’t have let the gas tank get to where it only had four miles left.” He stretches, and I try not to roll my eyes at the girl in the background I see swooning. I mean, I get it. I’m not blind. I know my best friend is hot, even if my crush is on his twin. It’s justweird.
“I said no because I’m not going to the game, not because I didn’t want to go with you,” he continues, and now I’m even more confused than I was before.He’s skipping Bailey’s game?
“At all? Are you serious?”
Hunter glances around, but there’s no one within earshot of us as long as he talks quietly. “Bailey quit soccer,” he says, and this has to be a joke.
Baileybreathessoccer. He said he was getting ready to commit to Duke. I thought we were going to go together, and maybe . . .maybe nothing.
“You’re joking.”Please, please, please be lying.
Hunter’s mouth flattens, and he shakes his head. “I wish I was.”
Something is seriously wrong. Bailey wouldn’t do this out of nowhere.
You didn’t even notice, the little voice in my head reminds me. How did I miss this?
I swallow the guilt climbing up my throat. “Did he say why? What did your parents say?”
“He just said he didn’t want to play anymore, but they don’t know,” he says, and now I feel even worse. “They’re still wrapped up with everything in the fire investigation, and freaking out about Henry and Mirabelle. He couldn’t have picked a better time to fly under the radar.”
“Well aren’t Bash and Thalia going to find out whenthey realize he’s not at the game tonight?” I can only imagine the hell they’re going to raise. I would definitely not want to be Bailey tonight.
“I’m not sure they even know there’s a game tonight.” Hunter shrugs, clicking his pen repeatedly. “He really hasn’t said anything about this to you?”
I feel like the worst fucking friend in the world right now. I’ve been so wrapped up with the beginning of the school year and cheer practice, somehow I dropped the ball on this. It didn’t help that when we were in Charlotte last weekend, he didn’t go to the game on Sunday with everyone. Instead, Bailey met up with some of his friends. I was so pissed off at Dad about Henry, I never asked how it went.
“No,” I say, my gaze flickering to the pen he’s still clicking. “Can you stop?”
“Sorry,” he mumbles, dropping the pen on the table. “I don’t know what’s going on with B. I’m so pissed at him, Kait. It’s like he’s trying to ruin everything, and I don’t get why he’s making everything so difficult.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, because I don’t know what else I can say. I want to defend Bailey and believe he must have a reason for why he’s acting like this, but if he won’t tell anyone, then how are we going to understand?
