Chapter Thirty

Haley

The Belles have kept me busy preparing for Homecoming. The game is Friday, along with the Homecoming parade and court, and the dance is Saturday. Plus, Sunday is an alumni lunch in the town square. It’s one of the best/worst weekends in Culler. So besides school, my life is all Southern Belles. Even at school we get excused from History class to work on campus Homecoming activities. I haven’t been to the rehab center since my accident, and I miss it. I miss Gracie Ann, Ms. Nichols, and the other kids. Other than a few texts with Jake, he’s pretty much avoided the house. I miss him most of all. But today is about Abby.

She came over once, the next day after I texted her, with a goodie basket for me. It was nice, and she didn’t stay long, but it was a gesture. I’ve seen her at Belles meetings all week, but it’s been so busy I haven’t been able to stop her. Until today.

“Mom, I’m home!” she calls, and she freezes when she sees me standing inside her house.

“Greetings, Elite,” I say.

I’m dressed in a Starship Elite uniform as one of the Elite Cadets. I’ve redone her living room to look like the inside of the starship, which I found online. It’s really some tarps that are made to look like the inside of the ship looking out, but when you hang them up, it’s actually pretty cool.

“What is all this?” she asks me.

“It’s Wednesday, so there’s a new episode tonight. I thought you might want a break to watch it. With me.”

She looks around the room. I turned her TV into the window that shows space. Her couch is covered in red blankets to look like the captain’s seats on the bridge. I’ve even set up a bunch of foods based on the show on the coffee table.

“You did all this?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Well, Mom helped me with the food because I wanted it to actually taste good.”

She laughs at that, and I clear my throat. “I’m so sorry, Abby. I should’ve been honest with you. It was a very Anu thing to do. I should’ve told you like she should’ve told Cruise, and we probably could’ve worked it out. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you enough to be honest.”

Her eyes light up. “You watched the show?”

“I did. I know how much you love it, and I have to admit I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would.”

“I can’t believe you watched it,” she says. Her face still looks like it’s in shock.

“I don’t expect this to make it all better.”

“It’s a start,” she says. Abby walks past me, but she backtracks and tosses her arms around me. When she pulls away from the hug, she adds with a sigh, “I’m sorry, too. I never paid attention to you and Jake, but in hindsight, there were a lot of signs that you had liked him. I never wanted to see it. I was so wrapped up in my own feelings, I’m sure that wasn’t easy for you to break through.”

“You’re my best friend, Abs. I don’t want to be without you.”

“God, same. I have so much to tell you when this is over. Are you going to stay to watch with me?”

“Yeah, I’d love that.”

“Me, too! But I still have to live tweet. My followers expect it.”

I nod. “No problem.”

“I’m going to fangirl a little bit now.”

“But of course,” I say, and she lets out this squeal as she starts going around the room, pointing out all the little details from the show that I added to make it more real.

After the show is over, she and I are sitting crossed-legged on her couch, catching up with each other about life outside of the Belles. I tell her I applied for this art program, and she’s super supportive of it. She tells me about her Nana and how she’s kinda sick, and about how her fandom twitter for Starship Elite is taking off.

“So, tell me about Jake.”

I shrug. “Jake and I haven’t talked in weeks, so I don’t know anything about Jake.”

“That’s a shame. Y’all are actually kinda cute together.”

“Stop it.”

Abby smiles. “I’m serious. Some of those pictures I saw, you look really happy.”

“I was,” I say.

“Who took those, anyway?”

I groan. “That would be Shane.”

Her jaw drops. “Shut up.”

“Yeah, he was jealous and stirring up revenge drama. The whole thing was ridiculous.”

“Do Chris or Jake know?”

I shake my head. “No, and you aren’t going to tell them. The game is around the corner, and we don’t need any more drama. Shane isn’t worth it.”

“You should get him back.”

“I don’t really want to stoop to his level,” I say.

Abby agrees quietly, but I can tell she is a little disappointed.

“I should go home,” I say. “Busy day tomorrow.”

“Yeah, same,” she says. “For the record, I approve entirely of you and Jake. Don’t let me stand in the way. You’re my best friend, Hals, and I want you to be happy, but I do want to be included in it.”

I wrap her up in a hug. “I feel the same way.”

It’s 9 p.m. before I get home from Homecoming stuff on Thursday. The Belles finally finished our float for tomorrow, along with a hundred other things. Chris ordered pizza, and the remaining half is sitting on the table when I get in. I’m a little tired, and I haven’t eaten since lunch at school today, so I’m all sorts of hangry. I sit next to the pizza and eat it directly from the box, just like a lady would.

It’s been so busy I haven’t had time to think about not hearing from the art program, which isn’t a bad thing because thinking about it takes my mind to Jake. I wouldn’t have applied if not for him. Jake. What’s been going on with him? I miss him more than I thought I could.

I set my phone facedown on the table and sigh.

“Hello, stranger,” my brother says, coming to sit down next to me.

“So tired,” I say.

He nods slowly. “Big game tomorrow. Coach has been killing us.”

“You’ll win.”

“I hope we do,” he says.

He looks at me a little too long while I eat, so I ask, “What?”

“Tell me about Jake.”

I swallow my pizza too fast and choke a little. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, tell me what happened. All this stuff between y’all, how did it start?”

“There is no stuff between us.”

“Haley.”

“Chris.”

He leans forward and taps the table with his fingers. “You liked him first, or did he make the move?”

I start to get up from the table. “I’m not talking about all of this with you.”

“He’s different,” he says, and I freeze. I don’t want to think about Jake, but I want to know. “He’s calmer. More at peace. More like he was before the accident. He’s laughing and trying, and I’ve never seen him so passionate.”

I sit back down.

“I know you haven’t been around much with Homecoming, but we all see it.”

We’re both quiet for a moment, and my heart does little leaps in the silence.

“After your accident, he came to the door and apologized to me for how it went down with you two. I don’t know much about how it happened. Just tell me the story. I want to know.”

I sigh and look at him. “I’ve had a crush on Jake since we were twelve years old. I never imagined I would fall in love with him.”

Chris nods. “You’re in love with Jake?”

I pause for a minute. Isn’t that what all this is? I didn’t want to lose him. I wanted to protect what we had, so I lied to keep a precious thing. Since he’s been gone, I always think about him first, and I would do anything for him. “Yeah, I am.”

Once I finish telling him everything, Chris nods. “Okay then. I have one question.”

“What’s that?”

He smiles. “What are you going to do to get him back?”