AFTER FRENCH CLASS, I HEADED TO GYM. I’D spent a lot of time in French thinking about Clare and Riley and Khloe. If Clare kept up her independence, I had no idea how Riley would react. Would she drop Clare as a friend? Retaliate against Clare? Against Khloe and me?
I stopped outside the gym doors and checked my BBMs.
Ana:
Happy (not!) Monday, LaurBell! Thought abt u this morning. Mom actually let me have sugar 4 breakfast (!) & I had a blue rasp Pop Tart. Remembered they r ur fav. Miss u. L
I wrote her back.
Lauren:
Aww! Miss u 2, A! I haven’t had a PT since I got
here. Promise I won’t till we’re eating them
2gether during break. How’s everything w The Boyfriend?
There was a message from Brielle, too.
Brielle:
OMG, L!! Richelle from sci is such a teacher’s pet! She sits by me EVERY day (why?!) & makes me look so bad bc she answers every ? and does all this extra credit & stuff. Ugh. & this new transfer guy in English is so annoying. & it’s only Mon. Boo.
Lauren:
So sry, Bri! Richelle who? Richelle Ward or Richelle Thomas? Why is Transfer Guy annoying? I know . . . feels like it’s gonna b a long wk! Miss u!
I frowned and shoved my phone in my bag. That’s how all of Brielle’s latest messages had been. All about Yates and my ex-classmates. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to know about it or that she wasn’t allowed to complain to me. I wanted her to ask how I was doing, though. Ana always did. Bri and Ana were very different people, but Brielle always used to BBM me to check on me if I went home after school with even a frown on my face.
In the locker room, I changed into my gym uniform—dark green shorts and a white T-shirt. Robotically, I laced up my Nikes. You and Bri did have that awesome Skype chat, I reminded myself. Bri had even “met” Khloe. That made me feel a little better. Bri probably thought she was making me feel better still talking about Yates as if I went there.
I closed my locker and walked to the bleachers, taking a seat with the other girls. Today it was just girls. I wished Drew had gym today so we could talk.
But at least I had forty-five minutes to work out and clear my head. I needed my Bri issues to be gone by the time I got to my riding lesson. Every second with Whisper counted. The schooling show was less than two weeks away, and there was no time to focus on anything else when I got to the stable.
“Are you okay, Lauren?”
Reluctantly I looked up at the familiar voice. Riley stood next to me, her black hair in a high, bouncy ponytail.
“I’m fine . . . thanks.” I wanted to play nice if Riley was acting cool. This fresh start was important to Clare, and it would impact Khloe so much. I forced a smile. “Why did you think something was wrong?”
In the narrow space between bleachers, Riley stretched. She put one red-and-silver Reebok next to me, leaning forward to touch her fingertips to her shoe.
“Oh, you looked lost in thought or something. Must have misread you.” She switched legs. “But I do want you to know that if you’re worried about anything . . .” She paused, looking at me with a soft glance. “I’m here. Clare really wants to change our friendships and she’s my bestie, so I want to try for her.”
Whoa. Something about this was way too easy and fast.
“You were so mad that Khloe, Lexa, and I slept over at your place,” I said. “Now you’re completely over it?”
Riley sat next to me. “I was mad until I talked to Clare. Okay, and even for a little while after. But I thought about what she was really asking me—and you and Khloe—to do. Clare wasn’t asking for us all to wear friendship bracelets and become BFFs.”
I shook my head. “No, she wasn’t.”
“She was asking that we coexist. Be civil. Maybe it’ll turn into new friendships. Maybe it won’t.”
“You and Khloe might become friends?” I asked.
Riley grinned. “Yeah, so, that one’s a little less likely to happen. But Clare is my best, closest friend. If it makes her upset that we can’t all be in the same room without fighting—I understand. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.”
I stared at Riley. Hard. Something about this still didn’t feel right. If Riley was Clare’s best friend like she claimed, she would have known all this was going on. Wouldn’t she have tried to stop fighting with Khloe for Clare’s sake a long time ago?
“I’m willing to try too,” I said cautiously. “It will help our riding team, too, if we’re all getting along.”
Riley nodded. “Exactly. The show season’s about to get majorly competitive. I mean, this schooling show seems like a teensy thing, but everyone knows it’s not.”
It wasn’t?
“Right.” I played along as if I knew what she was talking about.
“The schooling show is just a way for every rider from the surrounding schools to size up the competition. It’ll give us the chance to know who to watch, who’s best at what, and in return, the other riders will see who’s weakest on our team.”
I swept my eyes over the gym, suddenly very over this conversation. Where was Mr. Warren, anyway?!
“Oh, I hope I didn’t make you nervous,” Riley said, touching my upper arm.
I smiled, hoping some of Khloe’s acting skills had rubbed off on me. “Not at all. I knew what the show was about. I’m glad we have this week, the weekend, and all of next week to practice. Plus, if we’re acting like a team, we’ll be that much stronger.”
Riley flashed a perfect smile. “Exactly!”
Sneakers squeaked on the gym floor and Mr. Warren appeared, whistle around his neck and a basketball under each arm.
Finally.
“Good afternoon, students,” Mr. Warren said. He wore his usual customized Puma tracksuit—hunter-green pants and jacket with gold stripes.
“Hi, Mr. Warren,” we said.
“We’re going to warm up with a few laps around the gym. I’ll divide you into two teams and you’ll play a short game. First team to score ten points wins.”
“Do we get a prize?” a girl with sandy curls asked.
Mr. Warren smiled. “I guess I could do that. If a team reaches ten points before the period is over, then that team is dismissed and can use the rest of gym as a free period.”
Cheering broke out. I so wanted to win!
“Get warmed up!” Mr. Warren said.
I fell in with the other girls as the eighteen of us jogged around the gym. At Mr. Warren’s whistle, we changed directions. Jogging in the confined space wasn’t anything like running. I sort of wished I had time to take up track.
We finished the warm-up and Mr. Warren divided us into teams. Riley was on my team, and we huddled to discuss our plan of attack.
“My aim isn’t awesome,” I said. “I think I’d make a good point guard.”
“Same with me,” Riley said.
The rest of the girls chimed in with their thoughts, and when the whistle blew, we were ready.
• • •
Tweeeeet! Mr. Warren’s whistle blew, stopping all of us where we stood. Panting, I grinned and raised my hand, slapping palms with Kelsey. She’d just made the winning basket for my team!
“Wow, ladies. I’m impressed,” Mr. Warren said. “Both teams played equally hard, but Team A is the winner by two points!”
“Yay!”
“Woo-hoo!”
“Score!”
Happy exclamations came from my teammates as we hugged one another. Riley reached for me and we one-arm hugged. We’d played together on the court, guarding our shooters, and our efforts had definitely paid off.
“Nice! Free period for us!” Riley said to me.
I brushed stray, sweaty hair from my forehead. “So need it.”
We hugged the girls who had to stay and went back to the locker room to change.
It didn’t make sense for me to shower, since I had only one class after this before riding. I pulled out a pack of Yes to Cucumbers moist towelettes and wiped my face and neck. The scent was refreshing after gym, and I pulled a bottle of water from my bag and took a few sips.
• • •
I sat on the steps of the science building, glad Mr. Warren hadn’t made Team A stay in the gym. Science didn’t start for a few more minutes, so I pulled out my phone.
LaurBell: My team won in bball @ gym class! 2 bad @SwmerGuy wasn’t there 2 c.
I sent the update to Chatter and opened BBM.
Lauren:
Becs, miss u. How’s ur day? *hugs big sis*
Then I clicked on Drew’s name.
Lauren:
Hi.
Hope ur Mon isn’t 2 bad. Got out of gym early. Wish I could
skip sci & go riding now.
I exited the application and scrolled through Chatter updates. Buzz!
Drew:
Hey! 2day’s LONG. V cool abt gym. Score! I know abt wanting to skip. But we already did that once, remember? ;)
Lauren:
LOL. Kind of hard 2 4get. Sry ur day is dragging. 1 class 2 go, tho!
Drew:
I keep telling myself that. Want 2 groom & tack up 2gether?
My fingers paused over the buttons. Type something! I yelled at myself. Geez. He hadn’t asked me to prom or something.
Lauren:
Def! Meet u @ Polo’s stall?
Drew:
Sounds good. C u soon.
Even though I was going to see her in five minutes in class, I typed a message to Khloe.
Lauren:
! Drew just BBMed & asked if I wanted 2 groom & tack up 2gether b4 lesson.
I made sure the message was delivered, turned my phone on silent, and shouldered my bag. Now I couldn’t wait to get to class to see Khloe and Clare and talk about Drew.