Chapter Sixteen

Lies

Thursday, September 27

Mandy hovered at the edge of the parking lot watching Elle and Caleb. That was some serious drama going down. Her stomach twisted in knots as she wondered if maybe they were getting back together. Just thinking about it made her want to…to…

“Hey, Mandy. You working tonight?”

She whirled around to see Gus approaching, his crooked grin making her forget about Caleb for a second.

She nodded, tugging at her hair. “From five until closing.”

“Cool. Mind if I come by?”

Her heart rate picked up considerably. She glanced toward Caleb and Elle, who were still in high drama mode, Elle’s hands flying around and Caleb stepping away from her.

“Sure. Oh, but there’s a birthday party from six until seven thirty. Don’t come then—it’ll be crazy.” She smiled.

Gus nodded. “Awesome. Maybe you can take a break with me?” He kicked his feet on the ground. “I just…sort of need to talk to someone. Someone nice, like you.”

Her pulse fluttered. This was what she needed. Sweet, adorable, perfect little Gus. Not smart-ass, broody, hot-kissing Caleb. She nodded. “Sounds great.”

He shot her another grin. “Hey, do you need a ride home?”

Wow. Totally unexpected. “Uh…Cammie’s giving me a ride.” She glanced around, for once wishing her best friend didn’t have a car.

“Okay, cool. I’ll see you later.” He lifted his chin and strolled away, whistling. Which was so dorky and cute…just like him.

She stared after him, wondering how her day had turned so crazy. Kissing Caleb this morning and now…this. She took a deep breath. Things were getting out of control. She had to fake break up with Caleb, especially now.

She glanced across the parking lot and saw J.T. and Caleb practically sprinting to Caleb’s car. Huh. That was weird.

“Mandy? Can I talk to you for a minute?”

She flinched at the sound of Kay’s voice, then turned to face her.

“I heard from Neuro Blastr. He’s confirmed for the dance.”

“That’s great.” Kay looked almost nervous. “I know…” She cleared her throat and started again. “Look, you and I aren’t really friends, but I wanted to warn you. About Gus. He’s not…”

Mandy felt her hackles rise defensively, but she waited.

“He…uh…let’s just say, he’s not such a good guy when you’re on a date with him.” She frowned. “Do you get what I’m saying?”

Righteous anger boiled inside Mandy. How could Kay do this? Kay had major gossip reach, which was probably why her lies were spreading. Mandy glared at her. “I can’t believe this, Kay. Why are you spreading lies about Gus? Is it because he broke up with you? You don’t want to see him with someone else?”

Kay stepped back, looking as if Mandy had slapped her. “No! That’s not it at all.” She stuck her hands on her hips, glaring. “Look, Mandy, the truth is Gus is only interested in one thing from you. He doesn’t actually like you.”

Mandy felt like she’d been sucker punched, almost crumpling from Kay’s words. Then she reminded herself that Kay was just jealous. That Kay had always hated her. She stood up straight, inhaling and exhaling like she did when she meditated. She would not go ballistic on her, because that was totally bad karma.

Anger only leads to more anger. Deflect and redirect it, and peace will take its place.

“I’m sorry you’re so hurt from the breakup, Kay. But it’s not okay for you to spread lies just because you’re not over him. I know Gus. I’ve known him since kindergarten. He’s a great guy. You may have convinced other people in this school, but you’re never going to get his oldest friend to turn on him. Give it a rest.”

Kay’s mouth dropped open. “It must be nice to live in that dreamy little hippie bubble of reality, Mandy. He’s not a great—”

Mandy put up a hand. “We’re done here, okay? And please stop spreading lies. It’s totally bad karma, in case you didn’t know.” Then she spun around, making a beeline across the lot toward Cammie’s car. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Caleb’s car tear out of the lot. It almost looked like he and J.T. were laughing together. But that didn’t make sense…

She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. This had been the craziest day ever. The thing was, she’d given Kay a hard time for lying, but she needed to stop lying, too. Stop pretending to be Caleb’s girlfriend. She had to break up with him, no matter what he said about Elle stalking him.

No matter how special their snow globe day had been.

No matter how much that kiss had almost convinced her to stick around for another taste…or made her wonder if he might actually have feelings for her.

The whole thing was a total fiasco and had to stop. She’d call him tonight after she got off work and convince him that they had to fake break up, before things got any crazier.