Rule 29: Do not write your crush an anonymous Email or letter, because he might think someone else sent it!
“Just tell him already,” Adam said, holding up his padded hands for Kelly to punch.
Kelly unleashed a right hook and then a double left. Kickboxing was good for venting frustration.
“Just call him up and say, ‘Hey, Drew, I’m in love with you, too.’ It’s really not that hard.”
Kelly pushed forward with a wild right hook. “Yes, it is hard because he’s going out with my best friend!” She landed another right and then bent over, resting her gloves on her knees. Her breath came fast, sweat rolling down her temples.
Why? Why? Why?
Why her? Why Drew? It was like the Fates had conspired against her. Or maybe it was her own idiotic fault for not telling Drew how she really felt three years ago before he started going out with Sydney.
If she had, maybe it would be her with Drew right now, not Sydney. Maybe they’d be planning their senior years together, trying to decide which college to go to together.
“You all right?” Adam asked, ripping apart the Velcro on his pads. He tossed them to the side. They thudded against the wall, the sound echoing through the room.
Kelly straightened and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm. “You really think I should tell him how I feel?”
Adam nodded. “He deserves that much. He came out and told you what he was feeling and you practically hung up on the poor guy.”
Kelly winced. She had done that, hadn’t she? That was seven days ago now. Drew hadn’t called her since. He also hadn’t made one single appearance at the house. Todd even commented on how Drew had flaked on him Tuesday night. Apparently, a new video game had come out, and they were supposed to check it out together.
Drew must hate her. He must think of her as a huge jerk.
“I should call him,” she mused, holding out her hands so Adam could remove the boxing gloves.
“You should talk to him in person, though.”
Kelly paled, picturing it in her head. How was she supposed to tell Drew she loved him straight to his face without stuttering or passing out or something else equally embarrassing?
Adam was right about one thing, she needed to be honest with Drew because he’d been honest with her. Unfortunately, so much time had passed since his phone call that Kelly worried he wouldn’t want to see her now.
She had to get him to her without him knowing it was her.
An hour later at home, she plopped down at her desk and the Crush Code caught her eye. She flipped through the printed pages. Anonymous Email, she thought. That was blatantly breaking one of the rules, but it was all she had. Plus, the whole point of sending an anonymous Email was so Drew would think she was someone else. She was afraid a meeting with her would scare him away if he knew ahead of time.
She logged into an email account she’d set up forever ago so she could surf a fashion message board. Her name wouldn’t come up on the email anywhere because she’d set it up using the name Trisha Keller.
Drew, she typed, meet me at Eagle Park at the fountain at ten. We need to talk.
She clicked the SEND button before she changed her mind.
Drew’s computer dinged with a new email message alert. Sydney set her book aside on his bed and got up. She poked her head down the hall and heard the rushing of the showerhead coming from the bathroom.
She opened the email program and checked the new message.
Trisha Keller? Who was that?
Drew, meet me at Eagle Park at the fountain at ten. We need to talk.
There was no name, no nothing. But whoever Trisha was, she obviously knew Birch Falls if she knew Eagle Park. Was this a secret meeting? Was Drew seeing someone else behind Sydney’s back? Her stomach knotted into a mixture of emotions: anger, betrayal, curiosity. Curiosity because Drew wasn’t an outgoing person. How would he meet a girl, someone who didn’t even go to their school?
It just didn’t make sense.
Sydney deleted the Email, shut the program down, and went back to her book. She was going to find out what was going on.
“I’m going to the store,” Sydney called through the house. “Anyone need anything?”
Drew and his mom were at the kitchen table playing an intense game of chess. Sydney had hung out at the house all day because her house was too quiet and gloomy.
“No,” Drew said, barely looking up from the chessboard.
“I’m fine,” his mom said, her game face on. A headband held back her long, black bangs. She’d tied the rest of her hair into a loose knot.
When those two got into a game, the rest of the world was a haze they paid little attention to. And they’d probably be playing for another hour. It was plenty of time for Sydney to sneak off to the park, find out who’d Emailed Drew, and get back home before he realized she was gone.
Plus, Drew had been downright irritable lately. The game of chess would do him some good.
Sydney’s watch said it was just after nine forty-five. The sky was pale with the impending darkness. Sydney turned on the headlights once she got inside her SUV.
A men’s baseball game was playing over on the first ball diamond at Eagle Park. Cars lined the front parking lot. Sydney found an open spot farther down and got out. She hurried over to the fountain with fifteen minutes to spare.
It was darker over here without the lights from the baseball game. Sydney found a good hiding spot behind a large chestnut tree.
The wait seemed to spread out into an hour. Her heart beat at the back of her throat, her knees felt weak.
What if Drew really was cheating on her? Maybe that’s why he’d been in such a bad mood lately. He didn’t love Sydney, he wanted someone else, and he didn’t know how to break up with her a second time.
A darkened figure cut through the trees. The gurgling of the fountain quieted the footsteps. Sydney held her breath.
The person walked into a sliver of moonlight slicing through the thick canopy of trees.
It was Kelly.
Sydney took in a breath, clenched her jaw, and stalked out from her hiding spot.
“Why were you meeting Drew?” she said.
Kelly’s eyes grew wide, her mouth dropped open. “I…uh…”
“And why did you send an Email as Trisha something-or-other?”
Kelly raked her teeth over her bottom lip. “It’s…well…Drew and I were meeting because we’re worried about you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I mean…” Kelly shifted her gaze to the mossy forest floor. “You’ve been distant lately. He’s noticed it and I noticed it and we were trying to come up with a way to cheer you up.”
Hands on her hips, Sydney steeled her spine. “What, were you planning an intervention?”
“No! No way. We’re just worried is all. You know, with your mom…”
The tension in Sydney’s shoulders slipped away. She wasn’t sure if she should be angry or relieved. Drew wasn’t cheating on her with some girl named Trisha. He was just worried about her.
She’d wanted to kick him in the groin when she found out he was supposed to meet a girl in the park. And why had she automatically assumed he was cheating on her? Maybe because she didn’t trust people in general anymore. She blamed that on her mother.
How could you have faith in other people when your own parent promised to be there for you and instead took off for another country?
Sydney leaned over and set her elbows on her knees, put her face in her hands.
Kelly hesitantly sat next to her and crossed one leg over the other. “Are you okay?”
Sydney sighed and shook her head. She was just so tired—tired of her life spiraling down the drain. Why couldn’t things work out for her? Why couldn’t her mother come back and bring the family together?
“Do you want to talk about it?” Kelly asked.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Sydney answered. “My mother left us, and I don’t think she’s coming back. There’s nothing else to say about it.”
The sounds of the baseball crowd cheering filtered through the trees, reaching the girls in the darkness. Sydney straightened, dragging her fingers through the fountain water behind her.
“I’m sure it’ll get better,” Kelly said, “eventually.”
Sydney stood, dried her fingers on her black yoga pants. She didn’t want a pep talk, she didn’t want anything. “Don’t tell Drew about this, please?”
“Of course.” Kelly got up, too, and tugged on the hem of her tunic top.
“Thanks.” Sydney barely managed a wave as she hurried from the park.