The disappointment in his voice hit me right in the gut. I didn’t make eye contact with him as I pulled my backpack on and tightened the straps unnaturally tight.
“See you at school.”
I was out of there before I could hear his response. My pulse beat erratically all the way to my car and the drive home. By the time I got into my room and splayed out on my bed, I’d replayed the whole scene in my head so many times that it was burned in my retinas.
“What. Just. Happened?”
I pressed my fingertips to the spot on my lips that still tingled from Gabriel’s kiss. Was this how it was supposed to feel? Like I’d just coded in the ICU and then been zapped back to life? I couldn’t be sure.
The one thing I could be sure of was that I was totally and completely in over my head.
Chapter Twelve
If the bags under my eyes and the beanie pulled down over my rat’s nest of a head was any indication, I hadn’t slept well last night. Or the night before. And as I unloaded my backpack into my locker Monday morning at school, Lexi and Charlotte came springing down the hall toward me, looking light as air. The very sight of them like that gave me a pounding headache behind my eyes. I groaned and put the hood of my sweatshirt up, thankful for the extra bit of privacy.
“Whoa, Bethy, what happened to you?” Lexi skid to a stop next to me in her dainty ballet flats. Her eyes looked me up and down, surely not missing the stress zits that had popped out along my chin. “You look like you didn’t sleep a wink. Don’t tell me you spent the whole night drinking Mountain Dew and playing video games again. How many times do I have to tell you that’s bad for your complexion?”
“Negative.” I frowned at her. Spending all night playing video games would’ve been worlds above what I did: tossing and turning in my bed all night worrying about what had happened between Gabriel and me. “I just couldn’t sleep.”
“Something on your mind?” Charlotte rubbed my back comfortingly.
“Nope. Absolutely nothing.” The words flew out of my mouth a little too quickly.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“Well, I mean I totally lost the memory chip to my dad’s camera.” I turned toward her and tried to smile. “It’s a good thing I already uploaded all the videos from the game on Friday, but now I owe my dad like fifty bucks for a new chip.”
I’d searched for that thing everywhere on Sunday, but hadn’t found it. It must’ve fallen to the depths of my backpack or bounced beneath one of my drawers at home. I’d been so distracted by Gabriel’s kiss that I hadn’t noticed until the next day.
Lexi fixed me with a hard stare, the left side of her mouth lifting into a suspicious smirk. “Is that all?”
I’d hoped the missing camera chip would throw them off the scent, but it didn’t seem I was that lucky. “Um...yeah. Sure. That’s it. Nothing else to report.”
The exchange of glances between Charlotte and Lexi told me I’d missed my shot at smoothing things over. Their silent conversation over, they nodded reassuringly at each other and then each looped their arm into mine and turned me around.
“Wait, where are we going?”
I glanced nervously around. There was only one way I was going to get through this day and it was by avoiding Gabriel. We didn’t have anatomy today, thank goodness. Until round two of the tournament started tonight, I didn’t have to give him or his lips an extra thought.
Easier said than done.
“Emergency meeting before class,” Lexi explained, pulling me with impressive strength toward the door that led to the stage.
Charlotte nodded. “You’re going to spill, or there will be consequences.”
It might have sounded like a threat, but coming from Charlotte, the threat was laughable. I drug my feet reluctantly but couldn’t keep them from pul
ling me through the door and onto the darkened back stage area. As Lexi looked around for the light switch, I shifted my feet, wondering just how little I could spill until they were satisfied and released me.
“Come on guys, I’ve got algebra to get to.” I glanced at the time on my phone. There was still five minutes until class started, but I was going to use any excuse available. “Can’t this wait until...I don’t know...after winter break? Or better yet, after we graduate?”
“Elizabeth Frye, don’t you test me.” Lexi planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. Just as Charlotte’s threat held no real danger, this petite pixie held no fear for me. I could’ve neutralized that threat just by sitting on her. “I’ve been coordinating decorations all weekend long for the big winter dance this Saturday. I’m feisty and fired up. The faster you give in, the better for all of us. And then we can move forward with finding you a date.”
I groaned. I’d been so worried about hiding the kiss with Gabriel that I hadn’t considered Lexi would hit me with another dreaded torture device. How she was able to prod at my weak spots, I didn’t know.
“Listen, I’m just trying to focus on the tournament.” I tried to smile at them both, but it came out more like an awkward grimace. “There are no secrets. I’m just tired.”
Lexi laughed, shaking out a few curls from her messy bun on the top of her head. “You’re a terrible liar, Beth. Maybe even worse than me. Something’s up.”