Page 71 of Racing Hearts

“My whole life is shit, and everyone sucks.”

Ellie patted her best friend’s back. “That’s a start, but maybe you could give me a few more details.”

Juniper pulled away from Ellie, then slumped over to her bed and motioned for Ellie to do the same. “Chris and I are fighting,” she said once Ellie was sitting next to her.

“I’m sorry. Is it bad? Like breakup bad?” Ellie asked. Juniper must really like him if she was this upset over a fight. Ellie would have never expected it from her.

Juniper shook her head and wiped some of the tears from her face. “I don’t think so. I’m really pissed at him right now, but it has more to do with my own shit than anything to do with him.”

“Did something happen?”

Before they had left for break, Juniper seemed to be doing great. Track was going better than ever. Her relationship with Chris was the best she ever had. It seemed like nothing could bring her down, which made this switch even more concerning.

“So, as you know, Chris came to visit for spring break. I was feeling extra cheesy, so I decided to show him some of my old artwork from elementary school. My mom has a bin in herroom that has that kind of stuff in it, so we went in and started to dig. At the bottom of the bin, I found this book my dad used to always read, so I took it out to tell Chris about it.” She closed her eyes, but that didn’t stop a stream of tears from flooding her cheeks. “A note fell out. It was a love note, but it wasn’t from my mom. It was from some other woman talking about how much she loved their time together and how she couldn’t wait for them to finally be together withno one else in the way.”

Holy shit.No wonder Juniper was so upset. This was a lot to take in about the man she held up on a pedestal. “God, June, I wish I knew what to say. That’s awful.”

“And that’s not the worst part. I went back and forth all week about whether or not I should tell my mom, but I had to. It was eating me up inside and I needed someone to talk to other than Chris. He was understanding and left sooner than he was planning so I could talk to her alone. It turns out, she already knew. She found out at his funeral when this other woman showed up.Fucking bitch.”

“The lady he was cheating on your mom with had the nerve to show up where his grieving family was?” Ellie couldn’t believe any of this. It sounded like something that would happen in a movie, not in real life. “That takes a lot of nerve.”

“Yeah. The worst part is, I saw her that day. I noticed that her and my mom were having a heated discussion, but when I asked my mom who it was, she said it was someone my dad went to school with. Sheliedto me, and she’s been lying ever since. She was acting so weird after the funeral, but I didn’t think anything of it. Her husband had died. There was no reason to think she was acting weird because she just found out she had been cheated on.”

“Wow.” Ellie really didn’t know what to say. Out of all the things Juniper could have told her, this was the last thing she expected. “That’s so messed up.”

“Yep. So, it turns out my dad is a fucking man-whore who was planning on leaving us either way, and my mom, who I felt sick over telling all week, already knew. Then, the cherry on top of the mother fucking cake was Chris telling me he understood why she kept it a secret.”

While Ellie could also kind of understand where Juniper’s mom was coming from, she wasn’t going to tell her that right now when she was clearly hurting. “I’m so sorry, Juney.”

“Now Chris and I are fighting, because I don’t know if I can trust him. I know I’m probably being irrational, but if he thinks it’s okay for my mom to lie to me, does that mean he would too?” Juniper shook her head, then took Ellie’s hand in hers. “I swear you might be the only person in my life I feel like I can actually trust right now.”

A sick feeling immediately settled in Ellie’s gut. Juniper thought Ellie was the only person she could trust, and Ellie was more guilty than anyone else. At least everyone else in Juniper’s life meant well. Her mom lied to try to save her from learning the truth about her dad. Chris didn’t even lie. He was in trouble for telling the truth. The only person Ellie’s lies benefited were her. They keptherfrom getting in trouble. Right now, she didn’t feel much better than Juniper’s dad.

One thing was for sure. As much as it sucked, now wasnotthe time to tell Juniper about her and Sierra. She didn’t want her to have to feel more pain than she was right now. She just hoped Sierra understood and didn’t think she was pulling away from her.

Speaking of Sierra, Ellie needed to text her. She obviously couldn’t leave Juniper right now, and it didn’t seem like that would change later in the day either. She figured it was better to cancel now than after Sierra had gotten herself ready togo. Maybe this way, Sierra would have time to make other plans instead.

She told Juniper she had to go to the bathroom and sent the text to Sierra once she was out of her room. It pained her to send it, but she had to be there for her best friend right now.A best friend that I keep lying to.The pit in Ellie’s stomach got worse. This was definitely not how she expected this day to go. She went to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, then checked her phone again to find a response from Sierra.Is she really pissed about us? I’m so sorry.

Of course Sierra would assume this was about them since that’s what Ellie was supposed to be talking to Juniper about right now. She wanted to explain everything to her so Sierra knew she didn’t have to worry, but there was only so much she could tell her. This story wasn’t hers to tell. It was Juniper’s business and Sierra was probably the last person she wanted it shared with. Ellie needed to respect that.

“Ellie? Everything okay in there?” Juniper asked.

Ellie had no choice but to type out a quick text in response to Sierra’s question. She hoped her very limited explanation was enough to hold her over until they could actually talk. It should be. They had such a nice week together. One canceled date shouldn’t be enough to throw them off course. Plus, Ellie woulddefinitelymake it up to her. Her body heated up as she thought about all of the ways she could do that.

There was a knock at the bathroom door. “Ellie?”

“Yeah, sorry. Be right out.”

When Ellie opened the door, Juniper was standing right outside of it. Ellie had never seen her like this. She looked so weak and defeated. Even when she was upset over the relay, it wasn’t like this. “I’m sorry I’m being so clingy. I just don’t want to be alone right now.”

Ellie sat her phone down so she could reach out her hand and take Juniper’s. “You’re not alone. Don’t worry. What do you need? Tell me what you want to do, and I’m all in.”

“This is going to sound really strange coming from me, but I could actually use a workout. I need to work off all of this excess energy I have from being so pissed.”

“Let’s do it.” Ellie was never going to turn down an extra workout. If it helped Juniper feel better, it was twice as beneficial. Ellie turned to pick her phone back up but stopped when Juniper grabbed her arm.

“Any chance you could leave your phone? If you take yours, I’m going to feel like I have to take mine, and I just kind of want to be cut off from the world right now.”

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