Page 11 of The Rebel
“Yeah,” I answered his question first, before asking, “You’ve been away since September?”
“Yep.”
That was kind of a lot to grasp. That Jade had gone to school over in England for a whole semester. Though, I guess it waslike Paris going off on his own to Florida. He was independent, mature...reminding me that I was a silly girl who was sulking because my best friend was dating my crush.
Oliver and Tyson came back to the truck with their sleds and piled in the back seat, chatting about their rides and drinking their hot chocolate. I sat back and listened but didn’t say anything. I wondered whether Jade had missed Oliver when he’d been away in England. And what had made him go to England in the first place?
Tyson lived near Main Street, so Jade dropped him home first. I said that I could walk through their orchard and climb the fence to save him a trip to my house, but Jade said it was no trouble to drive to my front door. Oliver lifted my sled out of the back of the truck, once again apologizing for the collision, but I reassured him I was okay. I really just wanted to go into my room and try to make sense of Gabby and Scott’s new relationship.
Mom was on the phone as I dropped my sled, boots and jacket in the entranceway and headed upstairs. She called out something as I opened my bedroom door, but I didn’t hear it. I needed a hot shower and a chance to process what had happened. Because my brain was about to burst.
It was all too much, too crazy, out of this world. Gabby had never indicated she had any kind of attraction to Scott. In fact, if you’d taken our group of friends, Gabby would be voted least likely to have a boyfriend. Not because she wasn’t cute—on the contrary, she was gorgeous with her long hair and pretty blue eyes—but Gabby was a serious student who excelled in academics, music and theater. She was one of those all-round students who couldn’t put a foot wrong. She ran the school’s community garden, babysat for her little brother and volunteered at the blind center. She’d made me get involved too, but while she played the piano, I did art projects with the low-vision group. Gabby said it was all to make our eventual college applications look like we were amazing people, but I actually enjoyed the bi-weekly sessions. The people I worked with were all ages, some as old as Mom and Dad, and some had other disabilities besides their vision, but they loved to paint and draw with crayons and paste with glue. Our holiday project had been making a paper mache piñata. It had been neat to see everybody proud of their creative efforts.
But now I was staring at my phone, wondering how I should respond to this new development. Gabby and I had been friends since freshman year when we’d been paired for a drama project. Luckily for me, Gabby was a natural at acting, whereas I was awkward and stiff on stage. Only thanks to her did I get an A, but it was the start of our friendship. Gabby didn’t play tennis, or know anything about the sport.
Even though I’d stopped playing tournaments, I‘d continued with group coaching and club sessions because Mom and Dad said it was essential to play a sport. But it had been hard constantly being compared to Paris all the time.
When Gabby persuaded me to try out for the volleyball team with her, I felt a little guilt at giving up tennis, but she convinced me that I should have my own sport and not live in Paris’s shadow. Mom didn’t have quite the same viewpoint, and it incited a period where we barely spoke to one another. In her eyes, by not playing tennis, I was personally rejecting her.
Volleyball wasn’t a big sport at Covington Prep, but it was fun to play in a team and not have any pressure or expectations on us. Especially because we were mediocre. Our season had ended with only a marginally better win-loss record of 20-16.
I mindlessly scrolled through my phone. Gabby and I were tight, pinky promise tight, yet I wasn’t sure if I was more upset over knowing Scott liked Gabby and not me, or because Gabbyonly told me about it today. That basically constituted a lack of trust, not confiding in me, keeping a secret.
“Valenciaaaaaa!”My name echoed around the room as I opened my eyes and tried to get my bearings.
I’d been lying on the ice and Jade Sinclair had been standing over and looking at me with his distinctly green eyes, an insane shade of green, glowing, cat-like. Or in my dream he did. In real life, I wasn’t sure—I hadn’t lookedthatclosely. Maybe my dream had conjured up green eyes because his name was Jade and jade was green.
“Valencia!” With my mother standing over me, I realized I was on my bed and not on snowy Oak Brook Hill. Though I was still in my sweater and ski pants. “You can’t dump your sled in the entranceway. Take it to the garage and your boots to the laundry room,” she snapped. “I’ve been calling for ages. Dinner’s ready.”
“I’m not hungry,” I said, sitting up. “What’s the time? I must’ve fallen asleep.”
“I knew it wasn’t a good idea to go sledding,” Mom scoffed, always knowing best. Her eyes scrutinized me as she leaned closer. “Is that blood?”
“What? Where?” I said, automatically feeling my nose, which came away dry. But Mom had already swept across to my bedside table and grabbed a bunch of tissues and attempted to wipe my upper lip. Her touch was forceful, like she was scrubbing the kitchen floor and not my face. Not gentle like Jade’s touch.
“Ouch,” I said, as she rubbed it again.
“Did you have a fall?”
I shrugged, not wanting to tell her about the collision. “I just came off, must’ve knocked it.” I wasn’t in the mood to tell her about the Sinclairs. In fact, it was surprising that she hadn’t heard about it from Dani yet.
“How’s Gabby? And Jazmyn?”
“Good,” I mumbled, wriggling away from her. “I can do it. I’m fine.” I stormed off to my bathroom and turned on the shower as she reminded me that I needed to get rid of my sled and boots. I couldn’t understand why, instead of coming upstairs to tell me off, she could have saved her lungs and done it herself.
With the warm water running down my back, I realized I hadn’t checked my phone, now anxious to know if Gabby had texted me. Falling asleep had put me behind in getting everything ready for school tomorrow. I needed to check my school bag, my uniform, my ride...
I usually rode to school with Gabby and her mom, but would Gabby drive me tomorrow? Or would she go with Scott now? Scott drove a hybrid too, being passionate about the environment. That had been one of the things I liked about him—he wasn’t just talk, he believed in doing his part to save the planet.
I dressed in my warm cat pajamas and sheepskin slippers, comfy and cozy, just the way I liked to be in winter. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t—yet. I had to go downstairs and do my chores or Mom would be on my back again. Probably ground me like that one time I’d tipped all of Paris’s tennis balls out of the ball basket. Well, Paris had been teasing me about being a loser, so to me it was justified. But he went crying to Mom, and not only did I miss out on Halle Salvadore’s sleepover because I was grounded for two weeks, but I had to pick up all the balls too.
“Oooh, it’s supposed to get colder tomorrow,” Mom was saying to Dad as I came back in from the laundry room, my ski jacket left to hang on the rack. She shivered and rubbed her hands together.
“You should’ve stayed in Florida,”I muttered, purposely clanging a cabinet door at the same time so neither Mom nor Dad would hear.
“What was that?” Dad asked, peering over Mom’s shoulder as she worked on her laptop.
“Nothing,” I said, opening the gourmet pizza boxes and selecting a slice from each. “I’m going to eat in my room.”
