Page 17 of I Would Stay Forever
“I wish I could, but we got assigned a project today. I’m not sure switching seats would get me out of it, and it would mess up somebody else’s pairing.”
If I could find a girl who was interested enough in Dean, she would probably be willing to switch, but there was also the matter of how Dean and whoever she was already partnered with would react. Not to mention Mr. Thompson might not be too happy. And, most importantly, I didn’t know anybody else in the class, so I didn’t even have an inkling of who to approach.
Zoey put a hand on my shoulder and sighed deeply, looking like she was about to give me some sage advice. But all she said was, “Looks like you’re just going to have to suck it up and spend time with the hot football player.”
I stuck my tongue out at her and she laughed. As she turned away to watch the end of the drills, I let the easy-going smile slip off my face. I really thought it would be for the best not to tell Zoey what had actually gone down outside the diner that night. I thought Dean would go back to being a mild presence in my life, someone who was always around but not a friend, so there was no reason for me to tell her what he saw or the ultimatum he threw in my father’s face. But if Dean would be a permanent fixture in my life—at least for this semester—telling her the truth might become a necessity, if only so that she would understand why I was so uninterested in getting to know him better. Then again, would she understand? How could she even begin to fathom it when she hadn’t been through anything like this herself? If anything, I worried that she would think it was sweet that he had been there for me. She might even think it made him better boyfriend material and push me harder toward him.
We got called back onto the court a minute later, this time being divided up into teams for some practice games. I was so focused on the game that all thoughts of Dean flew out of my mind for the next forty-five minutes. It was a nice reprieve, even if it, by its nature, was only temporary.
Zoey high-fived me as we walked to the sidelines again. We were both breathing hard but smiling. It was nice to be back here again in my happy place with my teammates. I hadn’t gotten the chance to see most of them before today even though it was the third day of school. So much had already happened.
“I’ll post our final decisions by the end of the day tomorrow,” Coach Cassidy called above the hum of girls talking. She wasstanding alongside our assistant coach, Hayden, and holding a clipboard tight to her chest. She always seemed to be holding a clipboard, and there was a running debate among the veteran players on our team about what she kept on it because we didn’t think she could have that many notes to take during practices. “Good job today, everybody.”
I smiled tiredly as I filed off the court after all my friends into the locker room. I knew that if I sat down now, I wouldn’t want to get up again, but I couldn’t help but collapse onto the wooden benches between rows of lockers and groan.
“Out of shape, Novak?” Molly joked. She was one of the other seniors on the team who I’d met at our first tryouts in freshman year. Her pale skin and bright red hair stood out against the navy blue Parkhurst Prep Volleyball shirt she was wearing.
“On the contrary,” I said, “I’ve exercised so much that I exhausted myself before even arriving here.”
“So I didn’t imagine you running past my house in your pajamas this morning, then?” Paige asked from behind me. Molly laughed loudly and Zoey ducked her head away to hide the grin I knew she was wearing. I looked over my shoulder at Paige, who was leaning against her open locker with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.
I’d never considered that somebody might notice me running by in the mornings. I was always so focused on my mission—get away from the house as quickly as possible—that the rest of the world disappeared.
“I wish I could say you did.” I leaned down to pull off my trainers and knee pads, trying not to feel embarrassed that more people than just Dean had seen me. Paige seeing me wasn’t bad, but who else had?
“I think when Coach said to keep up our workouts over the summer, she didn’t mean to literally roll out of bed,” Molly said.
I laughed along with the others but kept my face ducked so she wouldn’t see that the smile wasn’t reaching my eyes. I hadn’t told anybody about my morning runs or why I did them—not even Sebastian, who used to be my biggest confidant. There had been a wall dividing us ever since Dad left, and though I knew keeping it from him was only driving us further apart, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I told myself that it was because I didn’t want him to feel like he had to help me through this when he was already having to take care of Ainsley and Imogen, but honestly, a piece of me was worried that if I tried to open up, he might not stick around to hear it.
Maybe things would be different if I told him what really happened the night Dad admitted everything to Mum—that it was Dean who gave him the ultimatum, not me—but the more he pulled away from me, the more I knew I couldn’t do that. All that would accomplish is making him push Dean away instead of me, and though I knew we would get through this eventually, I wasn’t sure their friendship would be able to withstand the pressure.
We moved on to other topics as we all finished getting changed, making plans for going to the mall this weekend. We were debating the best options in the food court when we walked out of the locker room and bumped into Coach Cassidy, who was leaning against the wall and tapping her pen against her clipboard. She straightened when she saw the four of us coming out.
“It was great seeing you again today girls,” she said. My bag slammed against my hip as we came to a stop in front of her.
“It was good being back on the court,” Molly said. She glanced longingly at the gym doors, as if we hadn’t just left them, and I laughed a little even though I understood her completely. If I had my way, I’d be on the court for hours every day instead of the ninety-minute practices we got during the season.
“I was wondering if you could do me a small favor on your way out,” Cassidy said. She pointed toward some black bags behind her. “All this gym equipment should be in the far storage room—you know the one, by the parking lot door. Would you four be willing to carry them over for me? It would take me multiple trips to do it alone, and since you’re on your way out anyway…” she trailed off and smiled sheepishly.
“Of course we can,” Molly said immediately without even glancing at the rest of us. Molly was always willing to lend a hand to anyone she could. She pushed her white headband further up on her head so it was holding her hair fully out of her face and started walking over to the bags with purpose, looking like she was walking into a competition.
The rest of us trailed after her a little less enthusiastically, but we all took a bag. They weren’t too heavy but they were awkward to carry, so it was hard to walk with them. When I glanced back at the end of the hallway, Cassidy was still standing by the locker room door. When we’d left, the new girls trying out were still in there, so I figured she was waiting for them to chat a bit.
“Why are these bags so huge?” Paige huffed as we walked. The rest of us just muttered our agreement, the only other sound in the hall being our legs hitting the bags with every step. School had been over for a couple of hours by now, so the only people still here were teachers or other students who were around for clubs.
Molly was still leading the charge and luckily she knew exactly which storage room Cassidy had meant, so she led us right to it. She used her shoulder to shove the door open and the bottom of it scraped the floor with a loud screech. A moment later, I heard her shout in surprise. Zoey and I had been lagging behind, but after a surprised glance at each other, we both rushed to catch up, practically running straight into Mollyand Paige’s backs because they were standing just inside the doorway.
I opened my mouth to ask what Molly had yelled about, but the words died on my lips as they shifted apart just enough for me to see into the storage room—where Tiffany was standing with her shirt half-unbuttoned, her lipstick smudged, and her hands on the chest of a boy who was most certainlynotmy brother.
twelve
I tappedmy nails against the table in front of me as I watched the takeout counter across the restaurant. The order was supposed to be ready twenty minutes ago but apparently the kitchen was slammed tonight, so the hostess told me I could sit down and wait at a table that was reserved for a party in a half-hour. At the rate we were going, I wasn’t sure I’d be out of here in time.
My phone sat face up on the table, open to our siblings’ group chat. New messages were coming in every minute as Ainsley and Imogen debated what the best film to watch tonight was. Technically, Sebastian was the one who got to decide since it was his breakup party we were having, but we all knew he would give in to the twins if they decided on a film first.
“Fancy running into you here.”
I jerked my head up at the familiar voice, almost ready to run, but I wasn’t quick enough. Dean was already sliding into the booth, trapping me between him and the wall. I slid away from him, pressing my back against the wall and pulled my phone toward me, hiding the messages from view as if there was anything on the screen that he would want to see anyway.
