Page 46 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
Hadley
Hadley dropped her keys on the table near her front door and kicked off her shoes before walking into the living room. “I’m never moving again.” She collapsed into a chair next to Charlotte.
Jesse sat at Charlotte’s feet with Roman and Cassie on the couch snuggling nearby.
“Stop your canoodling.” Hadley pointed to them. “I don’t have the energy to puke.”
Roman’s lips curved into a grin. “Tough day, Hads?”
“I think I used every muscle.”
Charlotte lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t you use your muscles on a daily basis?”
“Think about who it is you’re talking to, Charizard.” She sighed. “I’m lazybones, remember?”
That earned her a laugh from all four of her friends. She turned her attention to the hockey game they were watching. “How we looking?”
“Oh, Hads, we always look good.” Roman smirked.
“I meant the team, weirdo.” She took the pillow from behind her back and threw it at him.
He caught it, but Jesse responded before he could say anything. “The Bolts are killing it right now. Stammer is a special dude.”
“Awww, like my goat!” She’d stopped by the goat house—as she was now calling it—to say bye to Stammer before she left. Gabe let her help feed the goats.
“Sure.” Roman threw her pillow back. “He’s just like your goat.”
Cassie sat up. “Is it true the goat was the reason you were caught?”
“No. The school just figured I was the only one genius enough to pull off a prank like that.”
Cassie laughed. “I wish I could have been a part of it.” Cassie’s anxiety kept her from doing a lot of things, but she’d been opening up to them little by little. Just coming to Roman’s place instead of him going to hers was a giant leap.
“Next time, we’ll live stream it for you.”
Roman pulled Cassie back into his side. “Won’t that for sure get you caught?”
Hadley shrugged. “Us convicts don’t worry much about the consequences.”
Charlotte leaned forward to hug Jesse from behind and turned her gaze on Hadley. “You should have told us what you were planning.”
“Why? So you could try to stop me?”
Roman raised a hand. “I knew, participated, and fully approved.”
“Don’t raise your hand, babe.” Cassie pushed his arm down. “Just speak like a normal person.”
A laugh burst free of Hadley. “Roman is anything but normal.”
“Hadley Gibson.” Her grandfather’s voice boomed through the room as he appeared behind her. “You’re getting my furniture filthy.”
“Papa, I just returned from day one of indentured servitude. Give a girl a break.”
He swatted the back of the chair with a rolled-up newspaper. “Not until you’re clean.”
“Can’t. Move.” She looked up at him with fake sadness. “So. Tired.”
“Up.” The newspaper struck her shoulder.
