Page 73 of Tutoring the Bad Boy
That stops me in my tracks. When I showed the pen to him, he never picked it up, and I didn’t tell him the inscription. At the time, I didn’t want to share it. That part of the pen felt like a secret I wanted to keep for a while. “How do you know that’s what the pen says?”
“Because, you idiot, she told me. That’s where two of these pictures are coming from. The grocery store. One is from right before she hugged me, and the other is us hugging, but she was just telling me thanks. I don’t know how she had photos of that, though.”
“How did she get your number?”
Chris rolls his eyes. “Because instead of taking four of those stupid pictures, she took them and texted them to me last year.”
“What about that third picture? What about the kiss?”
“What kiss? Dude, I’ve never kissed that girl. She’s your girl, and I’d never do anything like that to you.” Chris pushes the phone back into my hand. “Why would you eventhinkI’d do something like that to you?” He waves me off and starts to walk off the court.
Oh, I’ve screwed up so royally. “Wait!” I run after him. “Wait, I’m sorry.”
He doesn’t bother to stop. “Yeah. You are. Sorry for thinking so little of me and Ginny. I get that you have trust issues, but that girl loves you.”
“She said she loved me?”
“No, you moron. I could see it. She told me how much you liked the pen, and she nearly started crying.” He stops walking and faces me. “What I don’t understand, even if you didn’t trust her, is why you didn’t trust me? You didn’t even bother to come talk to me or anything.”
My chin drops to my chest as I hang my head. “I know. I’m so sorry. I just…” I pause to get a handle on my emotions. “I saw the pictures, and I lost it. It’s exactly how Dad found out about my mom. She accidentally sent pictures of herself and the coach to my dad. I just…”
I rub my face with my hands as everything sinks in. If I’d just taken a second to think about it, there’s no way I would’ve believed Chris would ever betray me like that.
Chris crosses his arms over his chest. “We’ve been friends a long time. You could have at least given me the benefit of the doubt. Just a little. But you didn’t. You just…stopped speaking to me.”
“I know, and I’ll never be able to say I’m sorry enough or make it up to you.” I pause. “I am so, so sorry.” My voice cracks.
We stand there a minute, and Chris punches me hard on the shoulder. “Part of me wants to punch you out, but I know how hard it was on you when your mom left. I don’t know how I’d react.” He sighs. “I just…didn’t it even cross your mind that something was weird?”
I look up at him and finally make eye contact. “Like what?”
“Your dad finds out about your mom’s affair with the coach by text, and that’s the exact same way you find out about Ginny? I mean, coincidences happen, but that’s one huge similarity.” Chris shrugs. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
“I didn’t think about it.”
“Uh, duh. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been acting like a complete jerk.” Chris huffs. “I know you did the same ghost act with Ginny too, so I doubt she’ll be willing to help figure it out.”
I look down at my phone and look closer at the pictures. In the kissy-face picture, Ginny’s hair is way longer, and now that I’m scrutinizing it, she’s got bangs too. Geez. “Oh, man. She’s got bangs in this picture.”
The last bit of the Saturday sun is glinting off my phone, and I walk to a shaded area with Chris following. Before I look at the next two pictures, I ask, “Dixie isn’t talking to you?”
I haven’t been trying to keep tabs on Ginny, but it’s hard not listening when her name is spoken. If the rumors are true, Dixie hasn’t been talking to her either.
Nodding, Chris replies, “No, and I’ve been begging her to tell me what I did. That’s why I tracked you down. I needed to figure out what was going on with her. Now that I know, maybe I can reason with her too.”
“Has she made up with Ginny yet?”
“Not that I’ve heard. Ginny…people say Ginny is different. I hit Ronnie up for information too, and she says the same thing.”
The dull ache of losing Ginny is replaced with a newer, sharper ache. I’ve caused this wreckage, and I don’t know how to clean up the crime scene. “I haven’t heard too much.” More like actively ignored. There’s been no tutoring, and communication about our project has been going through Mrs. Yates. So far, if she knows something is wrong, she hasn’t said anything. Most likely, though, she knows. Mrs. Yates is sharp. There’s not a lot that gets by her.
Chris shakes his head. “She’s all ice. Comes to school, goes home, and that’s about it.”
“What am I going to do?”
“I don’t know, man. You may have caused irreparable damage.”
I look at the photo of Chris and Ginny in the grocery store, and I catch a weird shadow in it. When I zoom in, I know I can’t be seeing what I’m seeing. No. Way. “Is that…who I think it is?” I tilt the phone toward Chris.
