Page 162 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
“Nothing.” But it sounds like, na-THING. So, it must be something.
“Do you want to talk about nothing?”
“No.” She stuffs a piece of cheese into her mouth. Then does the most disgusting thing—she talks with her mouth full. “Trevor isn’t going with me to the Sadie Hawkins dance because Sarah asked him first and he felt bad turning her down.” A cracker joins the cheese in her mouth. “Even though he told JJ who told Michael who told Emma who told me that he wanted to go with me.”
What the hell is she talking about? What dance? And who are all these people?
“Dances are stupid. The music sucks, people get sweaty, and you can never, ever trust the punch.”
“Brad,” she whines. “You only know all that from the movie we watched last weekend.”
I scratch the back of my head. Do I?
“Okay, why don’t you just ask someone else?”
She drops her head dramatically onto the island. Why is this a big deal?
“How was school?” Charlotte walks into the kitchen wearing her yoga clothes that I have a love/hate relationship with. “Kara? Everything okay?”
“No.” Kara drags the word out to have six syllables as Charlotte sits beside her. I lean against the stove and cross my arms, still trying to figure out if I’m supposed to track down this Trevor kid or just listen to her.
“What happened?” Lottie runs a hand down Kara’s hair, and she finally lifts her head.
That’s when I see the tears, and my decision is made—find this Trevor punk and ruin him.
“Sarah asked Trevor before I got to school this morning.”
My stomach cramps as I watch my sister. I hate seeing her cry.
“That bitch,” Charlotte spits. Apparently, she’s “in the know” again, and I’m not. It’s happening more often, and it’s taking all my effort not to be offended by that.
“Right?” Kara wipes at her tears as if they offend her too. “She doesn’t even like Trevor. She did this because she knew I was going to.”
Add Sarah to my shit list.
“I told you that girl was rotten. Classic mean girl. This is jealousy, that’s all this is. She doesn’t like that your family is…well…well-known.” Lottie crosses her arms over her chest and frowns. “You know what we have to do?”
Kara’s hand pauses halfway to her mouth with a cracker and a piece of cheese. “What?”
“You have to bring someone even better than Trevor.”
“Ah, sweetheart.” This sounds disastrous to me.
“I can’t.” New tears form in Kara’s eyes, and I snap my lips shut. This is Lottie’s arena. “I was so upset that I didn’t ask anyone else and now everyone has dates but me.”
“First of all, you’re too young to date,” I announce.
“Ugh, Brad. It’s a date to a school dance, not a date-date.”
What the hell’s the difference?
“There’s no rule that says you have to bring someone from your school.”
Kara frowns, and I bite the inside of my cheek. I don’t know where my lovely wife is going with this, but I already don’t like it.
“Well, it just so happens that Thane invited the Westbrooks over that week to work on a project with Weston.”
Kara pales, and her freaking hands shake around her phone. What the hell?
