Page 75 of Puck with Karma
Chapter 23
Abby
“I told him that I love him.”
I am still shaking from this afternoon’s events. I never expected to run into Xander on my way to see Coach Harris. When he grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, I about melted on the spot.
“You did what?”
Riley’s voice rises over all the noise in my head. I expected Hannah to be all over me about this, but, in an interesting turn of events, it is Riley who is up in arms about it.
“Why would you do that?”
The way she shakes her head in disapproval gets to me, and I feel defensive.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Riley’s arms start flailing about. This is as animated as I’ve ever seen her in all the years that we’ve known each other.
“Because you just met this guy. You know nothing about him other than what we read on his Wikipedia page!”
“That’s not true,” I protest right away. “Xander is so kind…”
“He yelled at you when you first met,” she reminds me. I pretend not to have heard her.
“He is gentle…”
“He smashed your cell phone into the wall,” she cuts in again.
“He makes me feel so good,” I sigh and smile into the camera of my laptop.
Both my best friends stare at me. Riley has a look of disbelief on her face, completely flabbergasted by what I’m saying. Hannah looks… jealous? I can’t tell for sure, but there’s definitely a wistful look on her face.
“I don’t get feelings at first sight,” Riley continues. Everything that she says is at complete odds with everything I thought I knew about her. “They just don’t make any sense. You should wait until you’ve known him longer.”
“How long is long enough for you, Rye?” Hannah asks what I want to know as well.
“I don’t know,” Riley shrugs. “At least a year, I’d say.”
Both me and Hannah blink at the screen in shock.
“A year?” we say at the same time.
“Why not?” Riley insists. “What do you know about this man after only four weeks, Abby?”
“But what if what I know now is everything that I need to know?” I counter. “I know all that I need, Rye.”
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t say anything more. Hannah decides to come to my rescue. This is weird. It’s usually Hannah who is harassing me and Riley the one saving me.
“Have you heard more from your mother?”
I pick up my cell phone to check for any new messages. She’s been calling or texting almost every day lately, ordering me to go back home.
“Nothing today.”
I pause and frown at the screen. This is weird.
“I have a message from Wesley.”
