Page 66 of Thrown for a Loop
Her mother glares at her for making this obvious point. “You will come with me now.”
He waits for Zoe to say,Like hell. And it’s weird that she doesn’t. She grabs her shoes and socks and follows her mother toward the door, as if that were the only choice.
It isn’t!he wants to scream.Tell her to fuck right off.
But Sister Walsh holds the door open for Zoe and then follows her through it.
He’s stewing over this a moment later when he hears their voices.Apparently Sister Walsh has paused in the privacy of the stairwell to rip her daughter a new one.
He creeps closer to the metal door and presses an ear against it.
“I’m not stupid, and you’re not fooling anyone! I’m sure you have some grandiose idea that you’re in love. But that boy doesn’t care about you. Not even a little. He’s a college hockey player, Zoe. His dorm room has a revolving door on it. You’re just the flavor of the month.”
His fists are suddenly clenched.You evil bitch.
“He’s just playing around with you because he can. Because you’re an easy mark. Whatever he’s telling you to try to get you into bed? It’s not true.”
There’s a deep silence coming from Zoe’s end of the conversation. As if she’s actually listening to this bullshit. The thought makes him sag against the door.
Her mother keeps yammering on about how Chase is just a passing phase and Zoe can’t lose sight of what’s really important. The fall competition season is only eight weeks away. And how is Zoe going to be ready if her head is on all the wrong things?
“He’s leaving for good in the middle of August,” Sister Walsh says. “Youdoknow that, right? And he won’t be invited back next year.”
Shit.
Zoe is finally alone a half hour later. She’s sitting on the bed in her room, heart thumping, wondering how mad Chase is. Their nights on the roof are over now. There’s no way her mother won’t check up there tomorrow night, and the night after that. Hell, she’ll probably bar the door unless it’s against the fire regulations.
“Why did you come up to the roof?” Zoe asked twice withoutreceiving an answer. Which means somebody snitched. Somebody ruined the best thing that had ever happened to her, and they did it on purpose.
She starts several texts to Chase before deleting them, because she doesn’t know what to say. After much deliberation, she goes withOMG I’m sorry. She’s so terrible. I’m SO SORRY.
Chase replies immediately.Hey, not your fault. Are you okay?
Her heart cracks a little at the question. Because no, she’s not okay. But he’s the only one in her life who ever seems to ask that question.
Zoe:I’m just mad. At her for being such a bitch, and at whoever ratted us out. The bunheads are always pulling this crap. She also has access to my email, and she checks it a lot. It’s supposed to be for business reasons. As if. Actually now I wonder if she monitors my texts.
Chase:Well that’s dark. HEY COACH PAT! If you’re reading this, I hope you know that it’s a terrible invasion of privacy!
Zoe actually smiles. Then she taps his avatar and calls him.
“Hey.” His deep voice is like a warm hug. “Hang in there, okay?”
“Yeah.” She sighs. “Except she ruined our fun. You know I can’t go back up there again, right?”
“Then I think it’s important to state for the record that our game of Battleship was officially a draw. You never actually sank my battleship.”
“Fine, loser,” she whispers. “It’s a draw. But I sure wish I could finish you off.”
He sighs. “The jokes I could make right now.”
“Oh, Hotshot. Don’t ever change.” Her eyes are stinging as she says it.
“Zoe… This just isn’t right. We weren’t hurting anyone.”
“Iknow. But I got the usual lecture anyway. Champions make sacrifices. Blah-blah-blah.”
“But did she say, ‘Boys only want one thing’?”
