Page 81 of The Forever After Bet

“Sure, I’ll leave if you can tell me what needs to be done with all these donations.” Hannah glances around the foyer, looking at everything we’ve taken in today.

Bree shrugs. “Stay, don’t stay. I don’t care.” Bree pushes past Hannah.

“That’s right, Bree. You don’t care about anyone but yourself.” Hannah scoffs.

“That’s not true. I care about others.” Bree looks directly at me when she says that, giving me the creeps.

Hannah bends over, laughing out loud, and then goes to help a woman who has come in.

“What’s her problem today?” Bree asks, sitting across from me, since Jack is on one side of me and Ty is on the other.

“Her problem is that you were supposed to be here this morning to help. The only thing you’ve done for this fundraiser is cause problems,” Jack says, then gets up and leaves. I stand up to follow Jack, but Bree grabs my arm.

“You don’t think that, do you?” Bree asks, pouting her lips.

I want to say yes; I think precisely that, but I promised Hannah I’d leave Bree alone today. I shrug my shoulders. “Hannah’s put a lot of work into this.”

“So have I. Mine’s just been more behind the scenes and managerial.”

“Okay, well, I’m going to help with the canned foods. The food bank is supposed to be here any time now to pick everything up.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at the dance tonight, right?” Bree yells as I walk away.

I just give her a head nod. I watch her walk over to Hannah and say something that turns her face red. Hannah says something back, then shrugs her shoulders. Bree looks over at me and waves.

Dammit! Now Bree is going to think I was watching her instead of Hannah. I give her another head nod and go back to stacking boxes.

Everything is done, and the donations are stored in the conference room by three-thirty.

“We did that fast. I thought we’d be here until at least five.” Hannah smiles.

“Now we can go get ready for the dance.” June squeals, wrapping her arm around Ty’s.

“I’m going to go home and shower, and then I’ll be over to get you,” Hannah tells June.

“Sounds good. I need to shower myself. Some of those donated clothes need to be washed.” June makes a disgusted face, and we all laugh.

I hold my hand out for Hannah. “Come on, I’ll take you home.” She wraps her arm around me, and we walk to my car. I help her in, then I climbed into the driver’s seat. I start the car, but I don’t put it into drive.

She glances at me, then huffs, slumping her shoulders. “Bree told me if I said anything bad about her to Mrs. Landry, she’d tell her I was still bullying her. It pissed me off. I looked her in the eye and said prove it. I told her I had proof that she’d bullied me. She rolled her eyes, then waved to you and left.”

“She threatened you,” I state.

“Basically.” Hannah shrugs. “Last week, after Mrs. Landry talked to us about the fundraiser, I asked her if she had time to talk to me about a personal matter. That’s why I was gone for so long. I had a couple of questions about how to list some of my awards and achievements on my college applications. After I was done. Mrs. Landry asked me about the bullying again. I told her it was a lie. Then I told her about what happened with Bree and Alison over the summer and how we think Bree is behind the latest website.”

“Wow, what did Mrs. Landry say?”

“She believed me. She said other girls have come to her about being bullied by Bree or one of Bree’s friends, but it’s never been serious enough to warrant an intervention. Mrs. Landry hoped being in charge of something important would help her mature. I said maybe if she’d been solely responsible. But since I was also in charge, she’d just pawned everything off on me, unless it was something she wanted to do.”

I start the car and put it into drive. I take Hannah’s hand. “I’m proud of you for opening up and telling the school counselor.”

“I thought it would be hard, but once I started talking, it’s like I couldn’t stop. It felt good to tell an adult who would listen and not judge me.”

“I’m glad it helped.”

“Are you guys still getting ready at your house?” Hannah asks.

“Yeah. Trust me. It won’t be anything like what you girls do to get ready. It will be putting on a shirt and tie and then playing Xbox for an hour.”

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