Comeback (12 page)

There was a message from Brielle, too.

Brielle:

OMG, L!! Richelle from sci is such a teacher's
pet! She sits by me EVERY day (why?!) & makes me look so bad bc she answers
every ? and does all this extra credit & stuff. Ugh. & this new transfer guy
in English is so annoying. & it's only Mon. Boo.

Lauren:

So sry, Bri! Richelle who? Richelle Ward or Richelle
Thomas? Why is Transfer Guy annoying? I know . . . feels like
it's gonna b a long wk! Miss u!

I frowned and shoved my phone in my bag. That's how all of
Brielle's latest messages had been. All about Yates and my ex-classmates. It
wasn't that I didn't want to know about it or that she wasn't allowed
to complain to me. I wanted her to ask how I was doing, though. Ana always did. Bri and
Ana were very different people, but Brielle always used to BBM me to check on me if I
went home after school with even a frown on my face.

In the locker room, I changed into my gym uniform—dark green shorts
and a white T-shirt. Robotically, I laced up my Nikes.
You and Bri
did have that awesome Skype chat,
I reminded myself. Bri had even
“met” Khloe. That made
me feel a little better. Bri
probably thought she was making me feel better still talking about Yates as if I went
there.

I closed my locker and walked to the bleachers, taking a seat with the
other girls. Today it was just girls. I wished Drew had gym today so we could talk.

But at least I had forty-five minutes to work out and clear my head. I
needed my Bri issues to be gone by the time I got to my riding lesson. Every second with
Whisper counted. The schooling show was less than two weeks away, and there was no time
to focus on anything else when I got to the stable.

“Are you okay, Lauren?”

Reluctantly I looked up at the familiar voice. Riley stood next to me, her
black hair in a high, bouncy ponytail.

“I'm fine . . . thanks.” I wanted to play
nice if Riley was acting cool. This fresh start was important to Clare, and it would
impact Khloe so much. I forced a smile. “Why did you think something was
wrong?”

In the narrow space between bleachers, Riley stretched. She put one
red-and-silver Reebok next to me, leaning forward to touch her fingertips to her
shoe.

“Oh, you looked lost in thought or something. Must have misread
you.” She switched legs. “But I do want you
to know
that if you're worried about anything . . .” She paused, looking at me with
a soft glance. “I'm here. Clare really wants to change our friendships and
she's my bestie, so I want to try for her.”

Whoa. Something about this was
way
too easy and
fast.

“You were so mad that Khloe, Lexa, and I slept over at your
place,” I said. “Now you're completely over it?”

Riley sat next to me. “I was mad until I talked to Clare. Okay, and
even for a little while after. But I thought about what she was
really
asking me—and you and Khloe—to do. Clare wasn't
asking for us all to wear friendship bracelets and become BFFs.”

I shook my head. “No, she wasn't.”

“She was asking that we coexist. Be civil. Maybe it'll turn
into new friendships. Maybe it won't.”

“
You and Khloe
might become
friends?” I asked.

Riley grinned. “Yeah, so, that one's a little less likely to
happen. But Clare is my best, closest friend. If it makes her upset that we can't
all be in the same room without fighting—I understand. I can't promise
anything, but I'll try.”

I stared at Riley. Hard. Something about this still didn't feel
right. If Riley was Clare's best friend like she claimed, she would have known all
this was going on.
Wouldn't she have tried to stop fighting
with Khloe for Clare's sake a long time ago?

“I'm willing to try too,” I said cautiously. “It
will help our riding team, too, if we're all getting along.”

Riley nodded. “Exactly. The show season's about to get
majorly
competitive. I mean, this schooling show seems like a
teensy thing, but everyone knows it's not.”

It wasn't?

“Right.” I played along as if I knew what she was talking
about.

“The schooling show is just a way for every rider from the
surrounding schools to size up the competition. It'll give us the chance to know
who to watch, who's best at what, and in return, the other riders will see
who's weakest on our team.”

I swept my eyes over the gym, suddenly
very
over
this conversation. Where was Mr. Warren, anyway?!

“Oh, I hope I didn't make you nervous,” Riley said,
touching my upper arm.

I smiled, hoping some of Khloe's acting skills had rubbed off on me.
“Not at all. I knew what the show was about. I'm glad we have this week, the
weekend, and all of next week to practice. Plus, if we're acting like a team,
we'll be that much stronger.”

Riley flashed a perfect smile. “Exactly!”

Sneakers squeaked on the gym floor and Mr. Warren
appeared, whistle around his neck and a basketball under each arm.

Finally.

“Good afternoon, students,” Mr. Warren said. He wore his usual
customized Puma tracksuit—hunter-green pants and jacket with gold stripes.

“Hi, Mr. Warren,” we said.

“We're going to warm up with a few laps around the gym.
I'll divide you into two teams and you'll play a short game. First team to
score ten points wins.”

“Do we get a prize?” a girl with sandy curls asked.

Mr. Warren smiled. “I guess I could do that. If a team reaches ten
points before the period is over, then that team is dismissed and can use the rest of
gym as a free period.”

Cheering broke out. I
so
wanted to win!

“Get warmed up!” Mr. Warren said.

I fell in with the other girls as the eighteen of us jogged around the
gym. At Mr. Warren's whistle, we changed directions. Jogging in the confined space
wasn't anything like running. I sort of wished I had time to take up track.

We finished the warm-up and Mr. Warren divided us
into teams. Riley was on my team, and we huddled to discuss our plan of attack.

“My aim isn't awesome,” I said. “I think I'd
make a good point guard.”

“Same with me,” Riley said.

The rest of the girls chimed in with their thoughts, and when the whistle
blew, we were ready.

•  •  •

Tweeeeet!
Mr. Warren's whistle blew,
stopping all of us where we stood. Panting, I grinned and raised my hand, slapping palms
with Kelsey. She'd just made the winning basket for my team!

“Wow, ladies. I'm impressed,” Mr. Warren said.
“Both teams played equally hard, but Team A is the winner by two
points!”

“Yay!”

“Woo-hoo!”

“Score!”

Happy exclamations came from my teammates as we hugged one another. Riley
reached for me and we one-arm hugged. We'd played together on the court, guarding
our shooters, and our efforts had definitely paid off.

“Nice! Free period for us!” Riley said to me.

I brushed stray, sweaty hair from my forehead.
“So need it.”

We hugged the girls who had to stay and went back to the locker room to
change.

It didn't make sense for me to shower, since I had only one class
after this before riding. I pulled out a pack of Yes to Cucumbers moist towelettes and
wiped my face and neck. The scent was refreshing after gym, and I pulled a bottle of
water from my bag and took a few sips.

•  •  •

I sat on the steps of the science building, glad Mr. Warren
hadn't made Team A stay in the gym. Science didn't start for a few more
minutes, so I pulled out my phone.

LaurBell: My team won in bball @ gym class! 2 bad
@SwmerGuy wasn't there 2 c.

I sent the update to Chatter and opened BBM.

Lauren:

Becs, miss u. How's ur day? *hugs big
sis*

Then I clicked on Drew's name.

Lauren:

Hi.
Hope ur Mon isn't 2 bad. Got out of gym early. Wish I could
skip sci & go riding now.

I exited the application and scrolled through Chatter updates.
Buzz!

A new BBM alert appeared.

Drew:

Hey! 2day's LONG. V cool abt gym. Score! I know
abt wanting to skip. But we already did that once, remember? ;)

Lauren:

LOL. Kind of hard 2 4get. Sry ur day is dragging. 1
class 2 go, tho!

Drew:

I keep telling myself that. Want 2 groom & tack up
2gether?

My fingers paused over the buttons.
Type
something!
I yelled at myself. Geez. He hadn't asked me to prom or
something.

Lauren:

Def! Meet u @ Polo's stall?

Drew:

Sounds good. C u soon.

Even though I was going to see her in
five
minutes in class, I typed a message to Khloe.

Lauren:

! Drew just BBMed & asked if I wanted 2 groom &
tack up 2gether b4 lesson.

I made sure the message was delivered, turned my phone on silent, and
shouldered my bag. Now I couldn't wait to get to class to see Khloe and Clare and
talk about Drew.

“OMIGOD! JUST
GO
!” KHLOE SAID, LAUGHING.
“Look at yourself!”

“What?” I asked, giggling. “I'm not doing
anything. I'm waiting for you.”

We'd walked back from science class to our room, and Khloe was
getting ready for her lesson. I'd changed a
little
faster and was standing by the door.

“Laaaureeen.”

“Um, okay.” I shot her a guilty smile. “I
might
be shifting from foot to foot. And talking nonstop really
fast. And asking you every two seconds if you're ready.”

Khloe laughed, pulling on a T-shirt. “You managed to get dressed,
brush your hair, apply gloss and deodorant,
and
unpack your backpack in the time it usually takes you to get
dressed.”

“So . . . ,” I said coyly.

Khloe shook out her hair. “
So
, I think
someone wants to be at the stable with a boy, perhaps.”

I blushed. “I do. But I'm still waiting for you.”

“Nope. You're going. Before I text Drew to come get
you.” Khloe walked over, opened the door, and gestured to the hallway. She gently
pushed my shoulder. “I'll see you there! Go!”

“Okay, okay!” Laughing, I stepped into the hallway. I'd
been driving poor Khloe crazy. But I knew she understood, since she'd just started
seeing Zack—a
très
cute guy I'd met on my
first day of school.