Comeback (8 page)

There was a short convo between Brielle and Taylor.

BrielleisaBeauty: @TFrost: The movie was
amaze!

TFrost: @BrielleisaBeauty: Way better than I thought it
would b.

BrielleisaBeauty: @TFrost: Totally. C u
tmrw.

I read the message again. The message didn't say whether any of our
other friends from Yates had gone, too. It sounded as if it had been just Brielle and
Taylor.
But did I care?
Should
I care? I
was kind of seeing someone else, and Taylor and I weren't together anymore.

Then I saw another message.

AnaArtiste: @BrielleisaBeauty @TFrost: Loved the
movie!!

I wanted to smack myself. Ana had been there too. I had to stop jumping to
conclusions. Besides,
I
had written one-on-one exchanges with
Drew and hadn't thought about Taylor seeing them and reading into it.

I clicked on my profile and typed a new status update.

LaurBell: Sleepover @CutieClare's w @DramaRama
& @Lexaaa was so fun. Every1's asleep now. Night! Zzzz...

I updated my status, poked my head out of my sleeping bag, and fell asleep
with my phone in hand.

“LAAAUREEEN.”

I opened my eyes, blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings. Then I
remembered I was at Clare's.

Khloe was crouched beside me, her blond hair wavy and her braid messy from
sleep.

“What?” I asked. Everyone else was still sleeping, and gentle
sunlight filtered through Clare's shades.

Khloe looked over her shoulder at Lexa, who turned over in her sleeping
bag, breathing deeply. Then she looked up at Clare, who had a purple mask over her
eyes.

“Come on,” Khloe whispered.

I started to ask, but the look on Khloe's face stopped me. Something
was wrong. Khloe was
never
the first one awake, and she looked
like she'd been up for a while. There
weren't any signs
of sleepiness on her face—instead her mouth was pressed together, and she was
clenching and unclenching her fingers.

Without a word, I crawled out of my warm sleeping bag, then grabbed
slippers and my blue robe to throw over my white shorts and lace eyelet tank top.

Khloe eased open the door, made sure it was unlocked, and motioned me to
go in front of her. We stepped into the silent hallway, and I slid into my slippers and
pulled on my robe.

“Okay. You're scaring me. What's going on?” I
asked her.

Khloe rubbed her forehead. “We've got a Riley
problem.”

We walked a few steps away from Clare's door, and Khloe plopped onto
the floor, patting the carpet next to her.

I was still sleepy. “What do you mean? Riley's not even
here.”

Khloe held out her phone and handed me mine. “I grabbed
yours,” she explained. “You updated your Chatter status last
night.”

“Yeah . . . ,” I said, dragging out the word. “So? I
don't understand.”

“You wrote that we were staying at Clare's.” Khloe
rubbed her forehead. “It's so dumb that it's an
issue, but Clare didn't tell Riley that Lexa, you, and I were sleeping over. Riley
would have said no way and been really ticked at Clare for asking.”

Suddenly, I got it. “And you said Clare didn't even talk to
Riley about it. So she probably wasn't going to even tell Riley that we slept
over,” I said, drawing my knees up to my chest.

Khloe picked at the fresh polish on her thumb. “She definitely
wasn't going to say a word. Clare's going to get ripped from Riley for
having us over.”

“Oh, no. Oh, Khlo. I didn't even think last night. I should
have. But wait, it's early in the morning. I posted that
really
late last night. What if Riley didn't even see it? I can delete
it right now and Riley will never know.”

Khloe gave me a small smile. “If only Riley wasn't a Chatter
addict who checks it every two seconds. She already saw it. Check your phone.”

I turned on my BlackBerry and there were Chatter notifications. I went
straight to the replies.

OfficiallyRiley: Wow! Seems like my bestie,
@CutieClare, doesn't miss me at all. She already filled our room w new
roomies—@Lexaaa, @DramaRama, & @LaurBell.

That was posted hours after I'd written my message.

There were individual messages from Riley to each of
us, all written minutes apart this morning.

OfficiallyRiley: @CutieClare: I'm coming back
tmrw, Clare. Hope that doesn't disappoint u 2 much.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “This is so
immature!” I felt sick that I'd caused trouble between Clare and Riley.
Poor, sleeping Clare had no idea yet about what she was going to wake up to. All because
I'd been missing half my brain last night.

Khloe shook her head. “I wish this was a joke. Keep
reading.”

OfficiallyRiley: @Lexaaa: Did u have fun sleeping in my
dorm room, Lex? R @CutieClare & I invited 2 ur room next? We'd def want
Jill's OK first, tho.

The girl was transparent. She was broadcasting what read like some kind of
ultimate betrayal on Chatter and painting Clare like a girl who couldn't wait to
get rid of her roommate to have people over.

OfficiallyRiley: @DramaRama: *claps* Bravo, KK! Good
move sleeping over while I was away. 2 bad u just got 2 sleep on my floor while I
slept in NYC.

I couldn't look at Khloe when I read that message. I knew how
competitive the two girls were with acting. Khloe had to be practically burning from
that.

OfficiallyRiley: @LaurBell: So glad
u had a bonding nite, new girl! If u moved any of my riding trophies, could u make
sure they're back in place? PS: Are u having urs sent here now that the
word's out, dressage champ?

I exited the application and squeezed my eyes shut. “Great. What
now? It's my fault, so I'm obviously telling Clare. What if I BMM Riley an
apology and say Clare told us we couldn't sleep over, but we kept bugging her
until she said yes?”

Khloe shook her head. “Riley's smarter than that. I think all
we can do is tell Clare and let her decide how to handle it. She's my best friend,
but she's Riley's, too. At first I wanted to do something immediately to fix
it for Clare, but I can't. She has to decide if she's going to start
standing up for herself against Riley.”

“I'm sorry, Khloe,” I said quietly. “I know this
isn't an easy situation for you. I can't imagine how hard it is to have
Clare be so tight with someone who treats you like trash.”

“I've kind of learned to live with it,” Khloe said. She
leaned her head against the wall. “Clare and Riley were friends first. Then I met
Clare, and we became friends on our own. When Clare introduced me to Riley, she was
really hoping the three of us would all get along. It just didn't work out that
way. At all.”

“It's made things difficult for you and
Lexa, too,” I said. “But I want you to know how much I like Clare and that I
support your friendship with her. From how Lexa acted last night, I think she and Clare
have a shot at becoming friends.”

Khloe nodded. “Lexa and Clare got along really well. Face
it—everyone gets along better without Riley around.” She closed her eyes for
a second. “I almost wish that Riley would get the acting gig in New
York.”

“She won't,” I said firmly. “It would be easier
without Riley here, but she's not going to get the job, Khlo. We'll have to
learn how to coexist. Somehow.”

Khloe patted my arm. “You're a good friend, LT. I guess we
should go back before anyone wakes up and worries that we're gone.”

“Agreed,” I said, standing and offering a hand to Khloe.
“And I'm going to tell Clare right away. I don't want Riley to have a
chance to say anything else over Chatter.”

We padded the few steps back to Clare and Riley's, and I opened the
door. Khloe shut the door behind us and I kicked off my slippers, taking a breath. I
hoped Clare wouldn't hate me because of what I'd done.

It had gotten much lighter outside, and the clock beside Clare changed to
9:02 a.m. I leaned down to put
my phone on my pillow, and Lexa
shifted in her sleeping bag, blinking and looking up at me.

“Hey,” she whispered.

“Morning,” I said.

Lexa rolled onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows. Her eyes
shifted to Khloe, who'd sat on the edge of the coffee table. The friends waved at
each other.

Sheets rustled and Clare reached up to her face, pulling off her eye mask.
A few red curls stuck up, having escaped from their ponytail. She yawned and smiled
sleepily at us.

“You guys been up long?” she asked, sitting up.

Lexa shook her head. “Not even a minute.”

Clare looked at the clock. “Did we fail sleepover morning after by
not sleeping until noon?”

We laughed, but mine was forced, and I had a feeling Khloe's was as
well.

“Nah,” Khloe said. “Who wants to waste weekend minutes?
We've all got stuff at the stable to do, and I'm excited about trail
riding.”

“Me too,” I said.

Clare looked at her nightstand again. “Geez, my phone's
blinking like crazy.” She started to reach for it.

“Clare,” I said. “Wait a sec. I need to tell you
something.”

Slowly, Clare pulled back her hand.
“Okaaay.” She looked at Khloe. “Something happened. What?”

That made Lexa sit up.

I sat next to Khloe on the coffee table, facing Clare.

“I messed up last night,” I said. “I was awake after you
guys fell asleep. I wrote Drew back that we all wanted to trail ride with
him.”

Clare shook her head. “Not seeing how you messed up.”

“Then I got on Chatter.” I took a big breath.
Please don't let Clare freak out,
I thought. “I
wrote about what an awesome time I was having last night. Sleeping over
here
with you, Khloe, and Lex.”

Clare sat up straighter. “You said you guys were sleeping
here?” She played with the strap on her eye mask. “I didn't tell
Riley.”

“I know,” I said. “Clare, I'm so, so sorry. This
morning, Khloe saw what I'd done and we were going to erase my message, but
it's too late. Riley saw it already, and she sent nasty messages to each of us.
It's all my fault. I promise that I'll do anything you want to smooth things
over between you and Riley.”

Clare shook her head and reached for her phone. I watched as she stared at
the screen for what felt like forever. She typed something, then put down the phone.
Then she looked back at me, her expression blank. It was official:
Clare was mad at me. I couldn't blame her. I never should have sent the
message.

“Clare,” Khloe said, “we're going to help with
Riley. I know you're upset, but please try to remember that this is
your
room too. You don't need anyone's permission to
have friends over.”

Clare nodded. “I know. I BBMed Riley and told her that I'd
wanted you all to stay over. I told her I would have asked if she'd been here, but
she wasn't.” She looked at me. “Please don't feel like you did
something wrong. You didn't. I'm sorry that all you guys got messages from
Riley.”

“Wait, wait,” Lexa said. “You're serious? You
basically told Riley to get over it? No offense, but I thought you'd be freaking
out. You kind of . . .”

Lexa let her sentence go without finishing.

Clare pulled back her covers and walked to the floor, then sat down by all
of us. She smoothed her oversize red
I ♥ BOYS
T-shirt, which she'd paired with black leggings. “I kind of always bow down
to Riley. Or do whatever she says. It's okay, Lexa. I know that.”

“What made you write her something like that
now
?” Khloe asked. “Clare, she's one of your best
friends.”

“Exactly. And a ‘best friend' shouldn't act like
that.
It's one thing if Riley wants to freak out at me, but
I'm not letting her do that to all of you.” Clare looked down. “And
Khloe, I'm so sorry. I let Riley get away with a lot of things that she's
said and done to you. I'm your best friend, and you deserve to have me act like
one. I'm going to start doing a better job.”

Khloe's eyes got misty. She got up and leaned down to hug Clare.
“Thanks, C. But I want you to keep your friendship with Riley, if you
want.”

They let go of each other, and Clare nodded. “I will. But some
things have to change. She's Riley Edwards. I don't expect her to suddenly
be sugary sweet to everyone, but the insults have to stop.”