AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Rondeau, shut up.” She had to raise her voice slightly, but it worked. He stopped talking. “You donotneed to apologize to me. I’m not mad at you. I told you I believe you and I do. This is what Joliet does every time things don’t go her way. I should be apologizing to you for getting you caught in the middle of this.”
“No, no. God, please don’t do that.” He shook his head. “I thought you were mad at me since you left so early.”
She cringed deep down. She should have thought that through because now she had to make up an excuse.
“But it must have been because of Joliet, wasn’t it? You were mad at her, not me?” he asked.
Thank God. She didn’t even have to come up with the lie herself, even though she was becoming pretty good at it. “Yes, exactly.”
Nathan ran a hand through his hair. “I was so worried you hated me.”
Quite the opposite. Tully felt bad for making him worry, but she didn’t have enough time to make it up to him for the wonderful night—aside from the Joliet part—and for caring and for just being Nathan.
“I’d buy you dinner, but I’m grounded for two weeks.” She looked over her shoulder like someone was going to pop out. “We’ll figure out how to work around tutoring later. I’ve got to go.”
“Wait,” he stopped her and put the sunflowers into her hands. They were beautiful. “Take them. They’re yours.”
Theywereher favorite flower. “Thanks, Nathan.”
He walked backward down the porch steps without falling. “Anything for my angel.”
She walked in and shut the door before beelining it for the stairs.
“Hold on, Tulsa.” Her mom called and stopped her in her tracks. She sighed and went back to the entry to the living room. Her mom stared at the flowers. “Who was that?”
“No one.”
“Where’d you get the flowers?”
“Someone left them on the porch.”
Her mom thought about it for a moment, then came to her own conclusion. “Someone must have left them for Joliet. Go put them in her room for her.”
Tully laughed under her breath and walked upstairs without answering. Give Nathan’s flowers to Joliet? Ha. That would be the very last thing she would do.
forty-six
tully
Taking the exam the second time was easier than the first. She stayed in her desk afterwards and watched Mrs. Carmichael grade it.
“How did the answers end up in your locker?” She asked as she handed over the sheet with a red ‘100%’ written in marker on top. “You clearly don’t need it.”
“My sister put them there.”
“Hmm,” was all the teacher said, unconvinced. Teachers loved Tully because she was an ideal student in class, but they loved Joliet everywhere else because her personality remained unmatched in front of the right people. That made many of them default to Joliet’s side.
Leaving the classroom, she stopped by the office to make sure Ms. Hill received her evidence of innocence and headed to the nearest bathroom.
There was not enough time to get lunch anymore, but Stephanie did her a favor and was holding a leftover apple and waiting for her there. She tossed it to her. “How’d it go?”
“The exact same way it did before.”
“I can’t believe they really thought you would do that.” She scoffed and leaned against the wall. “Best student in school.”
“To be fair, all the evidence is stacked against me. I’m lucky I got a second chance.”
“I can’t believe you’re defending them.”
