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He massaged his temple. “After last night, I think my relationship with Angelica is a lost cause. She’s not a fan of drinking.”
Or boyfriends who can’t get over their old girlfriends, I thought. “Maybe there’s still hope,” I said cheerfully. “I overheard Tia talking with her. She was upset, which means she’s into you. I’ve never seen Angelica express an emotion before, so that’s huge.”
He nodded slowly. “I heard you and Sawyer broke up. If I caused that, I’m sorry. If you actually wanted to be with him, I mean.” He sounded doubtful.
“I did,” I said.
A silence fell between us, long and dead, while Aidan squeaked back and forth on the swing.
“Well,” I finally said, “we still have eight months of student council together. I’d like us to try to get along from now on. We’ve broken up, but that doesn’t mean the last three years didn’t happen.”
“Right.” He leaned forward in the swing, put his hand on mine, and stroked his thumb over my palm. Maybe he was thinking about the fact that we’d been each other’s first time.
As I gazed at him, I wished again that I’d waited. My attraction to him, and my dreams of spending the rest of my life with him, seemed to belong to another girl entirely. It was hard to believe I’d ever been young enough to love him.
I drew my hand away. “I’ll see you at school Monday.”
“Yeah.” He stood, sending the swing into wild motion on its chains. “We need to start planning the student council haunted house.”
“Oh boy. Maybe somebody else could head up the committee for this one. Will. Or Sawyer.”
He coughed at my mention of Sawyer. But all he said was, “That will work. You deserve a break.” He jogged down the steps, then turned around on the sidewalk. “By the way, Kaye, you did an awesome job on the elections, and the float, and especially the dance. I didn’t want to admit it, but you were right and I was wrong.”
“Thanks,” I called.
I went back to bed.
But an hour later, I did get up and let my mother cook for me. I watched a little football with Dad. Then I spent a few hours doing something I rarely did at home: I blasted music in the backyard and worked out cheerleader choreography for a couple of new songs the marching band was playing.
My mother didn’t say a word.
About four thirty, Harper surprised me by appearing in my driveway in my car. She had a key, but it was a real favor to bring my car over from Tia’s without me asking. Brody was right behind her in her new (to her) car. He didn’t get out to talk to me, though. He gave me a brief wave and disappeared into the back seat.
“What’s up?” I asked Harper.
“Come with us to downtown Tampa, to the marching band’s first competition of the year!” She announced this with the enthusiasm of a used-car salesman.
“Mmph. I don’t feel like seeing anybody.”
“I thought you hated being here with your mom nowadays.”
I had complained to Harper about this in the last few weeks. But looking back at the house, I said, “I think we’re over the worst of it.”
“Well, you’re the head cheerleader,” she said. “You’re the student council vice president. You have to support Will and Tia.” She raised her eyebrows behind her glasses. “And I have things to give you, and things to tell you.”
That did it for me. I’d almost forgotten that my time with mischievous Harper and crazy Tia was drawing to a close. I needed to enjoy every second.
As soon as we’d set off in her car, she handed me a little satin pouch. “This is for me?” I asked.
“Yes. From Sawyer’s dad.”
“Sawyer’s dad. What in God’s name. Is it dangerous?” I dumped the contents of the pouch out onto my lap, then wished I’d been more careful. It was a little glass pelican, carefully handmade, colored like Sawyer’s costume with white feathers and a yellow beak and feet. This one had a tiny red heart on his chest. A red ribbon was looped through the back of the figure to turn it into a necklace.
“Sawyer brought it over,” Harper said. “His dad made it out of the blue and wanted to tell you he’s sorry about what he said, and sorry you found out.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I put the ribbon over my head and touched the cold pendant. “Sounds like he and Sawyer had a heart-to-heart.”
“They did.”
My stomach was beginning to twist. That was all I wanted to hear about Sawyer. I changed the subject. “So, your mom and Tia’s dad are officially dating?”
“Yes! Well, they’re going out on a date tonight.”
I asked carefully, “Is that okay with you?”
“I’ve always liked Mr. Cruz,” she said. “I do not want four sisters. Maybe they’ll just date for a while. And speaking of dating . . .” She glanced in the rearview mirror at Brody, who stretched across the back seat with his earbuds in, snoring softly.
“Poor thing,” she said. “He got sacked so hard last night. Did you hear it?”
I shook my head. “I saw it, though. He was airborne. It looked painful.”
“I heard it from the sidelines. It made me ill.” Then she grinned at me and whispered, “We did it last night!”
“You did ?” I squeaked.
“Shhh! Yes. After we took you home, he started to feel really bad. My mom was still hanging out with Tia’s dad, so Brody and I went over to my house. We thought he might start to feel better if he could lie down for a while. We decided we’d better go ahead and have sex in case he died.”
