42
THEO
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Mollie Wilson:Now would be a good time to go support Jade’s Goodies ... for reasons.
Comments:
Kerry Winsor:What’s going on? Is Jade poor?
Mollie Wilson:No, no! Not that. She could just use some ... cheering up.
Kerry Winsor:I’m on my way! I can ask about Gabriel while I’m at it.
Grace Day:DO NOT ask about Gabriel.
Jade Clark:I don’t need your pity purchases!
Jade Clark:... but I’ll take them.
“Funny seeing you here,”I said to Piper as she walked into the shop. We’d spent the last night at our own places since I had to go to sleep at a decent time. She had a bad habit of keeping me awake, and she had plans with her friends.
“I know, right? It’s almost like I live close by.” She matched my expression as she leaned on the counter. “Hi, by the way.”
“Hi.”
“No hello for me?” Kelsey asked from behind me. “Rude.”
“I would’ve said hi last night if you’d come to girls’ night,” Piper replied.
“I had a date with a job-hunting site.” She sighed. “Like all my other dates, it went horribly. Did you have fun?”
“Uh, yeah. Mostly.” Piper shrugged. “We played some games.”
This had to be the first time Piper didn’t have something glowing to say about Mollie, Wren, Grace, and Jade. I silently raised an eyebrow in her direction.
“Nothing’s happening,” she said to me. “One of them is going through something, and I doubt you wanna hear about it.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Kelsey replied. “Theo here has been listening a lot more. It’s almost like he cares about what’s going on.”
“Really?” Piper asked. “Building a future here, huh?”
“A little,” I muttered. “And you’re avoiding the point, love. What happened?”
“Jade’s a little sad. About this guy.”
“Gabriel,” Kelsey added.
“You know?”
“Even I’ve heard about this one,” I said. “But Kelsey was probably here when everything went down.”
“I was. No one knows everything that truly happened, but it ended with a massive fight in the square.” She pointed outside. “We talked about it for years, but I thought she was trying to move on.”
“Trying, but not succeeding.”
“I’m not surprised. They were always something together. Alot of us thought he would either stay or she would go with him.”
