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She was just getting ready to brave the halls when the door swung inward and there was Zora . . . with Bailey and Carmen, two peas in a pod. They were always together. The kind of best friends that make it hard to be with them. Even though they were members of the First Five, Bailey and Carmen could be the Only Two, the way they acted sometimes.
“There you are!” Zora declared. “God, we’ve been looking all over for you. We thought maybe you went home with somebody else.”
“Tanner was looking for you, too,” said Bailey.
Delta couldn’t contain the squeak of despair that squeezed past her lips. “I’ll bet,” she said bitterly.
“He was,” Bailey insisted. “I don’t know what happened between you guys, but he was really trying to find you.”
“Oh, you know what happened.” Delta could hardly get the words out. “What are you guys still doing at school?”
“Looking for you,” Carmen said. “And Amanda. We saw her leave with her brother.”
Delta held up her hands. “I don’t want to hear about her!”
Zora, Bailey, and Carmen all looked at each other, as if silently asking each other how to proceed. Delta turned away from them, filled with anguish. She heard Zora say, “Guess I shouldn’t have told you about them. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“Not that big of a deal?” Delta’s head shot up. “You would keep it from me?”
“Of course not. I mean, it was just . . . it wasn’t a big deal. Just a little making out.”
“On your parents’ pool table!”
“Well, they were . . . playing pool,” Zora muttered.
“That’s not what you said the first time. You said they were on the pool table!”
“Playing pool on the pool table! Jesus. I don’t know, Delta. It wasn’t like that!”
“What was it like?”
“Not like that.”
Delta wanted to believe her. She really, really wanted to. And Zora was trying to take it back now, but she’d been pretty clear before. She just didn’t like conflict. Delta could tell she was sorry for spilling the truth.
Bailey said, “All I know is, Tanner was looking for you.”
Carmen added, “I bet Amanda’s sorry for what she did.”
All three girls turned to look at Carmen. They all knew that was undoubtedly a lie. Amanda Forsythe was rarely, if ever, sorry about anything. She was their uncrowned leader. What she said, went. If she didn’t like something, the rest of them didn’t like it, either. There was no feeling sorry . . . no ruing the day. Blond, regal Amanda was tough, smart, and uncompromising.
Delta wanted to hate her, but Amanda was also fiercely pro the Five Firsts. It was mostly owing to her efforts that they were the most popular group of girls. Everyone wanted to be them. If Delta challenged Amanda, who knew what would happen next? Delta could be left out in the cold. Amanda had that much power.
Didn’t mean she wasn’t a bitch.
“It was nothing,” Zora said again. “Stupid drunk stuff. She just gave him a good-bye kiss, or something.”
“That’s not what you said,” Delta reminded again.
“I was a little drunk, okay? I’m sober now, though.”
“Maybe you should talk to Amanda,” Carmen suggested to Delta.
“Maybe you should talk to Tanner,” countered Bailey.
“Oh, I’m mad at him, too, believe me,” Delta said darkly, though she wasn’t nearly as mad at him as she was at Amanda. She loved him. Without Tanner, she didn’t have a dream. A future. It was . . . frightening to think of what she would have to do if she lost him. “My mom’s picking me up. I gotta get outta here.” Delta squeezed past them to the door, and they followed after her.
As she pushed through to the back parking lot, Delta saw Ellie O’Brien’s dark red hair . . . and Tanner’s blond streaked, longish surfer locks practically touching Ellie’s; their heads were close together, and they were laughing and talking and totally unaware or uncaring that his girlfriend was approaching. Delta’s heart lurched painfully. They were leaning up against Tanner’s dark blue Trailblazer, into each other.
