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“I’m sorry,” I murmur. “Oli came over after school and I tried to tell him she’s dating Joel West and that she’s only using him because of his football status, but he just left. I don’t even know if we’re even talking right now.”
“Huh…” She pauses. “Um… I’m really sorry to be the one to tell you, Han, but there’s more.”
Burying my head into my pillow, I feel sick to my stomach. I don’t know how much more I can take right now.
Taking my silence as a cue for her to continue, Ashley clicks her tongue. “So, I overheard Sarah and Caley at lunch, and by overheard, I mean they wanted me to hear their conversation. They weren’t exactly trying to be secretive considering they sat like three meters away from me.”
“What were they saying?”
Do I really want to hear this?
“Apparently Sarah’s parents were out, and Oli went over there last night.”
My stomach is now doing full backflips.No, I don’t want to hear this.He was confused - upset even - yesterday when I told him about Sarah. But for him to leave here and go straight to the girl who hates me, especially after I tried to warn him what she’s like – that cuts deep.
“They didn’t have sex,” Ashley rushes on, as if my silence indicates that my mind would go straight there. “Apparently Sarah’s parents came home and busted them. They kicked him out. But she was really cocky about it, saying that’s where things were heading if they hadn’t been interrupted.” Ashley pauses again. “She also said something about inviting him to a North Heights party next weekend. Her cousin is in year eleven there. He scored them an invite.”
A party she knows Joel won’t be anywhere near. Well played.
“He made his choice,” I mutter. I tried to warn him, but he didn’t want to listen.
“I could try?”
I shake my head even though she can’t see me. “Don’t waste your time. He isn’t going to listen.”
“Are you sure?”
“He’ll find out what she’s like eventually.”
Ashley sighs. “Are you coming to school tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I have to hand in my first article for the magazine for Mr. Porter to read over.”
“I’ve got your back. Ignore Sarah. She’s not worth it.”
“Thanks, Ash.”
At least I know where I stand now: the kiss definitely meant nothing to Oli if he can move on so quickly.
16
I keep stuffing up with Hannah again and again, and this time I don’t know how to fix it. It’s harder trying to just be friends than I thought. Every time I’m around her, I can’t think properly. Every time I’m around her, I wonder if it’s possible she feels the same way I do? But I need to stop thinking about that, and instead of hanging around to clear everything up, I bailed. I walked out on her. I could blame the shock of finding out Sarah’s ex is Joel, or the confusion over Hannah’s accusations about Sarah treating her poorly, but there’s really no excuse for how I’ve been treating Hannah. I’m supposed to be her best friend.
What the hell am I doing?
I went over to Sarah’s the next day after school to confront her, to find out what’s been going on with her and Hannah. She told me she hadn’t realised who Hannah was when I mentioned her the other day. They only have one or two classes together, and she had no idea that I was talking about that Hannah. When I mentioned what Hannah had said about Sarah making snide comments toward her, Sarah seemed legitimately confused.
“Why would I? I barely know her.” She’d laughed when she told me her friend Tiana wasn’t even on the school magazine.
I didn’t know what to believe. Hannah has no reason to lie to me.
“And Joel?” I’d asked. “Is it true you’re dating him?”
“I told you at JD’s,” she clutched her stomach, biting her lip. “I told you myex-boyfriend went to St Christopher’s. We’re over. I just don’t want to be rubbing it in his face that I’ve moved on.”
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was betraying Hannah just by being at Sarah’s, but what Sarah said made sense as well. Maybe Hannah was reading into things at school. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as she thought. Before I could dwell too much more about it, Sarah leaned in and kissed me. Needing to push Hannah from my mind, I let her. Yet another dick move, but I guess that’s just my life right now – one dick move after another.
Sarah’s parents were out, so we had the place to ourselves. We were making out on the couch in the living room, but somehow my T-shirt ended up on the floor and, well, it was pretty damn embarrassing when her parents walked in and Sarah was straddling my lap. Her mum stood there, eyebrows raised, arms crossed against her body. Her dad suggested it was time to go, and I grabbed my shirt and ran. Not my finest moment.
