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I didn’t think it was possible, but his face dropped even more. Seeing someone as bright and cheery as Charlie usually was with a deep frown didn’t seem right.
It felt worse knowing I was the reason behind it being there.
We both sat in silence for a while. After a minute, his hand reached across the center console and found mine, intertwining our fingers like I had seen Aria do with Ali.
An electric shock flew through me as Charlie tightened his grip. No one said anything. We didn’t have to.
But I knew I had to fix things. This whole thing was my fault, and I had to make it right. I had a contract to uphold. Even if it wasn’t a business transaction, it was still my responsibility.
I needed to come up with the perfect plan.
Chapter 26
Charlie
By the endof the week, the whole school was abuzz about who Una’s crush could be. The Fairy Godmother hadn’t posted anything more about it, which meant whoever leaked the story didn’t know it was me.
Which was great, because that was the last thing I needed people realizing right before playoffs. The first game was tomorrow, and if chaos ensued before it happened, it could ruin the focus of the entire team.
It was bad enough being punished in front of everyone earlier in the week for not being focused. If I messed up all of us? I wouldn’t know how to come back from that.
The only communication I had with Una this week was over texts. We hadn’t gone out. We hadn’t been seen close together at school at all. The only option we had was to deny and ignore.
Her, more so than me.
I tried to tell her it was because I had to focus on playoffs this weekend. She said she understood.
But that wasn’t the truth, and we both knew it. We were hiding. We were scared. I didn’t want to push her past her comfort zone, and if that zone was staying apart, then I would just have to suck it up and suffer for a bit.
Maybe after playoffs, things could change. Dad would chill. Her dad would chill. We could go out in public again, not worrying about who saw us or anything.
Maybe.
Every night before bed, I shot her a message, just asking what she was up to. Usually it was nothing, like me. One night, she had Malia sleeping over and couldn’t text much without her getting suspicious.
That night, I slept horribly.
Even though we texted last night, I still woke up on edge today. The game was tomorrow, Saturday, and the entire school was excited about it. We hadn’t made it past the first round playoffs in years, but this year we were favored to get all the way to State.
Una was still at the forefront of my mind, though. I wanted to ask her to come to the game multiple times. But each time I started typing the message, I froze and ended up deleting it.
People would wonder why she was there. Maybe they would think she was supporting her dad, but considering she had never gone before… why now?
ButIwanted her there. Not to see me in action, but to know she was in the stands. Knowing she was around would enable me to focus and really zone in.
And maybe I wanted to impress her a little bit.
All I had right now was her scrunchie. Of which I had been keeping a closer eye on ever since the thing with Phillip at lunch the other week. I couldn’t risk anyone else seeing it at this point. It stayed safely in my pocket at all times, never coming out until I got home in my bedroom.
There were so many things running through my head. It was worse when I was at home, watching Mom and Dad as a couple, knowing they went through a similar problem.
They hid their relationship just like Una and I were. If we even called what we had a relationship.
They didn’t feel comfortable being out in the open either, being from opposite sides. It was how many years later, and the divide between Teller and Fairview was still the same. It made no sense, honestly, but that’s the way Fairy Tale High had always been.
Though recently there had been some mixing of the towns, especially with Aria and Ali now. They were happy, and no one gave them any beef about being together.
Then why was it so different for Una and I? Was it because of her status within the Teller group? They respected her—would they turn on her if they knew she was with me?
