Page 15 of Always Us

When we get there, Chloe is in the kitchen with an apron on, mixing something in a bowl. She comes over and gives me a hug. “Jade! Welcome home.”

“Thanks. And thanks for making dinner for everyone. It smells great in here.”

The whole house smells like turkey, but also like a bakery. She must be baking rolls.

“I was happy to do it. I love to cook.” She goes up to Garret and gives him a quick hug. Chloe’s a hugger, just like Harper. She hugs everyone.

I offer to help her cook but she won’t let me. She said Ryan’s her helper today. She has him wearing an apron and making some kind of casserole. It makes me laugh how she gets him to do this stuff. It’s only because he’s totally in love with her.

Chloe looks cute today. She’s about my height and has shoulder-length, straight brown hair with blond highlights. She’s wearing a dark orange, short-sleeve knit dress that hugs her curves. I notice Ryan eyeing her as she moves about the kitchen. She’s not fat, but she’s a lot curvier than I am, and Ryan likes a curvy girl.

As Chloe and Ryan make dinner, the rest of us watch the parade. Karen arrives at eleven, wearing a dark green dress with a patterned scarf. Frank has on a shirt and tie. He almost never wears a tie, but he wanted to look good for his girlfriend. Garret’s also wearing a shirt and tie, and I have on a dark purple dress, which is one of Garret’s favorites because he loves seeing me in purple.

We have Thanksgiving dinner at two, stuffing ourselves to the point we can barely move. The rest of the day we play games, watch TV, and talk. Frank has the fireplace going, which makes the house feel warm and cozy. Speaking of cozy, Frank and Karen were getting awfully cozy on the couch when we were watching TV. There was hand-holding and some kissing going on. Just on the cheek, but still. They thought nobody was looking, but I caught them several times. And when Karen was leaving to go to work, they were kissing goodbye at the door.

That night, the guys watch football while I look over my speech again. Then I call Harper. I was hoping to talk to her before the surgery but her phone goes straight to voicemail.

On Friday we hang out at the house, just being lazy. We watch movies and stuff ourselves with leftovers. It’s my kind of day. Karen and Chloe come over for dinner, then we all play cards. I keep my eye on Karen and Frank, watching them interact. I’ve decided they’re definitely in love. Garret thinks so, too.

Before going to bed, I call Harper again but she doesn’t answer. She’s probably still too out of it from the surgery. But I did get a text from her mom saying that everything went well.

Garret called Sean but he didn’t pick up. That’s probably not a good sign.

We haven’t heard from Pearce either. He didn’t call us yesterday because he had his parents over for most of the day. But I thought he’d at least call us today and ask about our Thanksgiving and tell us about his, but he didn’t. We haven’t heard a word from him, and Garret hasn’t tried calling him. I was going to call Pearce myself just to say hi but Garret told me not to. He said his dad’s busy and not to bother him. It seems weird, but whatever. I can’t worry about it. I need to focus on my speech, which is tomorrow. I don’t know if I can do it. I’m so nervous.

CHAPTER FOUR

4

GARRET

It’s been two days and I haven’t heard a word from my dad. He said he was going to talk to my grandfather on Thanksgiving, but it must not have gone well because my dad said he’d call when this is over and he hasn’t. It’s not like I thought this would end after just one conversation, but I thought my dad would at least give me an update.

I still haven’t slept more than a few hours a night. I have no appetite but I’ve been forcing myself to eat so Jade doesn’t think something’s wrong. Well, she knows I’m not myself, but she’s convinced I’m coming down with a cold or the flu. Maybe I should just pretend I’m sick to throw her off track. I hate lying to her like this. I told myself I’d stop hiding shit from her and here I am doing it again. My dad needs to hurry up and end this because I can’t keep this up for much longer.

Now it’s Saturday and time for us to leave for Jade’s speech. She’s so nervous I thought she might throw up. She hasn’t yet, but she looks like she could. The speech is at her old high school in the auditorium. There’s supposed to be about 50 people there. Jade gave her valedictorian speech to 350 of her classmates and their parents so this should be easy, but I think she’s nervous because for today’s speech she has to talk about herself and she’s not comfortable doing that.

We arrive at Jade’s high school at noon. Her algebra teacher, the guy who helped plan the event, greets us in the hallway. The guy is old and bald with thick glasses, wearing a plaid shirt and khaki pants. He gives Jade a hug and thanks her for doing this, says hi to Frank and me, then takes off to get the auditorium ready.

“How’s it feel to be back?” Frank asks Jade.

“Not much has changed. It still smells like sweaty gym socks and notebook paper.”

Jade’s holding my hand. Her hand is all clammy because of her nerves. I need to get her mind off the speech so I say, “Why don’t you show me around?”

“There’s nothing to see. It looks like any other high school.”

Actually, mine looked nothing like this. My prep school looked like a castle, all stone on the outside with ivy growing up the sides. And the inside was kept immaculate with shiny hardwood floors, walls that were kept freshly painted, and a hand-carved wooden banister on the staircase.

Jade’s school has cracks in the walls and floor, banged up lockers, and it smells like sweaty socks, just like she said.

I pull on her hand. “Come on. Give me a tour. We have some time to kill.”

Frank takes a seat on the bench outside the auditorium. “You two go ahead. I’m going to wait here.”

Jade shows me her old classrooms, her locker, and the gym. Her hand isn’t as clammy anymore so I think my distraction technique is working.

We walk outside and check out the track. Jade was on the track team sophomore year and the cross-country team junior and senior years. The football field is next to the track and some guys are out there playing football.

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