Page 15 of Dropping the Ball

I tug at the door handle. “You already know it.”

“No. This goes beyond him beating you for valedictorian.”

“He’s annoying. He’s always been annoying. It’s not that deep.” I tug on the door again.

“You lying liar who lies,” she says, her tone pleasant. “He’s adorable and funny.”

“To you, sure. And how nice for you. Can we go?”

Madison says nothing, only twirls her key ring on her finger and watches me. I glance past her to the door. Micah will walk out any second now, and I don’t trust her not to ask him about our friction. Who knows what version of events he’d give her?

I drop my head. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

Click click. The door unlocks as Madison walks to her side.

We get in, and after starting the car and turning on the air, she gets us on the road, then flicks a glance at me.

“Now talk.”

I shake my head but give in. “It was his first week at Hillview, freshman year . . .”

Chapter Seven

Kaitlyn

“Micah was a punkback then,” I say as I finish laying out the story of how we got off on the wrong foot and stayed there. Maybe that will be enough, and I can avoid the most embarrassing part of the story. “Basically, the first time Micah Croft decides to talk to me, it’s to jump in and paddle with the douche canoes.”

“It’s hard to imagine Micah that way,” Madison says. “He’s so laidback, and he’s one of those people who works hard becauseheneeds to be happy with it, you know? He doesn’t seem like he’d ever try to impress other people.”

Tension creeps into my lower back, and I force myself not to stiffen in my seat. “I’m sure he’s fine now. I’m telling you how he was then.”

“Katie.” Madison darts a look at me. “I believe you. In a lot of ways, you and I are different from how we were then too.” She shakes her head, smiling. “Those boys are very lucky you weren’t the Kaitlyn you are now.”

“If I’d been the Kaitlyn I am now, they wouldn’t have been making fun of me in the first place.” Eventually I got around to a glow up. And a backbone.

“That was a hard year,” she says. “And I was so wrapped up in why it was hard for me that I abandoned you, huh?”

“You did what you could with what you had,” I say. “We both did.”

“You are giving me too much grace, but thank you.” She watches the road for a minute, but I get the feeling her attention is only half on her driving. Finally, she sighs. “Maybe if I’d been less wrapped up in my own martyr act, I could have set Drake straight, kept Micah from ruining your life, and things could have gone differently for you.”

“I’ve never blamed you for any of that.” I don’t want her pregnancy hormones burying her in unnecessary regret. “We both made it out of the mean streets of Hillview alive.”

Madison frowns. “But if I’d stepped in back then you could have graduated with honors, gone to college, gotten into an elite sorority, gone on to law school, inherited millions, bought your own house, and then run a super amazing nonprofit organization.”

Her lips are twitching, and I snort at her list of things I’ve actually done. “You’re right. This is on you.”

“Your amazing life is on me? Fine, I’ll take the credit,” she says. “So how did Micah ruin your life again? Because if thatisthe whole story, my next question is how much longer until we can forgive Micah for saying you have nice hair?”

Oh, this is rich. “Is the queen of holding grudges asking me when I want to let my grudge go?”

She shifts in her seat as much as her pregnant belly and the steering wheel allow her to. “That’s fair. But knowing you, there’s more to the Micah story. Let’s hear it.”

“Or we couldnottalk about it?” I say in a voice full of empty hope.

“So you’re saying this part is as juicy as a Fredericksburg peach. Yesss.”

I drop my head against the headrest with a muffled thump.

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