Page 49 of Dancing in the Rain

“Hi, Chloe. You okay?”

“I’m okay.” Her voice quivered. “It was a bad day.”

“I heard that. Kids can be ass…uh, jerks.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I told my friends about you. My best friends believe me, but a bunch of other kids didn’t. They started making fun of me and said I made it up.”

“I’m coming to your school tomorrow.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah. Your mom’s going to call the school and we’ll figure something out in the morning, but I’m going to come and make them choke on their laughter.”

Maybe that wasn’t quite the appropriate thing to say. But at least he hadn’t used the F word.

“I mean, I’ll talk to the kids and tell them it’s true.”

“Oh, my God. They’re going to die!”

He lifted his chin. “Well, not sure about that. But we’ll set them straight anyway. Nobody calls my girl a liar.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Anytime. Can you put your aunt back on?”

“Sure. Bye, Drew.”

“Bye, beautiful.”

“Hi, again.” Peyton spoke.

“She okay?”

“She is now.” After a pause, she said in a low voice, “She came home crying her eyes out.”

“Christ.”

“I know. Sorry to bother you with this.”

“It’s not a bother. I was thinking of calling. When is Chloe’s dance class?”

“Wednesday evening.”

“Could I take her?”

“Um. Probably. I mean…okay.”

“Is it a problem?”

“No, not at all. I’ll check with Sara just to make sure. I was planning to take her.”

“Okay, well, we can talk more about that tomorrow.”

“Right. I’ll call you as soon as we’ve talked to the school.”

“Great. Thanks.” He paused. “Thanks for calling me.”

“Of course. Bye.”

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