Page 3 of Choosing Her
“Well, why does he need it tonight? You must have had it for months, so?—”
“Look, I just don’t want it in my room anymore, okay?” Naomi said. She put her phone away but stepped all the way into my room so she could stand in front of the full-length mirror and look at herself. I could see myself behind her in the reflection and though we had similar features, I looked as far from her as I could get right now, with my hair falling flat around my face and being dressed in flannel pajama pants and an old tank top. Not really a going-out look.
“Fine, I’ll give it to him in class tomorrow,” I said. Once I looked like a normal human being again, instead of just a puddle of sweat. I couldn’t say that part to her, though, or she would go on about how she didn’t understand why I liked horseback riding and that maybe I should quit. As if I would do that in a million years.
“No, I want it done tonight,” Naomi said immediately. “I need it off my mental conscious.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant or why twelve hours would make such a difference, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t be letting this go and I was just wasting my breath by arguing. Besides, I knew from Poppy that the hockey boys had plans tonight—that was why she was doing homework in my room instead of spending time with her boyfriend. I bet if I went now,I could just put the bag down in front of his door and get away without running into him at all.
“Fine,” I said. I grabbed the first pair of shoes I could find—a pair of ratty old flip-flops—and slipped them on my feet. "I'll go now."
“Thank you,” she said, and she blew me a kiss and skipped off without another word. I was sure she hadn’t been worried for even one moment that I would say no, because she knew I never did. Not to her.
“I guess I'll be back soon,” I said to Poppy and Lilah. And then I stepped back outside, off to do my sister’s dirty work for her.
CHAPTER 3
crossy
There were veryfew things I refused to do when it came to hockey superstitions.
Get dressed right to left every time and redo it all if I mess up? Sure thing.
Bleaching my hair? Have at it.
Use only pink tape and laces because it worked once five years ago? No reason not to.
But as I sat in a diner booth with a sophomore girl and watched her cry into her salad, I began to question just how far my loyalty to the sport could go.
“Are you sure you don’t want to just go home?” I asked for the second time. “I really don’t mind.”
Hanna looked up and pushed her bleached blonde hair out of her face, showing off the mascara streaks down her face and blotchy red eyes, and I did my best not to cringe in sympathy. I had no idea what was going on in her life that had caused the waterworks to come out in the middle of dinner, but it was obvious that being on a date was the last thing she needed right now.
“Why?” She asked, her voice carrying through the restaurant. At least three other couples from the surrounding tables turned to look at us and I smiled weakly at them. “Do you not love me?”
The words made me choke on air, while even more customers turned to look at us with shocked and disgusted faces. I couldn’t even force a smile now. I just grabbed my water and chugged, hoping to buy myself a little time to gather my thoughts before I said something that made her cry even harder.
I put my water down and cleared my throat as she stared at me with a trembling lip. The words got caught in my throat and I suddenly didn’t want to have to tell this girl that no, I didn’t love her, because we’d only met seventeen minutes ago. I wasn’t made for breaking hearts like this, especially since I didn’t understand how I could possibly be breaking the heart of someone who I’d known for less time than a sitcom episode.
I swore I could hear my friends laughing at my pain from the booth behind me, and I silently swore to myself that I would get revenge against them for this somehow. They claimed they were only setting me up on these blind dates to help break my “Saylor Curse” which had destroyed my ability to play hockey this season. Ever since I’d dated the wrong Saylor sister then got unmercifully dumped by her, I’d been unable to score a single goal. My friend Mako had declared that the only way to fix it was by finding a true love’s kiss—and to do that, I had to keep going on these blind dates until I found my true love. I thought he was taking Disney movies a little too seriously, but I had to do anything I could to break the curse, so I was giving this a shot.
“Hanna…” I said slowly. A loud guffaw behind me interrupted my next words and I let out a deep sigh. I was going to kill them all. “You seem like a very nice girl?—”
“Seem?” She cried. “Iseemlike a nice girl?”
“Are!” I said quickly, desperate to do anything that would make her stop crying. “Youarea nice girl! But we barely know each other and?—”
I was drowned out by the sound of her ringtone. It was some pop song that I recognized from the radio but I didn’t hear enough of it to know which one it was exactly. Hanna didn’t so much as spare me a glance as she grabbed the phone from the table and answered it.
“What do you want?” She yelled into the phone. More eyes turned toward us and I ducked my head, trying to avoid looking at anyone. “Haven’t you done enough already?”
I leaned in so I could whisper to her, “Who are you talking to?”
She didn’t bother covering the phone as she said, “My ex-boyfriend.” The person on the other end of the line must have said something because she went back to yelling into it. “Yes, you are my ex! That absolutely was a break-up, why would you—” She gasped loudly and started screaming about something his mom had said to her.
Since she was on her phone anyway, I pulled my own phone out as well.
Group Name:The Penalty Box
