Page 17 of Chasing Chase London: Part 8-Valentines Day
My heart flips. I can’t leave my friends!
Mom’s making it a bigger deal than it is. I did leave my sister for an hour, but it’s not like she’s a baby. I locked the door, and she knows not to open the door to strangers even if someone is here with her. Besides, she was sleeping the whole time. She didn’t even know any of us ever left, but Mom was beyond pissed when I got home.
Lily appears in my doorway, wrapped in a blanket, her cheeks flushed with fever. “Can I sleep with you?”
“Crawl in,” I say, lifting the blanket. She nestles her burning hot little body against mine.
“Mommy’s yelling too much.”
“She’s mad at me for going to Lindsey’s while you were asleep,” I say. “I wouldn’t have gone, except it was an emergency and I knew you’d be okay. You know that, right? I’d never let anything happen to you.”
“I know.”
I plant a little kiss on top of her head. “I love you, Lil.”
“Love you too,” she mumbles, already half asleep. I hold her while she snores quietly, my mind going back to the dilemma.
Lindsey didn’t seem to know the gift was for me, but why else would she call me? She must at least suspect something.
I’m beyond relieved that Chase didn’t put a card in the box. At least there’s that. I can’t even let myself imagine what would have happened if he had. But he’s getting reckless, and I have no idea how to get through to him. We’ve agreed a hundred times that this has to stop, but it never does.
Unless Mom sends me across town to Willow Heights.
I shudder at the thought of going to school there, especially after all I’ve heard about those kids. Not to mention the only person I’d know there is Colt Darling, and Lindsey says the Dolces are pretty much trying to kill him now that they’ve gotten rid of Preston. I picture those four hollow-eyed boys from the news, and a shiver wraps around me. I can’t go to school there.
Not when I’ve finally made friends here. There’s no way I’d get this lucky twice. I imagine walking in on a first day all over again, all the blank unfamiliar faces that would stare right through me. After being someone all these months, having friends and even a boyfriend, I can’t stand the thought of starting over somewhere else, of being nothing again. Iremember my old school, where no one saw me at all, and I know I can’t go back to that after having what I have now. Nothing could be worse than being invisible again.
six
Now Playing:
“Schaudenfreud”–Smashing Pumpkins
“He’s seeing someone else. He’s seeing someoneelse.”
We’re on the bleachers in the gym during lunch, eating here instead of the cafeteria. Greg and a couple of his friends are goofing around on the basketball court, trying to dunk on each other.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, patting Daria’s knee. Between her and Lindsey, I’m having the world’s worst case ofdéjà vous.
“I just can’t believe it,” she cries.
Why am I the one who’s not surprised? She went through all this two years ago, and now she’s shocked that Colin hasn’t changed.
“I mean, he did tell you he wasn’t ready to commit,” I remind her.
“I didn’t know that meant he was seeing other girls!”
Apparently she hasn’t changed much either.
“What did you think it meant?” I ask.
“You’re right, I’m so stupid,” she says, dropping her head into her hands. “I thought he’d fall for me if I played my hand right. Where did I go wrong?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I assure her. “He’s just a jerk.” I hope that’s the right thing to say. Watching Greg clowning with his friends, punching each other in the stomach, I realize I don’t understand guys at all.
“He said he couldn’t do something Friday night because he was busy,” she says glumly.
“That doesn’t mean he’ll be with another girl.”
