Page 76 of Keeper
“There’s no point,” she said. “I was staying with Marta, but there’s no way I’m going back there.”
“You can stay with me.”
She huffed. “I can’t stay with you. We just met. And I don’t want to be all up in your space—you’ll get sick of me.”
I shrugged. “Okay, then I’ll get you a hotel.”
She puffed. “You’d spend your money to put me up in a hotel?”
“Sure,” I said simply.
“Why?”
“How many times I gotta tell you? I like you, Ainsley, and I want to get to know you. Besides, it’s your Spring break, isn’t it? You can think of it like a vacation.”
“God.” She simpered. She was running out of excuses. “I don’t want you to see me like this, though,” she said, lightly smashing her fist against my chest. “It’s embarrassing. I’m a mess. I really should just go home.”
Gently, I wiped the tear from her cheek with my thumb, and she stopped resisting.
“If you’re a mess,” I said, “then youdefinitelyshouldn’t drive home. You know they say driving is unsafe when you’re upset, right?” I reached for her hand and clasped it in mine. “Look, if youreallywant to leave, I guess I can’t stop you. But please, before you go, just come and relax for a little while first.”
Leading her by the hand, I took her into the living room and over to the leather couch. Cujo trotted after us, a chocolate cloud of fluff floating over a blur of legs.
I sat and patted the cushion next to me. “Now c’mon, sit with me.”
A small smile tugged at her sad lips, like a ray of sunshine poking through the clouds on a rainy day.
“Why are you so sweet to me?” she asked as she lowered herself into the couch next to me.
“I told you I like you, didn’t I?”
I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. Cujo hopped on the couch, wedging himself between us, strategically aligning himself to receivemaximum pets.
“You wanna talk about it?” I asked.
“It’s just pointless drama,” she said, petting Cujo.
“But it’s bothering you. And you’ll feel better if you get it off your chest.”
She let out a deep breath. “But it’s long and boring high school drama and it involves a boy. Actually, I might even have to go evenfurtherback in time to explain everything. Still want to hear it?”
I smiled. “Tell me everything. It’s my day off and I’m not going anywhere.”
I listened quietly as Ainsley told me the story of how her family moved to Kansas when she was in middle school. As the new kid in school, Ainsley was shy and had a hard time making friends. Marta, on the other hand, was a cheerleader and one of the most popular girls in school.
They didn’t exactly start off as friends.
“I’ll never forget the first day of school,” she said. “It was lunch time, and I didn’t know where I should sit, so I grabbed an empty table. And she walked by and made fun of me for sitting alone. I wasnew,I didn’t know anyone, but I still felt like something must be wrong with me.”
I gnashed my teeth. “The more I hear about this girl, the worse she sucks. I can’t believe you’ve put up with her for this long.”
Their friendship began the following year, eighth grade, when Ainsley tried out for the cheerleading team.
“And it was the strangest thing,” she said, “because once I made the team, she just came up to me and started talking as if we were best friends. As if we’dbeenbest friends all along. I thought maybe she changed, maybe she wasn’t mean anymore? Or maybe that’s what being popular is like—suddenly everyone just accepts you? I didn’t know. But I went with it.”
As a cheerleader, Ainsley suddenly found herself running with the in-crowd, despite still feeling like that shy-kid outsider in her heart. For the first time since the move to Kansas, boys started showing an interest in her—but Marta always seemed to somehow interfere. If Marta had any history with the boy, that meant he was out of the question, or Ainsley’s loyalty would be called into question. If Marta made it known she thought a boy was cute? Same deal. Better back away, lest you tempt Marta’s rage.
“And trust me,” Ainsley muttered, “she thoughtallthe popular, or athletic, or funny, or rebellious boys—basicallyanyboy a girl would actually be interested in—were cute.”
