Page 113 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
“Are you really going to keep being like this?”
I blinked. “Like this?”
“A crap friend.” Jade kept her voice relatively low, but a few heads swiveled in our direction. “It’s getting old now.”
This time, I was the one reaching for Jade’s wrist, and on the first tug, she didn’t budge. “Can we talk about this somewhere else?”
At first, it looked like Jade was going to refuse. She stared me down, feet rooted in place.Not here, I thought, anticipating her fire-breathing reaction.Not now.
“Fine,” she relented, pulling her wrist from my grip and starting forward first. I followed behind, clutching my books to my chest as if it would keep my heart from bursting free. Jade swung into the closest restroom, where a few other girls were washing their hands or checking their makeup in the mirror. Jade put on a sweet voice. “Can we have a moment, girls?”
Of course, they all jumped to appease the Queen Bee. One girl just wiped her dripping hands on her pants before dashing from the bathroom, leaving the two of us alone.
Jade turned to me, planting her hands on her hips. “Well?”
Are you really going to keep on being like this? A crap friend. “I’ve just been having a lot going on?—”
“Like what?” Jade demanded, cutting me off. “What could be so impossible on your plate that you’ve become a terrible friend?”
Something sharp poked me behind the ribs. “I haven’t been a terrible friend.”
“No?” She looked me up and down. “You’ve been so busy that you couldn’t talk to Coach, right?”
“We already talked about that. You said she was waiting til after?—”
“Yeah, and then you go and bring your A-game every practice. Of course she wouldn’t pull you from co-captain if you do a good job.”
“You want me to sabotage myself? She’d see through?—”
“I think you don’twantto be pulled from co-captain. Riley said you didn’t sell your story to Coach good enough.”
“What, was she eavesdropping?” Irritation brewed within me. “I didn’t realize Riley had become your little lackey?—”
“Riley has been there for me lately more than you have.”
“Just because I’m not hanging off your arm 24/7 doesn’t make me a bad friend?—”
“That’s what you think I’m talking about?”
I snapped. “Gosh, would you let me speak?”
All at once, Jade’s expression changed. It’d been scrunched into a frown, brows drawn together as her anger manifested, but all at once, it cleared. Like a surface wiped clean, all trace of emotion vanished from her features. “Oh,” she said emphatically. “Go ahead.”
Old Madison would’ve backed down immediately, dropping to her knees with her tail between her legs. She wouldn’t have looked Jade in the eye, either. Now, though, I couldn’t look away. “I know things have been different lately,” I began slowly. “Like we’re not on the same page. I feel it too. I’m not… trying to be a bad friend. I know I haven’t been there as much lately, but you haven’t texted me, either.”
I hadn’t really meant to point the finger at her, and I watched as her eyes narrowed.
“I just kind of feel like I need to figure out a few things for myself, I guess,” I rushed on, clutching my books tighter. “I’m still on the field, just… on the sidelines.”
“Is there anything you want to say to me?”
I could hear the leading question in her voice, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t figure out what answer she wanted me to give. Before, it’d been so easy to guess her thoughts. Now, standing before her, they were as foreign to me as another language.
But as I stared at her perfect blonde hair draped over Connor’s football jersey, my mind latched onto one thing. One thing I definitely shouldn’t have brought up, but the one thing I hadn’t been able to get out of my head. “I saw Connor on Monday.”
Jade’s eyes flashed. “Oh?”
“At Expresso’s.”
