Page 8 of The Forever After Bet

“We’ll help. Whatever you need, don’t hesitate to ask.” Chanel looks around the room, and everyone nods their heads.

“Awesome, thank you.” I glance over my notes again. “That’s all I have. I’ll email a signup sheet through google docs so everyone will see what slots get filled.” I peer back at Bree, and she’s still huddled with Melissa and Missy. It looks like they’re on TikTok. “We won’t meet next week because of the break, but let’s get together the week after that.”

“There’s a basketball scrimmage on Tuesday night of that week, so we can meet right after school,” Leah says.

“Perfect, we can meet here again at 3:30. I’ll send a reminder email.” I smile.

Everyone leaves except for Leah and Aubrey. I give Leah a look that says why me, and then trudge over to Bree. “Uh, I’m leaving.”

She waves her hand dismissively, not even looking at me. “Bye then.”

“She’s an idiot,” Aubrey whispers, rolling her eyes. I just nod. I take one last gulp of my soda, grab my backpack, and head toward the door.

“Hey, where did everyone go?” Bree asks, standing up.

“They left. We’ve been here for almost an hour.” I glance up at the clock to make my point.

“And I said we were still waiting for someone.” Bree scoffs.

“And I told you Ford wasn’t coming.”

Bree stomps her foot. “He told me he was.”

I hold my hands out, shrugging. “You be in charge of setting up the booth for the craft fair, and I’ll take care of the sign-ups.”

Bree gives me an angry look. “Whatever.” She smacks Melissa’s shoulder. “Let’s go.” All the girls grab their stuff and file out of the room.

I groan, looking up at the whiteboard. “I’m going to clean off the board. Mrs. Hammond is going to freak out as it is. You don’t have to stay.”

Leah drops her bag. “Six hands are better than two.”

“Dibs on the spray bottle,” Aubrey laughs, running up to the front of the classroom.

If you had asked me last year at this time if I’d have the most amazing friends ever, I would have laughed and called you delusional.

4. Keep Your Promise

“Stop texting me,” I mutter, glancing at my latest text message.

“Who is it?” Ty asks, pausing the video game.

“Bree. She’s been blowing up my phone for the last forty minutes. This is the seventh text message I’ve had from her today.”

Ty rolls his eyes. “What does she want today? Besides you—obviously.”

“I got two before school ended, reminding me about some volunteer meeting at five-thirty, and now she’s asking where I am. The last one says, Why did you ditch me? You said you’d help.

“I texted Hannah and told her we wouldn’t be there,” Jack says.

I scrunch my forehead, confused, and then it hits me. I stand up, cursing, and pace across the family room. “The Christmas fundraiser that Mrs. Landry is making Hannah and Bree work on together. I completely spaced it.”

“It’s okay. You’ve had a lot to deal with the past couple of days,” Ty says.

“I don’t know why, but I kept thinking it was only Bree who was in charge of the fundraiser.” I run a hand through my hair, tugging on it, frustrated with myself for forgetting something important.

“Hannah had that meeting with Mrs. Landry on Friday. She’d just found out.” Jack gives me a sympathetic smile.

“I remember her meeting with Mrs. Landry, and her telling us she had to work with Bree. She wasn’t happy about it, but she didn’t want to talk about Bree because it was our—” I blow out a breath, trying to calm down. Getting upset isn’t going to help the situation. I walk back to the sofa and slump down. “We need to find out what’s going on.”

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