Page 85 of Leave Me Broken

I throw a hand to my mouth, muting the surprised gasp. “No! I forgot about that nickname.”

Monica is slapping Patrick and me because she’s laughing too hard. Janelle and I have tears in our eyes and even Mika is holding her stomach while she laughs.

“I don’t get it,” Patrick says.

Everyone else is laughing too hard to explain but I do my best between laughs to explain how when we were in middle school, we used to come up with food-related names for our crushes. Collins was Cocoa Puffs. Ronni’s crush, Troy, was Twizzlers and Ash was Pear-pie because his last name has pear in it. Monica had a crush on a guy named Logan and his was Lunch Meat. When I remind her of that, she’s starts slapping again. We are nearly hyperventilating when someone else joins the group. She’s not laughing.

“Will you guys shut up? We are in here to get away from the noise.”

My and Mika’s laughter dies right away but Monica and Janelle are still chuckling, and that seems to piss Alyssa off even more.

“You mean you’re not in there looking for husbands to seduce?” Janelle blurts. I shove her, not wanting to start anything tonight.

“We’re just laughing, A. Calm down.” Monica is the most reasonable and the closest with Alyssa but even that doesn’t change Alyssa’s overly exasperated expression. Nothing does until Janelle makes a comment about her agreeing not to be a bitch anymore. Then her anger shifts to an ugly smirk and my stomach falls because who knows what will come out of Alyssa’s mouth.

She glances back to the group she left behind now staring our way. Collins is on his knees like he’s ready to run over here if necessary. The pit in my stomach grows.

He meets my eyes but quickly looks away like he did earlier in the kitchen.

“I just made it possible for you to come to Week of Pink. I can tell Coach never mind.”

Her eyebrows that give away her natural hair color even though she’s tried to convince us the blonde is “definitely natural,” dip. To my surprise, she shrugs me off. Meaning, I’m obviously not the focus of her anger right now—Janelle is.

It doesn’t make sense for Janelle to be, what the hell has Janelle done to her besides that stupid—but funny comment?

Janelle crosses her arms over her chest. “What Alyssa? You obviously have something you want to say, so say it. I’m trying to have a good night.”

Alyssa runs her tongue over her teeth and once again looks back at Collins. He moves to his feet.

“Don’t,” he warns.

I shoot a look to Janelle.

“You know we used to be friends,” Alyssa pouts, and for once I can’t tell if it’s real or not. “You, me, and Ronni.”

Hearing Ronni’s name causes an unwanted ping in my stomach. Must be the same for Janelle because she shifts, bumping shoulders with me on accident.

“When was that?” Janelle snorts.

Alyssa rolls her eyes. “Not you, you”—she angles her body my way—“Payson.”

“When?” I was never friends with Alyssa, sure she was around—sometimes, but we weren’t close.

“When we were little. We were always at Ronni’s house.”

I used to get so annoyed whenever Alyssa would crash my playtime with Ronni. Because she wasn’t our friend, not mine anyway. I never understood why Ronni hung around her but she always said, “she’s nice.” I don’t know if we know different Alyssa’s but the one in front of me right not claiming to be friends has never been described as nice in my book.

“We were friends until you came to town,” she snarls, focusing back on Janelle. “You came to town with your long blonde hair and stole my friends right out from under me, all because Payson liked you better than me. Ronni was quick to follow behind and soon it wasn’t Alyssa, Ronni, and Payson it was Janelle, Ronni, and Payson—the infamous trio.”

It’s obvious Janelle has no idea what she’s talking about. Hell, I don’t even know because it was never like that with Alyssa. “I was never friends with you. You were friends with Ronni, and I was friends with Ronni. That was it.” Hurt is quickly washed from Alyssa’s face. “I’m sorry if that hurts you, but it’s true. You and your sister were awful to me from the very beginning. Why on earth did you ever think we were friends?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she snaps. “The point is you stole my friends and so many other things over the years, so I stole your boyfriend.”

The room falls eerily silent. Everything besides Collins’s quick footsteps. He stops next to Alyssa.

It takes longer for Janelle to pick up on what Alyssa is hinting at, no doubt her mind trying to protect her from what is right in front of her. When it does, her eyes fill with tears, and for once I wish I could pass my emotionlessness onto her, because I hate the fucking smirk Alyssa is wearing, knowing those tears are caused by her.

“You—” Janelle croaks. “Y-you fucked my boyfriend because . . . you think I stole your friends when I was nine?”

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