Curvy Girls Can't Date Cowboys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,19
Ginger. No arguments. Do we have a deal?”
“That means you’re going to let me stay in the dorms?” I almost couldn’t let myself hope.
He glanced at Mom, and she smiled, nodding.
My excitement so far overshadowed any nerves I had, I nodded within a second. “Of course we have a deal, Daddy.” I gave him a big hug and stepped back. I couldn’t wait to tell my friends. For once, Cori and I were free, and I knew we would do anything to keep from messing it up.
Thirteen
I ran up to my gathering of friends at Rory’s locker.
“You won’t believe this!” I cried.
“What?” Rory asked, slowly turning her gooey gaze away from Beckett.
Shaking the jealous feeling in my chest, I said, “My parents are going to LA so my sisters can audition for a show, and my aunt got the flu, so they are letting Cori and me stay at home by ourselves!” I squealed. “If it goes well, they’ll let me stay in the dorms! Can you believe it?”
Jordan shook her head. “I thought they had you on lockdown!”
I held up my wrists and shook them at my friends. “The handcuffs are gloriously, miraculously free!”
They giggled, and I laughed along. “Seriously, this is a big deal. If I play my cards right, I’ll be living in the dorms next year!”
“That’s huge!” Callie said, beaming at me. “You can totally do this.”
“As long as Ray doesn’t ruin it for me.”
Zara’s eyebrows drew together. “Something you’re not telling us about the cowboy?”
I frowned, replaying our encounter in my mind. “I saw him last night at the co-op in Heywood, getting medicine for a cow. I don’t know why his parents weren’t doing it.”
Jordan and Zara gave each other a look, but Rory answered. “My mom told me his family owns a ranch, and he has to do a lot of the work since his dad died.”
A pang of hurt swept through me. “When did that happen?”
Her eyebrows drew together like she was thinking really hard. “Summer of eighth grade year, I think. He only started as a ‘ship freshman year.”
I knew he started then, but I guessed I hadn’t realized the circumstances. While I was lying in my sick bed, he’d be grieving the man who gave him life. I immediately felt guilty for being so rude to him. If I only had one parent and a full-time job on top of school, I’d be a little crusty too.
“Did you miss my question?” Zara said. “What’s going on between you two?”
“Nothing.” I rolled my eyes for effect. “He completely snubbed me when we ran into each other this weekend, so business as usual.” The bell rang, and I shrugged. “I’ll see you guys at lunch?”
They agreed to meet me at our usual table, and Jordan and I continued toward videography class.
“So the run-in last night was pretty bad?” she asked.
I pressed my lips together. “You have no idea how ready I am for this project to be over. I wish you could be my partner.”
“Same,” she said. "Danny is the absolute worst. But at least we’ve got our project done.”
“You’re done already? I’m not even sure that we have a subject.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You better be done. It’s due on Monday.”
My heart sank as I realized what that meant. Mr. Davis had said that it didn’t need to be great quality. Maybe Ray and I could get some filming done today, and then I could finish editing on the weekend. But when Jordan and I walked into the room I didn’t see Ray anywhere. I went ahead and sat in our regular spot, got out my notebook with ideas, and waited. Some of these ideas would be too hard, but we could always do a day in the life of playground equipment. Maybe we could even walk over to the elementary school and get some clips of kids playing on a slide or something.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class, and everyone got to work editing their videos. I couldn’t believe how far behind Ray and I were. Mr. Davis walked my way and said, “I got a call from the office. Ray won’t be able to come in today. Apparently, he came down with something last night.”
I raised my eyebrows. I knew exactly what he came down with, and it was a case of lying. He was having to work on his farm instead of going to school. But I didn’t say that to Mr. Davis. Instead, I asked,