Secondary Characters (Novella) - By Rachel Schieffelbein Page 0,22
get her here.
***
After school I pack my backpack as fast as humanly possible and spin around to make my daily dash to my car. I almost crash right into Amber.
“Geez, Maybie, what’s the rush?” she asks, stumbling backward.
“Um, sorry,” I say, scanning the hall for any sign of Lance. There are people everywhere, but I don’t see him. “I guess I wasn’t looking.”
“What’s up with you? You seem all jumpy.”
“I’m fine,” I say a bit too quickly.
“You’re mad at me, aren’t you? I’m sorry,” she whines. “I know I haven’t been around much lately. It’s just that Nick—”
I cut her off before she can get going about how fabulous new relationships are and how she really didn’t mean to ignore me. I so don’t want to hear it. Besides, to be fair, I’m the one who is avoiding her.
“Amber, it’s fine. Seriously. I’m not mad,” I say as sincerely as possible while trying to get around her so I can get the hell out of this school.
“Oh, good.” She lets out a big sigh and takes a side step, effectively blocking my path. Then she quickly moves on to her next topic. “I was hoping we could hang out at your place tonight.” She looks at me with big, wide puppy-dog eyes. “I miss you.”
I stop. What is she up to now?
“Come on.” She laughs, slapping my arm. “We need a girls’ night. Just us. What do you say?”
I hesitate for only a second. “Yeah, okay. That sounds like fun.” Maybe some gossip and cookie dough is just the distraction I need.
“Good, I’ll see you tonight!” Her grin is a little too wide.
This better not be a trick.
Chapter Thirteen
Amber’s been at my house for all of twenty-five minutes when she says, “Sooooo, Nick just texted me. He’s over at Lance’s place and they want to know if we’ll join them. What do you think?”
I start to get hot. My blood is boiling and surely she can see my skin starting to bubble. I cross my arms over my chest and glare at her. Serious evil death-ray eyes.
“Come on! You had fun with Lance before, right?” She’s all wide-eyed innocence and I want to wring her neck.
“No,” I say quickly. “I mean, he was fine. Nice. Whatever. But I don’t want to go over there. This was supposed to be a girls’ night. Remember?”
She pulls out all the stops. “Please, Maybie,” she whines. “It’ll be fun, I promise.” I don’t say anything, just keep giving her the evil eye. “Come on, we won’t be there all night. We can still have girls’ night when we get back.”
“Amber,” I start, but she immediately cuts me off.
“I’ll make you chocolate chip cookies. Or the brownies you like with the Reese’s peanut butter cups in them.” She grins at me and wags her eyebrows up and down. I don’t budge. “Pleeeease,” she begs, getting down on her knees and waddling over to me and sticking out her bottom lip as far as it will go.
“Fine,” I growl, giving in out of sheer exhaustion. “Just let me go get cleaned up.” I rub my hands down my face as I leave the room.
She squeals her thanks as I shut the bathroom door. I stare at myself in the mirror. My eyes are red and I’m trying my damnedest not to cry when someone knocks on the bathroom door.
“Just a minute, Amber, okay?” I whine at the doorknob.
“It’s Sophie,” my little sister’s voice replies. “Can I come in?”
I sigh. “Okay, come in,” I say, wiping at my eyes and hoping she won’t notice. She walks in wearing her pink ruffled pjs, shuts the door behind her and sits down on top of the toilet seat. I don’t turn around, but I can see her in the mirror.
“Amber says you’re getting ready for a date with Lance,” she says with a silly voice, stretching out the A in Lance. “I like Lance,” she says, smiling into the mirror at me.
Yeah, me too.
“Well, it’s not really a date. Amber has a date, I’m just going with.”
“Why?” she asks, cocking her head to one side.
Hmm, that’s a very good question. I stare at her face in the mirror and try to come up with a good answer.
“For fun,” I finally lie as I reapply my mascara.
She’s still staring at me in the mirror, a little smile on her face.
“When I’m big, I hope I’m just like you,” she says out of nowhere.
I turn around and look at her, my