The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,101
even bother to try to stop us, small smiles on their faces as they realize there’s not a single thing they can do about it.
I watch the excitement build as everyone picks up speed, the volume increasing, running out of the building as Sophie shouts at me to hurry up.
In this moment, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so happy.
Or proud. I feel very, very proud of myself.
31
The doorbell rings for maybe the twentieth time since I got home, and I make my way over to the front door to see a group of girls standing on the doorstep.
“Hey.”
They look at me nervously, warily.
“I’m Abigail.”
They look at me like I’m crazy. “Yeah, we know. I’m Carrie. This is Samantha, Su—”
“Suki, right?” I interrupt, looking at the short girl to the right. “I think we have history together.”
She’s surprised. “Right, yeah we do.”
I grin at them wide. “So glad you could come.” I mean it too. Turns out it’s pretty easy to just talk to new people after all, to have conversations with them. I wish it were something I had figured out sooner. “Come in, come in. Drinks are in the kitchen, and most people are out back by the pool.”
I catch movement from behind her and see some other guys strolling down the path, followed by a pizza delivery guy carrying a giant pile of boxes. I accept the pizzas before the guy tells me he has more in his car. I take the first batch into the kitchen before going back to the door and retrieving the rest, handing over the biggest tip I’ve left in a long time because today I’m in such a good mood that I don’t care if I drain all my money on food and drinks for this party.
It’s worth it. Everything is worth it in this moment.
I head back to the kitchen and start laying out the pizzas. They’re immediately swarmed upon by the masses before I take the rest and leave them outside on the patio furniture for the people out there. I head back inside just as Chase and Aaron reappear from their trip to the store, where they’ve bought ice and liquor and mixers with whatever fake ID they’re currently using.
I ask them how much I owe them, opening the app on my phone to transfer them the money, but they both insist they don’t want my money and want to contribute to my party.
“Don’t be stupid,” I insist.
Aaron scoffs. “Are you kidding, Abigail? Do you not know how relieved we are that you’re graduating with us? It’s all Chase has talked about for weeks.”
I roll my eyes, knowing he’s kidding, but a look passes between Aaron and Chase, that look they do when they’re communicating something between themselves, and Aaron quickly excuses himself, leaving me alone with Chase.
“What’s going on?” I ask, concerned about the look on his face.
He takes a deep breath. “He’s right, about me being relieved you’re graduating. I don’t think I would have forgiven myself if you didn’t.”
I chuckle. “Chase, don’t. It had nothing to do with you.”
“Yes, it did.”
I open my mouth to deny it but then stop. I guess it did have something to do with him; I was a complete mess at the start of the year when we broke up.
“It’s not your fault that I fell apart. It’s not your fault that I put all my self-worth into our relationship.”
“I shouldn’t have kept leading you on. I should have thought about what that was doing to you.”
I let out a long sigh. “You know, I’ve been thinking,” I confide. “I think you gave me some stability in some weird sort of way.”
He frowns, and I don’t blame him. Our relationship was anything but stable, but when I think about Chase these days, this is what I keep coming back to. “My mom does nothing but tell me I need to look a certain way in order to catch a suitable guy, and you were that to her, so when we broke up, she thought I’d messed up. And my dad? Well you know what he’s like…”
Chase nods.
“But you…you’re good, Chase. You’re a good person. Even when things weren’t good between us, I always knew you were kind and loyal and funny, and I knew that wasn’t going to change.”
“You know I care about you, don’t you? So much.”
I do know that. If anything, the last couple of months have proved his words over and over again.