The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,11
country club while my sister, someone he clearly has history with, is getting twirled around the dance floor by her wealthy husband. I think I know what’s going on here. “Yes,” I tell him. “Yes, she’s happy.”
He smiles, almost like he’s pleased for her, and I turn and walk away, not entirely sure I did tell him the truth. Up until this conversation, I wouldn’t have doubted her happiness for a second, but after seeing the way she’s behaved tonight and the way she’s looked at him…
Now I’m not so sure.
4
I’m eventually allowed to leave the benefit just after ten, and I waste no time in ordering an Uber the second I get home. I run upstairs and quickly change into a tight-fitting top that shows a couple of inches of my stomach and my new skin-tight black jeans, touch up my makeup, and brush through my hair with my fingers so that I look a little less put together. I take one last look at myself, pretty happy with what I see, before I see my Uber pull up, and I head out to Aaron’s house.
When I arrive, I know immediately that it’s a typical Aaron party, and by that I mean he’s gone big.
There are so many people that at first glance, I barely know anyone. Plenty of the junior and sophomore classes are here too, wanting to be close to Aaron, and Chase, and that magic he and his friends possess. I smirk to myself as I make my way through the crowd. That would have been me at the start of high school, constantly thinking about how I could get invited to a ‘popular kid’ party and how I would act when I got there.
I would turn myself inside out over it.
And then I got there, and started getting invited to parties regularly, and making friends, and then I turned myself inside out over trying to keep that coveted position in the popular crowd.
I should probably warn them that they should get over that pretty quick and actually concentrate on their classes or they could end up like me, dumped by the hottest guy in school, not sure if my best friend even likes me, and about to drop out of high school because I’d rather do that than not graduate.
I step through the crowds that are hovering immediately inside the door, pretending not to notice when they step out of my way, giving me room and shy smiles. This is what I wanted so badly when I was a freshman, what I worked so hard for at the start—to be revered and admired, to be popular. It seemed like the most important thing in the world to me. Now that I have it, I’m not sure it was worth all the effort, because if they knew the truth, they definitely wouldn’t want to end up like me.
I’m just some loser who got dumped, isn’t sure who her real friends are, and is about to not graduate.
What a damn mess.
“Abigail!” I turn to the right and spot Sarah standing at the bottom of the stairs with Sasha next to her. “You’re here.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” I reply. The sass is unnecessary, but I’m still kind of pissed at her from earlier this week. All she’s done is bitch at me about this girl Brendon gave his number to, about another junior girl she doesn’t like for whatever reason, and about the fact that Jenna, another cheerleader friend in our group, is getting far too confident and above herself, whatever that means. She’s been so busy being a bitch to other people that she hasn’t even noticed I’ve been walking around completely out of it with misery, and to be honest, it’s left me wondering what our friendship even is.
She scowls, stepping toward me, Sasha at her side. “I just meant it’s getting late and I thought you might ditch.”
“Yeah, my brother-in-law’s dinner went later than I thought.”
“Any cute guys?”
My mind automatically goes to the bartender who couldn’t keep his eyes off my sister. He was definitely cute, but he only had eyes for one person. To be honest, I’m going to try to forget about it. The way they were looking at each other makes me sad, like they know nothing will ever come of it. There’s obviously something going on there, but I doubt Ellie would ever tell me. “No. Everyone was old.”
“Pity.”
I eye her for a second, taking in her lipstick. “Your lipstick is smudged.”