The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,13

with the distance, so they called it a day. It’s the first time since we’ve been close that she’s been single, but she’s not into just hooking up with a random at a party, not when (as she puts it) she’s been in love and knows what the real deal is. She doesn’t see the point in wasting her time.

I can relate to that.

I go back to the task at hand and decide a simple bat-wing eyeliner will look good on her. I tell her to keep still then draw on the line, keeping my hand steady and thickening it up before moving on to her other eye. It takes a few minutes to make sure they’re symmetrical, but eventually I’m happy, and then I add swipes of mascara to her lashes to finish off the look.

I lean back to admire my handiwork just as she lets out another huge yawn.

I roll my eyes. “You have to stay for at least another hour after I made you look this good.”

She rolls her eyes as she stands to go to the mirror to check herself out, and if the smile on her face is anything to go by then she’s pretty happy with what she sees. “Okay, at least another hour.”

I grin back at her, but her face turns serious. “What?”

“Did you talk to your teachers?”

Right, that again. “I will.”

“You can’t avoid this, Abbie.”

“I know, I know.”

“I saw Brett earlier.”

“Brett?”

She rolls her eyes in irritation. “The smartest guy in school? The one you should ask to tutor you.”

Oh right. “Okay.”

“I’ll introduce you to him when we get back downstairs.”

I hesitate at her words and she’s about to say something else, when but I hold up my hand to cut her off. “I just need tonight, Sash. I’ll deal with all that stuff on Monday, but for now I just need to feel like a normal girl who is having fun with her friends, rather than someone who is too stupid to graduate without help.”

Her face softens. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

“You wanna go find everyone?”

I hesitate for a second.

“What?”

I shrug. “We can go find Jennifer and some of the others I guess.”

She looks confused.

I sigh. “Aaron, Brendon, Jackson…those guys are Chase’s best friends. They’re not going to want to hang out with me anymore.”

Her jaw falls open. “You’re kidding, right? We’ve all been friends for years. They’re just as much your friends as they are Chase’s.”

I shrug. I wish I believed that, but I don’t. I haven’t actually hung out socially with any of those guys for a while. I guess I haven’t wanted to make them feel awkward and like I’m hanging on to them when I’m clearly not part of Chase’s inner circle anymore.

“Seriously, Abbie. You’re overthinking it. Those guys are your friends.”

I don’t say anything to that as she comes over and links her arm in mine, giving me a reassuring squeeze, and together we make our way back downstairs and into the kitchen.

Immediately we’re swept up in the frenzy of the party, and Sasha pulls me over to Aaron and the rest of the guys. Aaron immediately starts handing out drinks, and Brendon loudly declares that he’ll take on any of us at beer pong. Eventually, I start to relax. It feels nice to be in familiar territory where everyone’s behaving the same way they always have, and it allows me to think maybe, even just for this night, not everything is a complete mess.

I’m just starting to enjoy myself, just starting to finally, for the first time since Coach spoke to me, not worry about my grades and graduating and just enjoy a high school party with my friends like a regular kid when Jackson, who is standing opposite me, moves out of the way and allows me to see out into the kitchen.

In particular, to see Chase.

With Livy.

Kissing over there like there’s nobody else in the room.

I should look away; I should start to notice that my friends have seen that I’ve fallen quiet and are probably following my eyeline and jumping to conclusions about what I’m thinking. They’re probably thinking I don’t like what I see, thinking I’m crazy jealous that he’s so into her when his feelings for me never even came close to that, thinking seeing them together like this is like a kick in the face every single time, which is often since they’re always together.

That’s probably what they’re all thinking.

And they wouldn’t be wrong.

I abruptly turn away from them, facing the counter and pulling