The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,23
of the other people in my life.
“I’m pretty sure she sent out a mass email telling everyone when I cheated on Mark last summer.”
“It was a text,” I tell her dryly.
Sophie snickers. “She’s a dick.”
I can’t argue with that. I look back at Sophie, expecting her to go, but she looks perfectly comfortable leaning against the wall with her gaze locked on me.
“You can go now,” I tell her.
“Are you going to go eat lunch?”
I snort. “No.”
“Why?”
“Honestly?” And just because I’m so damn exhausted and tired and fed up, I’m honest with her. “I really cannot deal with everyone looking at me and pitying me and laughing at me right now. I’d rather just not deal with it.”
She just looks at me, like she doesn’t recognize me.
“What?” I snap.
“Who the hell are you right now?”
“Sophie—”
“I’m being serious. Who the hell are you? You’re gaining weight?”
“Hey!” I snap. Surely it’s not that bad? “It’s just a couple of pounds.”
“You’ve completely given up on your roots by the look of it.”
I scowl again.
“You might not graduate? You’re hitting on people I know you’re not even interested in, and you’re pining after someone who has moved on?”
“That’s not—”
“Because you’re not the Abigail Baker who’s been giving me shit for the last few years, that’s for sure.”
“Giving you shit? Do you want sympathy for that? Because we both know you can give as good you get.”
“I never said I couldn’t.”
I let out a long sigh. “I haven’t put on that much weight.”
She rolls her eyes. “You actually look better for it—you were too skinny before—but the Abigail I know wouldn’t be seen dead going up a dress size or letting her roots show.”
“I like junk food,” I mutter.
Sophie snorts. “Who doesn’t?”
“And I’m not a natural blonde.”
“No shit!”
I glare at her before turning to the mirror and seeing she’s right. My roots desperately need to be dealt with. My natural hair is a light brown, and I always dyed it a light blonde because it’s the same color as Livy’s. I always knew Chase liked her, and I figured he’d like me more with blonder hair. That’s how pathetic I was—am.
My eyes go to Sophie in the mirror. She’s still watching me.
I whirl on her. “What are you even doing here?”
She doesn’t say anything.
“Seriously, Sophie, because we both know you can’t stand me. What do you want?”
“What do I want?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to remember that you’re Abigail Baker.”
I let out a long sigh. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means you don’t take any shit from anybody, you walk around thinking you’re it and actually back it up because half the kids in this school are in love with you, and you certainly don’t let your supposed best friend sit at your lunch table making jokes at your expense and acting like she’s just inherited your role as queen bee around here.”
“I can’t…” I trail off as she holds up a piece of paper. “What’s that?”
“Dan Summers’ phone number.”
Dan Summers.
The star of the soccer team at Liberty, our rival school. Seriously good-looking, seriously arrogant, and someone Sarah has been seriously crushing on for years.
The reason she wanted the Liberty guys to “swing by on Saturday.”
It’s a known fact between us cheerleaders. She drools over him every time we play against them.
Something Sophie is definitely aware of too.
A smirk covers Sophie’s face. “You know he’s asked you out a bunch of times.”
He has. Almost every time we’ve played their school and I’ve cheered at the games, he’s found a way to come over and ask me out—the guy has no shame. But I was never interested because I’ve never seen past Chase, and even when we were off, I didn’t want to upset Sarah. I had some loyalty toward her; clearly she didn’t return the favor.
I look at Sophie, and it’s not hard to figure out what she’s thinking. “Of course you’d have his number.”
She shrugs. “I haven’t used it since I was a sophomore.”
“I don’t need your sloppy seconds.”
She rolls her eyes. “First of all, I resent that. Second of all, who cares?”
I think back to the way Sarah was talking about me in the hall and the look on her face when she sent that video out. The way I didn’t hear from her all weekend. The way she’s kicked me when I’ve been down. The way she’s made it perfectly clear that she’s happy about my downfall.
Who cares?
Sarah would care. That’s who.
The noise level in the cafeteria lowers the second I push