The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,25

sly smirk covers my face as Sarah blushes even redder with humiliation. “That’s a shame.”

“Oh, wait—do you mean that girl who’s always hanging around you?”

Bingo. “That’s the one.”

He chuckles. “I didn’t know that, but, um…”

“Oh, don’t worry.” I look Sarah straight in the eye. “I said no in the past because of her, but we’re not friends anymore.”

I state it flatly, calmly, emotionlessly, and truthfully. Because we’re not. Sarah Billington is not my friend.

She’s seething as she stares back at me. You can see it in her face, and I’m glad.

She deserves it, and I’m still me.

Dan laughs hesitantly, drawing my attention back to him. He’s obviously confused about what I’m talking about. “Okay, so…”

“So, if you still want to go out on a date sometime, I’m down.”

“Yeah, for sure. Sounds good.”

Sarah stands up without a word and storms off away from the table.

“Okay, great,” I say as I watch her move through the crowded tables, through people looking our way, and slam through the cafeteria doors.

“How about Friday?”

“Sounds perfect.”

“Great, I’ll text you.”

“Bye.”

I end the call and glance around at the group to see a combination of smirks, glares, and shocked faces. It’s perfectly clear to everyone what I did there—I made it clear that Sarah or anybody else can’t mess with me. I focus on the rest of the girls on the cheerleading squad. Sasha’s loyal and so is Jennifer, but the rest would stab you in the back as soon as they saw the opportunity, and I know they all followed Sarah’s lead this weekend.

“Anyone else got something to say?”

6

Finally the bell rings to signal the end of the school day, and it can’t come soon enough for me as I stand, shoving my books into my bag. I might have successfully shut Sarah down, but I’m still getting murmurs and looks when I walk past people in the halls. It’s exhausting having to act like you don’t care what people think about you when your life is a complete mess. I’m worn out both physically and mentally, and right now all I want to do is go home and lie down in a dark room. I trail the rest of the kids out of the classroom, collecting the homework assignment from the teacher’s desk on the way before I step out into the hallway.

And see Chase leaning against the lockers across from me.

He straightens when he spots me, and I want to sink through the floor. On some level, I knew this was coming, but I really don’t want to deal with it right now.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“You got a minute?”

“If this is about what Sarah was saying then just know she was exaggerating to make me look bad.”

He nods. “I know.” There’s a pause. “I still want to talk to you though.”

I let out a sigh and reluctantly indicate my locker. “I have to get some stuff from my locker.”

He falls into step with me as I walk toward it, and he waits as I grab what I need and dump my other books before following me down the hall to the main entrance and out toward my car. It’s hard not to see the second glances we’re getting.

I finally break the silence. “I feel like a pariah. Everyone’s looking at us.”

He shrugs. “Let them. Besides, people have always looked at you, at us. It’s nothing new.”

“Yeah, well, they weren’t looking at me in pity before.”

He chuckles. “After lunch today, I don’t think anyone’s pitying you.”

I try to smile but can’t quite manage it.

“It was kind of cool, actually.”

I shrug and try to pretend it doesn’t bother me that he thinks me asking some random guy on a date is cool.

We reach my car, and he turns to face me. “Sarah’s a dick for telling everyone that stuff. We all told her before you got there. We were pissed at her.”

I believe it. He’s a decent person. So are his friends.

“I didn’t think she’d do that to you.”

I shrug. I probably deserve it. Again, we’ve been scoring shots off each other for years; this was just her way of doing it again.

“What she said…about the other night…” I trail off. “I don’t…I don’t want you to think I’m not happy for you and Livy. Because I am. Like, I want to see you happy.”

“I know,” he tells me. “And old habits die hard.” He clears his throat. “I know it must be weird seeing us together. It’s still new, and if it were the other way around, it would