managed to get all the way to our room before I really let the tears fall. To someone else, it might not have been a big deal, but it was to me. I felt betrayed. He knew it wasn’t easy for me to say those things and he showed them to his friends. Changing my name on his phone didn’t matter. And who was he kidding? Mermaid? It wouldn’t be all that hard to figure out who it was.
Major the asshole was back. I guess he hadn’t really changed at all. I forced the tears to stop and took a hot shower. I felt better when I was done. I put on my coziest pajamas and curled up with my eReader. The book I was reading was a romance, but that so wasn’t what I wanted to read right now. I searched through my books and settled on a crime thriller. That suited my mood much better.
I’d only read two pages when my phone dinged.
Major: Are you okay?
I wasn’t going to answer him, so I went back to my book. About five minutes later there was another one.
Major: I know I fucked up. Please talk to me.
I just couldn’t bring myself to reply to him tonight. Maybe tomorrow, but not tonight. I put my phone on silent and set my alarm. We had an extra practice and I was already happy for the distraction. I turned my phone face down on the nightstand, not wanting to even see if I had any more notifications. I read a few chapters before finally settling into bed.
* * *
I was up before my alarm went off the next morning. I took my time preparing the fruit for our smoothies. The practice wasn’t until 9:00, but I was used to getting up early. Karma’s door was closed, so I assumed she had gotten home sometime after I fell asleep
When I was done with the prep, I decided to check my phone. There were two more texts from Major and a missed call. He was acting like we broke up or something. I read the texts.
Major: You’re right, I don’t know what I did. I’m sorry about that.
Major: Please tell me how to fix this. I still want to be friends.
Could I still be friends with Major? Probably. But I was still hurt and it irritated the shit out of me that he had no clue what he did was wrong. I didn’t care about him having sex with random women, or even taking pictures of them. But sharing my words with his friends had crossed the line.
Karma finally emerged from her room at 8:40. I finished making the smoothies then we were off to practice. I’m sure she could tell something was bothering me, but I didn’t want to talk about it just yet, and I was grateful she didn’t ask.
I turned my hurt and anger into the fuel for practice. I hit the water harder and faster than I had in a long time. Coach Cross was very happy. If I swam like that at the next competition, I should be able to win every event.
By the time practice was over, most of the anger had disappeared, but the hurt was still there. Karma and I showered and left the building. I was shocked to see Major waiting outside.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked me.
Karma noticed the tension between us and raised her eyebrows at me. I nodded and she started walking back to the dorm.
I moved away from the building so no one would overhear whatever it was that he had to say.
“Kayleigh, I’ve been racking my brain all night trying to figure out what I did to make you so mad. I get that it had something to do with the bet, but I don’t understand.”
I just stood there and listened.
“I still want to be friends. Are you ever going to talk to me again?” he asked.
“Major,” I finally said, “I’m more hurt than I am mad. You’re a smart guy, find a way to figure out what upset me and then we can talk. But for right now, I just can’t.” I walked away proud of myself for not calling him an idiotic douchenozzle.
As I suspected, Karma was waiting for me in our dorm.
“Okay, what was all that about?” she said, as soon as I walked in the door. “And don’t tell me it’s nothing because I’ll know you’re lying.”
“Major and I had a misunderstanding