friend.
But really, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of dating Walsh Hunter? Yeah, I totally wanted to pass. “We didn’t even exchange phone numbers. I doubt anything’s going to come from it.”
“Did you tell him about the article?”
My fingers rose to my lips to hold the truth inside. “Uh, well, you see—”
“Sophia! You can’t use him to get information on the article and not tell him.”
“Hey, he knows! I told him about it.” You know, well, kind of. “You had no problem of me doing it with Scott.”
One of her dark eyebrows raised as she gave me a look. “That’s because Scott’s a jerk.”
It wasn’t like I didn’t feel guilty for not telling Walsh the actual topic of the article. The feeling ate through the lining of my stomach, but I needed to get used to it. I’m sure all the major reporters didn’t let the guilt get to them when they reported on juicy stuff. Conflicted emotions came over me at the thought. On the one hand, I didn’t want to go lying to everyone, but I couldn’t deny that Walsh would definitely make my article that much more interesting.
At the very least, I’d sell more copies by name-dropping him.
“How are you feeling about that, anyway?” Edith asked, her tone falling to a more serious note, looking into my eyes. “About Scott? I know that must’ve been horrible. I’m so sorry he did all that in public.”
I gritted my teeth at the wave of anger that passed over me, the heat creeping into my cheeks. Thinking about Scott elicited all those not-so-fun emotions and brought back every ounce of humiliation I’d felt. “I don’t even want to think about him ever again,” I said, stubborn and hurt.
She capped the nail polish bottle, rising up onto her knees. “Good riddance.”
“Whatever happened with Zach?” I asked, trying to change the subject without being obvious about it. Probably a fail. “How did talking to him go last night? Hopefully your conversation improved once I left.”
She bobbed her head slowly, up and down. “We’re hanging out tomorrow.”
“Like, as in a date?”
“I don’t know.” Her teeth worried at her lip. “Maybe?”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” This new development made me feel a little bit more at ease. She’d have something fun to keep her mind away from sports for a little while, but her expression wasn’t as excited. “Why are you frowning?”
Edith let out a sharp sigh. “A part of me thinks he’s still dating Celia Lemons. He brought her up last night. I can’t tell if he sees this as a date or just as friends.”
Celia Lemons was another girl in our grade, a girl who was also on the volleyball team. I wouldn’t have gone as far as to say that she was Edith’s archenemy—that title belonged to Eloise—but Edith and Celia didn’t see eye to eye often.
“It’ll work out,” I said, turning my gaze to the ceiling. “Just take it one step at a time.”
A noise filtered from downstairs, something that sounded like footsteps, and both Edith and I stilled. Her eyes lifted to mine. “I thought you said your parents were gone?”
“They are.” Dad was out with a buddy playing golf and Mom was down at the studio. Neither one of them should’ve been home.
I pushed up from my desk chair and went over to the window, pinching the curtains to pry them apart. Mom’s silver car sat in the driveway, headlights still on.
“It’s just my mom,” I told Edith, trying to figure out why she would’ve been home. It wasn’t even one o’clock yet. “I’ll be right back.”
She flapped her hand around. “I’ll be here, waiting for this polish to dry. You should’ve bought the quick-dry kind.”
From the top of the staircase, I had a straight-shot view of the front door, and how it was cracked open. Mom’s bedroom door was also swung wide, the glow emanating into the hallway. Shiba sat on one of the steps on the staircase, tail swishing back and forth, and I ran my foot across her side gently.
Part of me wanted to go and see what was going on, what Mom was doing home so early, but I held back for a moment. How many times had she chosen to keep watching her TV shows instead of checking on me? Why should I intervene now?
A rattling sound had me moving, though, forward enough to push open her bedroom door as wide as the hinges allowed.
“Mom?” I called hesitantly, immediately taking in her figure facing the