Competing With the Star (Star #2) (11 page)

Chapter Fifteen

I woke up and saw I had a new message from Nick.

Nick: Morning, cutie. Hope you slept well. Can’t wait to see you later. Want to hang out after school? <3

Me
:
Would love to. Can’t wait. Xoxo

I walked to school with Charlotte and noticed none of our friends were sitting in our usual spot. I went to class and Simone wasn’t there yet. She slipped in after the late bell and never turned around to say hi. As soon as class was over, she bolted out of the room.

Simone wasn’t at lunch either and I noticed Morgan and Asia were gone as well.

“Hey, can I sit with you?” Pilar asked.

“Sure. Where is everybody?”

Her eyes widened. “You didn’t hear? Chase broke up with Simone. He told her she was being too clingy and needy and he couldn’t handle it. She’s devastated.”

My stomach rolled over. “But I thought this time was supposed to be different. I mean, didn’t you say they were texting all the time?”

“Yeah, and apparently that was driving him nuts. He told Connor that he was trying to watch a game and she kept sending him messages and when he didn’t answer, she called him.”

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked. “I mean, she’s been through a lot of breakups, she’ll be fine, right?”

“I dunno. This time feels different. In the past, it was just little arguments or whatever, but this time she was full out rejected and she liked him a lot.”

“Maybe it was a misunderstanding. After all, none of her relationships have ever been that serious. He might have thought she wanted a total commitment, but—”

“No, he said she was deleting girls’ numbers from his phone and asking who certain texts were from,” Pilar said.

“Well, he shouldn’t be texting other girls if he’s seeing her.”

“Yeah, but these were from a month ago. I’ve never seen her this way. She was even talking about them being together when he goes away to college and asking where he was applying so down the road she could go there too—Hadley, that’s two years away. No wonder he freaked out.”

I bit my lip. “That’s not like her at all. She doesn’t even get magazine subscriptions because she says she doesn’t know for sure if she’ll still be living here or back in Hollywood.”

“I know! She can’t commit to an ice cream flavor and yet she suddenly wanted Chase to be planning a future with her.”

“I wonder what happened to change her mind,” I said as Charlotte came and joined us.

“Did you hear about Simone and Chase?” she asked. I nodded and could tell Char wanted to ask me more about it, but wasn’t going to with Pilar there.

“On the plus side, Lucas and Reagan are back together so you don’t have to worry about her going after Nick,” Charlotte said.

I looked over at Pilar, whose face looked pained. We exchanged a look. Char got up to get a napkin.

“I didn’t know about Lucas. I’m so sorry,” I said.

She shrugged. “Yeah, that sucks. But thanks for not telling Charlotte I’m not over him. I don’t get what he sees in Reagan though. Why do guys say they don’t want drama and moody girls and then that’s exactly what they go for? I’m so over this crap.”

“I don’t mean to make this about me, but…Nick says that too and he went out with Reagan. So is he going to…?”

“Want that again?” she asked. “I dunno, but Nick’s not like Lucas. I just thought Lucas liked me and then suddenly he was going out with her.”

“I don’t get it. Reagan’s not even a nice person. She’s pretty and that’s about it.”

“That and she’s easy,” Pilar said.

My face must have given me away because she immediately backpedaled.

“I’m sure that’s not why Nick was into her,” Pilar said. “I shouldn’t have said that. I was just upset.”

“No, it’s fine.”

The bell rang and we went back to class. I couldn’t shake the sick feeling and I had trouble concentrating in my next class.

Nick was waiting by my locker after school. “Hey, I know we were supposed to hang out, but I have to stay after to help tutor. Someone else was supposed to do it, but she forgot she has to babysit today. I’ll call you later, okay?”

I nodded and he kissed me on the forehead.

“Love you,” he said, squeezing my hand as he walked away.

That was the first time he had said it at school. I felt like I was walking on air as I went to meet Asia.

“What’s with the dopey grin?” she asked.

“Nick just told me he loved me.”

“Aw, puke,” she said. “Kidding! He must like you a lot that he told the guys he said the L-word. I’ve never seen him like this. Makes me want a serious boyfriend.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but I think I’ll wait for Jack Brogger,” she said, laughing. “See, I can say that and you can’t get mad at me because the way you and Nick are going, it sounds like you two will still be together then.”

“So you can just go after my fake dream boyfriend?” I asked, smiling.

“Well, you apparently broke up with him if you’re with Nick now. That or you’re cheating on Jack. Which is it?”

I cracked up. “I can’t imagine anyone cheating on Jack. I guess we’ll have to say we broke up, then. You can have him, I guess, but I still want to stalk him when he comes back to the area next summer.”

“Okay, we can do that, but you can’t look directly at him. He’s mine now. Hands
and
eyes off.”

“Gotcha. Hey, do you have to be right home? I told my dad I was hanging out with Nick after school, but he had to bail to help tutor.”

“Want to go to the new gourmet cupcake place downtown? The guy behind the counter is adorable and they have great snacks,” she said.

We went to Cuppy Cakes and I ordered a vanilla cupcake with blue buttercream frosting and candy hearts on it.

“That is the prettiest cupcake I’ve ever seen. It’s so Valentine-y,” Asia said. “I’m going to get the red velvet one with cream cheese frosting.”

We sat down to eat and she told me she was worried about Simone. “Normally, she tells me everything, but she’s been super closed off on this breakup. This whole thing has been different.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, she made Chase change his online status to say he was in a relationship. She never does that because she says it looks desperate when you have to change it back to being single.”

“Weird. She’s always told me to never change mine unless I’m a step away from engagement.”

“I know, right? And she was trying to get him to make future plans. He’s thinking about college and keggers next year, not planning stuff with a girl who will still be in high school,” she said. “And he wanted to hang out with his friends and she was always acting like they had been together for a long time—as if no one knew they broke up a long time ago.”

“She was?”

“Yeah. Did you see her picture where she put the caption about how she was ‘making the face she
always
gives Chase’? I mean, hello. They haven’t been together long enough for that. And she put how he’s
always
teasing her about how much nail polish she owns.”

Asia’s dad called then to ask if she wanted a ride home because of the rain.

“I didn’t even notice it was raining,” she said. “He said we could give you a ride home—no worries.”

We finished our snacks and then waited at the front for her dad.

“I’m so glad he’s coming,” she said. “I would not want to walk home in this.”

“Well, if we’re going to be trapped someplace by rain, a place full of cupcakes is the way to go.”

Mr. Milanowski dropped me off and I started in on my homework. Dad was working late, so mom ordered a pizza and brought a couple slices to my room.

I put on a movie and as soon as it was over, I picked up my phone to see if I had any messages from Nick, but nothing. So I wrote him.

Me: Hope you didn’t get caught in the storm.

I stopped for a minute and then took a deep breath and decided to send a second message.

Me: Love you. <3

I couldn’t believe I finally had the nerve to put that in writing. I waited and nothing. No message back. That was weird since he had said it didn’t feel right going to bed without talking to me first. But it was already ten, so maybe he was tired and went to bed early. He’d probably write me in the morning. I was so lucky to have such a thoughtful boyfriend.

Chapter Sixteen

I woke up and grabbed my phone, wondering what sweet message Nick had sent. Nothing. All I had was a message from Charlotte.

Charlotte: Grandpa said it’s going to be cold today, so he’s willing to drive us to school if you want.

Me: Sounds good. Thanks!

I went downstairs and Mom had made waffles. They smelled amazing, and even though I wasn’t a huge breakfast person, I ate three with tons of butter and syrup. I was just finishing when Charlotte texted to say they were outside.

“You staying after with Nick today?” Mom asked.

“Not sure. Maybe. I’ll message you if I am.”

I went out to the car and Charlotte had brought me hot chocolate in a thermos.

“Grandpa thought we could use a little treat,” she said.

“This is going to be an awesome day,” I said. “First homemade waffles and now hot chocolate.”

Mr. Lidstrom dropped us off and I went to my locker. I thought it was weird that Nick didn’t stop by, but maybe he was running late today. Pilar came up to me.

“Have you talked to Nick?” she asked.

“No, why?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but something happened.”

“Oh my gosh! His grandpa?”

“No, he’s fine—”

“Is Nick okay?”

Pilar looked away from me. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…Simone and Nick kissed.”

All of a sudden it was like I was in a tunnel. Pilar was right in front of me talking, but her voice sounded so far away and it was like everything had gotten darker. I felt lightheaded and queasy.

“What are you talking about?”

“Simone told Morgan last night and Morgan told me on the way to school,” she said.

“Morgan must have gotten it wrong.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then she’s lying. She lied before to ruin our relationship. She’s obviously jealous and making crap up again,” I said, slamming my locker shut. “I don’t know why she’s so mean to me. I’ve never done anything to her.”

Pilar put her hand on my shoulder. “Honey, I don’t think she’s lying. She seemed surprised. I think you need to talk to Nick and Simone yourself.”

I went to class, but Simone didn’t come in until after the last bell had rung.

“Miss Hendrickson, are you planning to make a habit of these late, grand entrances?” our teacher, Mrs. Feldman, asked.

“Sorry. No,” she said. She didn’t look in my direction.

As Mrs. Feldman began to talk, I took out a piece of notebook paper and wrote her a note.

Simone,

What is going on? I’m hearing a rumor and I want to find out what really happened from you first.

Hadley

The bell rang and I got up to hand the note to Simone, but she took off down the hall. Was she avoiding me because it was true? No, she wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t do that to me either. This had to be some huge misunderstanding. Either that or Morgan Kemp was playing mind games again.

I almost never saw Nick during the day, so there was no way to run into him, but I knew Simone couldn’t avoid me at lunch. She’d have to talk to me then. Except when I got to the cafeteria, she was nowhere to be found. Pilar came over and sat with me.

“Did Morgan say anything else?” I asked.

“That she feels bad for you. I wanted to ask Asia what she knows about it, but she didn’t come to lunch either.”

“Is this for real?” I asked.

“Has he said anything to you?”

“No, but we never see each other or text during the school day,” I said. “But he didn’t message me last night. He said he was going to call, then he didn’t.”

Pilar bit her lip. “Okay, what I heard was he was tutoring and when he was done, she was waiting in the library. It was raining hard, so she asked him for a ride home since he had his car. They were waiting out the rain, sitting on a bench, and that’s when it happened.”

“Did she kiss him or…the other way around?”

“I don’t know.”

Charlotte sat down and put her hand on my arm. “Is it true?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said as my eyes filled with tears. “Do not let me cry. Not in school. Just…don’t let anybody see me right now.”

I managed to hold it together until the end of the day. I went to my locker and Nick was nowhere to be seen. Was he hiding from me? I opened my locker and there was a note sticking out in the slats that someone had slid in there.

Hadley,

Wait for me and I’ll give you a ride home after school. I need to talk to you in private about something.

Love,

Nick

“Well it says ‘love,’” a voice said. I jumped and Pilar was standing there reading over my shoulder.

“Sorry, just wanted to make sure you had backup in case they came over to you. You said you didn’t want to cry in public and I get that, so I thought I’d show up for moral support,” she said.

“Thanks. What do you think this means?”

“Well, normally I’d say he just wrote love as an automatic reflex, but he’s not the type of guy who throws that word around, so it doesn’t sound like he’s going to ambush you with a breakup. I don’t know, but I want to hear his side of the story and hers.”

I noticed Pilar was staring behind me and I turned around. Simone was standing there.

“Hadley, we need to talk,” Simone said. “I am so sorry, but Nick and I kissed last night.”

My stomach dropped. I couldn’t even get my mouth to work.

Pilar spoke up before I could. “What happened?” she asked.

“I can’t explain it or excuse it. It just happened. I’m so sorry. We were alone and—you’re my friend and I don’t want to lose you, so I wanted you to hear it from me. We never meant to hurt you. It just happened.”

“You never meant to hurt me, but you both broke my heart,” I said, and I turned and ran out of the building.

“Hadley, where are you going?” Charlotte called after me as I ran past her. I just kept going and didn’t stop until I was at my front door. Tears were running down my face and I realized I had left all my books in my locker. I couldn’t believe my friend and my boyfriend had betrayed me. My phone was ringing, but I ignored it as I tried to compose myself before I went inside the house so I didn’t have to explain why I was dry heaving on the porch to my mother. Finally, I got it together and put my phone to my ear like I was talking to someone so Mom wouldn’t question me. I walked all the way to my room while having a fake conversation and then I collapsed on my bed and sobbed.