Girls Acting Catty (15 page)

I wanted to say yes, but then I noticed Rachel staring at me from across the blacktop. She looked kind of worried. “Um, I already promised Rachel. Sorry.”

“No biggie.” Taylor shrugged.

I got up and walked over to her. Rachel seemed happy enough that I chose her, but it was one of those unspoken things.

“Want to go first?” she asked.

“Sure.”

As soon as I got onto my back, Rachel leaned forward and placed her hands on my tennis shoes. “Hey, when did you start shaving?” she asked.

“Just this past weekend. I got fed up with my hairy legs, and with the wedding coming up . . . Well, my dress is short. Not really short. It comes to my knees, but I thought it would be a good idea.”

Rachel sort of scoffed. “Um, I hope this doesn't mean you're going to turn into a Taylor clone.”

The whistle blew so I started doing sit-ups.

“You shave your legs,” I said. “So you can't exactly criticize.”

“Well, yeah, but I started because I wanted to. Not because someone told me to.”

“No one told me to,” I said, but clearly Rachel wasn't convinced.

She glared at Taylor, who'd paired up with Robbie at the other end of the blacktop—out of earshot, I hoped. “I just hate seeing her push people around.”

“She's not pushing me around.”

“That's what you think,” said Rachel. “But you really don't know Taylor.”

I sat up, annoyed that Rachel had to make such a big deal out of something so small. Plus, I'd lost track of my sit-up count. “Well, I do kind of know her and she seems nice.”

“That's what you think. Taylor is sneaky, and—”

“You make her sound so terrible,” I said. “But she's not. And she even wanted to be partners with me, but I told her I wanted to do this with you, instead.”

“Oh, and what? I'm supposed to be grateful? Like you sacrificed spending time with the great Taylor Stansfield so you could hang out with me, instead? Thank you so much, Annabelle, but I don't need your pity.”

“I didn't mean it like that.”

At the sound of the next whistle we switched places and Rachel did her sit-ups in silence.

We didn't speak through the jumping jacks, either.

As we headed to the track to run laps, Taylor ran up to me. “Annabelle!” she cried, grabbing my hand. “I almost forgot to tell you that we got the invitation to your mom's wedding. It's gorgeous. I'm so excited. My mom is taking me dress shopping this weekend. I'm thinking pink. Not bright pink, of course. That would be tacky, especially for a winter wedding. I mean mauve. Although red would be hot. Especially if Jason is going to be there.”

I couldn't help but smile. I didn't realize Taylor was invited to the wedding, or that she'd be so excited about it. “That sounds great.”

“Can I come over and see your dress?”

“It's still at the dressmaker's,” I said.

“Oh. Well then maybe we should get together and figure out how to do our hair,” Taylor said.

“Okay, sure.”

“Awesome. I'll call you, 'kay?” She waved her wiggly finger wave and took off.

“You invited Taylor to your mom's wedding?” Rachel asked, as we started jogging.

“No, but I guess my mom and Ted did.”

“That's so annoying. I can't believe she's going to be there. I wish you'd told me.”

“I didn't know, but you'll still come, right?” I asked.

“Well, yeah, I kind of have to. I already told you I would, but it's kind of hypocritical, you know? You hated Taylor as much as we did, and now suddenly she's your best friend?”

I couldn't believe that Rachel was acting like this. “We're not best friends,” I said. “And I didn't hate her. I just thought she was snobby, but I didn't know her at all. I'm allowed to change my opinion of someone, aren't I?”

Rachel sighed.

“So, what, you're saying that if I'm friends with Taylor I can't be friends with you too?”

“I never said that.”

“But that's how you're acting.”

“I'm not acting, at all. I'm just being honest. It's complicated.”

“It doesn't have to be. Taylor doesn't care who I'm friends with.”

“Then maybe you should just hang out with Taylor,” Rachel said.

Suddenly she sped up into a run. I could have caught up to her, if I wanted to. But instead I slowed down.

Obviously Rachel had some big problem with Taylor. But whoever said that the enemy of my friend has to be my enemy, too?

chapter seventeen
roses are red; breakups are blue

C
ome on,” Claire said, grabbing my arm as soon as I got to our lunch table on Friday. “We can't sit here anymore.”

I glanced at our deserted side of the table. All the Corn Dog Boys were parked at their end, except for Joe. He was out of sight, and so were Emma, Rachel, and Yumi. I had a bad feeling about this. “What's going on?” I asked, even though I dreaded hearing the answer.

“It's Emma,” Claire whispered, waving for me to follow her. “She'll explain.”

We hurried to the bathroom, where we found Emma, looking teary-eyed and puffy-faced. A very angry Rachel and Yumi stood on either side of her.

“What happened?” I asked.

Too upset to speak, Emma just blew her nose.

“Joe broke up with her,” Yumi explained.

“And he didn't even have the guts to do it in person,” said Rachel.

“I found the note in my locker,” Emma managed to say between sniffles.

“He broke up with you in a
note
?”

Rachel handed me a wrinkled piece of paper.

The writing was the same, but this time Corn Dog Joe had used blue ink.

Dear Emma, I've been doing a lot of thinking
and I need to be on my own for a while,
so we have to break up.
From, Joe

“He signed it ‘From' rather than ‘Sincerely,' ” said Emma—not that she needed to point this out. It was the first thing I'd noticed, after the change of ink color.

“I never realized how much I loved those
‘sincerelys'
and now I'll never get to hear one from him again,” Emma cried. “Ever!”

Rachel put her arm around Emma. “It totally stinks. I'm so sorry, Emma. He's a jerk. He's worse than a jerk. He's a total butthead.”

Emma sniffed. “He
is
a butthead, but I still like him. And now he's back with J-J-J-Jesse.” Tears streamed down her face as she blew her nose with a square of toilet paper.

Just then we heard the bathroom door swing open. A girl in red cowboy boots tried to walk in, but Claire hustled her out. “Bathroom is closed. You can't come in.”

“But I need to go,” she said.

“All the toilets are broken in this one.”

Red cowboy boots looked at Emma. “They are not.”

“They are. And my friend is just heartbroken over it,” Claire said, with a completely straight face.

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and walked out.

I checked the note, again, completely confused. “How can Corn Dog Joe be going out with Jesse when he said he wanted to be on his own?”

“Exactly. That's the worst part. He wasn't even single for two hours before he asked her out,” said Yumi.

“But I thought Jesse was going out with Oliver.”

“They broke up after school yesterday. I'm surprised you didn't know about this,” said Rachel. “Since Jesse and Taylor have probably been working on this for a while. Probably since Emma and Joe got together.”

“Wait. You think they
planned
this?” I asked.

“It's kind of looking that way,” said Yumi.

“They never said anything to you?” asked Rachel.

“No!”

“You swear?” she asked.

Claire came to my defense. “Come on, Rach. Of course Annabelle didn't know anything. If she did, she would've told us.”

Rachel didn't seem so convinced. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “So you're saying Taylor never mentioned the fact that Jesse still liked Joe?”

“No,” I said, but then I thought back to my phone call with Taylor. She'd never said it outright, but she'd dropped enough hints to make it obvious. Should I have told Emma about that conversation?
Was
this my fault?

Rachel frowned up at the clock. “Emma, you should wash up. It's almost time for next period and you need to let your eyes dry out.”

Emma splashed cold water on her face, and dried off with a rough paper towel. “Can you tell I've been crying?” she asked. “I don't want to go to French if everyone is going to know.”

Emma's face was flushed and her eyes were glassy. She looked like a wreck, but no one wanted to say so.

“Just tell everyone you have bad allergies,” said Rachel.

But that just made her tears start up again.

“Really bad allergies,” Yumi tried.

Emma went back to the sink, and turned on the water again, which is why we didn't hear the door opening.

Not until it was too late.

Someone said, “No way! I told her to give it up.”

The voice sounded familiar. It was Taylor. Nikki, Hannah, and Jesse were right behind her. A hush fell over the girls' room as we stared each other down.

“Do you mind giving us some privacy?” asked Rachel.

Hannah and Jesse turned to go, but Taylor told them to hold up. Then she crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, we do mind. This is a public bathroom.”

“There are three more,” said Rachel.

Taylor ignored her and looked at Emma, who stood there frozen.

“Have you been crying over Joe?” Taylor's voice was harsher than I'd ever heard it. And she actually laughed. “You're kidding, right?”

“Why shouldn't she be upset?” said Claire. “Jesse totally stole him.”

“I didn't steal him,” said Jesse, rolling her eyes. “He was perfectly willing to dump you for me.”

“But why Joe? You already had a boyfriend,” Emma cried.

Jesse shrugged. “And I wanted a different one.” She said it so casually, like she was trading baseball cards. “You really need to get over it. It's not like this is a big deal. We were together first and, anyway, Annabelle told us you two weren't serious.”

Suddenly all eyes were on me. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“I never said that.”

“Not to me, but that's what you told Taylor,” said Jesse.

“No, it wasn't like that.”

Taylor grinned. “Sure, it was. Don't tell me you forgot about our phone conversation. It wasn't that long ago.”

Emma stared at me, confused and hurt.

No, this was all wrong. This couldn't be happening. I turned from her to Taylor, frantic. “I said
I
didn't know
if they were serious. You know that. Tell them I said that.”

Taylor shrugged. “Same difference. If they were serious, you'd know. Believe me. Jesse really appreciates Joe. She's not just some nerd who likes him because of the way he cuffs his jeans.”

Emma let out a squeaky, surprised little noise. She sounded like Pepper when my mom accidentally stepped on his tail once. “You told her?”

“No. I mean, not exactly—”

My old friends stared at me, waiting for an answer. But how could I begin to explain?

I couldn't believe Taylor had made me look so evil. That now I was the bad guy. Why did she turn on me?

The first bell rang, but no one moved. It was too silent. I had to make things right.

I looked at Jesse, dressed in black leggings and a Kelly green blouse. How could she have betrayed me when I'd kept her secret? It was so unfair.

Anger flared up from deep within and before I knew it I blurted out, “Hey, know why Jesse wears and eats green all the time?”

“No!” Jesse cried and held up her hands.

I grinned. “It's because Taylor is basically bribing her. She said she'd take Jesse to Rosarito for spring break if she accepted this whole ‘Green Challenge' thing, eating and wearing something green every day for three months, straight, without telling anyone. Can you believe it?”

Jesse turned to Taylor. “That doesn't count. I was so close. I only had a few days left. You still have to take me.”

Taylor looked from me to Jesse and shrugged. “I don't have to do anything. Rules are rules and you just lost. Guess you can thank Annabelle for that.”

Jesse's eyes welled up with tears and she bit her bottom lip. Nikki and Hannah just shook their heads, like they couldn't believe what I'd done. Which was crazy, because they're the ones who'd stolen Emma's boyfriend.

Before I could say another word— not that I had anything to say—they filed out of the bathroom.

Once we were alone, again, I said to Rachel, “That was insane. You were right about Taylor. I never should've trusted—”