Revealing Kia (14 page)

“But why?” I said, not understanding any of it. “If she got what she wanted, why couldn’t she leave you alone?”

“Because!” Nessie snapped. “Girls like Taylor and Claudia don’t need a reason. They live to make other people miserable. Plus, I did the unthinkable, I said no to Taylor. I told her I wouldn’t help her get into bed with my brother. That was unacceptable. It was unheard of. I needed to go before my illness infected the others.”

It made sense. It was no surprise that Nessie had been part of th
e popular group in Vina. I knew had she wanted, she could have given Claudia a run for her money when she switched to Margaretson High. It surprised more than one person when she gave that up for me. I’d always wanted to ask her, but I was a coward. I wasn’t sure I would like the answer. So I never did.

“
What did Adam say when he found out?”

Nessie snorted. “Found what out? No one listened to me. Mom and Dad went into instant clean up mode, greasing palms to keep it quiet, not sure why. The whole school knew. Taylor made sure of it. As for Adam, he’s still sleeping with her.”

I almost choked on my spite. “What?”

Rather than answer me, Nessie said, “
Do you remember that girl he was obsessed over like last week? The one he met at that Halloween party?” She didn’t wait for me to respond as she continued. “He’s already over her. He was with Claudia all of last week at her place and the only reason he came here to go skiing with his friends was because of Taylor. He’s with her right now.”

She was throwing things too fast at me. Each new piece of inf
ormation slammed into my gut, making me want to double in pain.

“What are you talking about?” I
was trembling all over. “What do you mean he was with Claudia and Taylor?” I demanded, my voice quivering.

“Not
was
…
is
!” She kicked the sheets off her legs. “He’s seeing both of them. Of course neither knows about the other, and why would they? They go to different schools and hang out with different friends. He’s a lot like Gary. Gary used to tell me how he loved me and that nothing would change that, not even if we slept together. Look what happened. He got into my pants and moved on to another girl while the whole school thinks I’m a slut because I was stupid enough to tell him about Zach, because I believed him when he said he loved me, because I’m desperate and stupid … and lonely…” Her voice broke. “But I can’t trust anyone. They all just use me.”

Ignoring the slow
disintegration of my heart, I shuffled over to her and pulled her into my arms. “You can trust me,” I told her. “I would never hurt you.”

She pushed me away. “
I don’t believe you.”

She was hurt, was all I could tell myself as I left my friend curled up on the bed and walked quietly downstairs. She didn’t really mean the things she’d said
. They weren’t true. Adam wasn’t like Gary. I had to believe that. I needed to believe it. Yet I kept thinking about the way Taylor had wrapped herself around him on the mountain the afternoon we’d gone skiing and more vividly than that, I remembered Claudia and her remark to me that last time we’d spoken.

“We’re going out this weekend. I guess you didn’t steal his heart quite as thoroughly as you thought.”

I hadn’t believed her because she was Claudia and I wasn’t stupid enough to believe anything she said. But what if she’d been telling the truth? What if he’d gone from learning my secret to jumping into bed with her?

No!
No, Adam wouldn’t do that! He wouldn’t!

I slid down on the first step of the stairs, not wanting to go back into the bedroom with Nessie, but not relishing the thought of joining her parents downstairs either. In reality, I wanted
to leave. I wanted to get out of that house and run, which was a big deal for me as I hated running.

The most logical solution in a situation such as this was to confront him
, to ask him for the truth, but if he was as Nessie painted him, could I believe him? She was his sister after all. Who knew him better? And it wasn’t as though I could ask his parents. Then there was Kenny. I could ask him. But he was Adam’s best friend. It was his job to cover for him as I would cover for Nessie. I could confront Claudia, but that would do no good at all. She’d say yes just to hurt me. And then there was Taylor. I had no idea how to get in touch with her and even if I did, I probably would have just hit her.

I dropped my face into my hands, torn between two possibilities, two harsh realities. I could ignore Nessie only to find out later in a much crueler way that she’d been right, or I could believe her and
… what? Leave? Let Adam go? That seemed to always be the play—letting Adam go. Truthfully, I was getting severely tired of always making the decision.

My hand went to the swan pendent tucked away beneath the collar of my t-shirt
like a dirty secret and I wondered if the cosmos was trying to tell me something.

Nessie stayed in bed for the rest of the day. Mrs. Chaves sent me up a few times to try and wake her up, but I was told to go away and I was in no mood to argue.

I was helping Mr. Chaves with supper, a reheating of Christmas dinner when the phone rang. My heart skipped a little as I watched Mrs. Chaves pick it up. I hoped it was Adam, asking for a drive back.

It wasn’t.

“Yes, she’s here. Of course. Is everything all right? Oh my! Yes. Yes, we will. One moment.”

The concern and sympathy in her eyes had my heart wedging up into my throat.
I took the phone and pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Kia, it’s Mom.”

“
Hey. Everything okay?”

“There’s been an accident.
Joanne’s in the hospital.”

“Oh my God! Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She has a broken arm and some bruises.”

Exhaling in relief, I closed my eyes. “Do you want me to come home?”

“Would you mind? Nessie’s mom said she’d drive you if you—”

“I’ll get my things.”

I hung up and hurried upstairs. Nessie was asleep—or doing a great imitation of sleeping—as I packed. I tried to wake her, but she nearly punched me in the eye so I left her alone. Downstairs, Mr. Chaves was waiting for me, car keys in hand. He smiled at me kindly as he opened the door.

I thanked Mrs. Chaves for having me and for all the awesome gifts. She hugged me, which was
weird because I’d never been hugged by someone else’s parent before.

“It was wonderful to have you
, Kia. You’re practically part of the family.”

I said nothing, but smiled at her before ducking through the door after Mr. Chaves. At the car, he
loaded my bag into the back. We climbed in and left.

I arrived home almost two hours later. Truthfully, I couldn’t have been happier. The Chaves family was great, but they were just too much to take in a single gulp. It was nice being able to finally breath
e again without worrying about offending anyone.

I thanked Mr. Chaves and hurried inside with my bag in tow.

Mom and Joanne were already home when I jogged upstairs to their room. I stopped in the doorway.

She sat on
the bed, her right arm encased in a white cast. She was unharmed otherwise. I scuffed into the room, alerting the two of my presence.

“Kia!”
Joanne beamed when she saw me. “You didn’t have to come home.”

I snorted. “Of course I did. You were hurt.”

She smiled tearfully. “Aw, I love you.”

I looked between them. “So are you going to tell me how it happened?”

They exchanged embarrassed looks and I realized I just did not want to know.

“How was your Christmas?” Mom asked, tactfully changing the topic. “Did you have fun?”

I exhaled, dropping into the chair next to the bed. Without hesitation, I told them everything from the moment we got there until the time I left. I even told them about the things Adam and I shared. That was the beauty of my mom and Joanne, they never judged.

“I thought he wasn’t going to be there,”
Joanne said.

“He wasn’t, but apparently he decided to just show up in the dead of night and try to crawl into bed with me.”

“Would you have minded?” Mom said, folding her arms. “It didn’t certainly seem like it.”

I rolled my eyes. “The fact that I said no should get me points.”

“Well, we’re proud of you for keeping your ground,” Joanne said. “From what you’ve told us, he’s one hot cookie to ignore.”

I thought of a cookie, warm, delicious and so very bad for me and
had to agree with the comparison.

“Well, him being a cookie doesn’t help me decide what to do now.”

“I would think talking to him would be the next course of action,” Mom said, but she didn’t sound happy about.

Joanne
nodded. “You can’t take what Nessie said seriously about relationships when she just had her heart broken. I would talk to Adam.”

I shook my head. “Not that. I don’t care about that right now.
What about Nessie and those horrible text messages. I know she told me not to tell her parents, but … I should tell someone, right? I mean those were serious.”

Mom and Joanne exchanged glances.

“I think you should absolutely tell someone,” Mom said at last, turning back to me.

“I don’t know,” Joanne murmured. “I think it’s up to her. It’s not like anyone was threatening her.
I think drawing even more attention to it will only make matters worse.”

“And how is anyone supposed to know if someone does start threatening her?” Mom demanded. “It’s not like she’s doing anything about it.”

“I think she needs to handle this on her own,” Joanne countered. “I’m sure she’ll go to someone when she feels she needs to.”

“Will she
, or will she become like one of those girls who do something horrible because they feel trapped?”

I lunged to my feet, unable to sit still any longer. “Nessie wouldn’t do that,” I said, realizing with some surprise that I was trembling.

Mom hurried over to me and put her arms around me. “Of course she wouldn’t.”

“I’m going to call her,” I said, pulling away. “I think I can talk her into telling someone.”

Mom kissed my cheek. “Okay. Let us know if you need help.”