Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
ELIZABETH
I nstead of going to our morning breakfast meet-up before school, I tell the guys I’m driving in with Hailey so we can track down Maria. She’s ghosted me for days, and I’m starting to wonder if she’s mad at me or just upset about her break-up with Ryder.
“Mom! Did you sign that permission slip for school yet?” Hailey yells from upstairs.
I take a bite of my muffin.
“Oh crap,” Mom mumbles. “Signing it right now, sweetheart. Lizzie, where’s a pen?”
I take one out of my bag from the floor at my feet and hand it to her.
“Do you remember where I put the permission slip?”
“Table in the entryway.”
“Thanks, honey.” She runs out of the kitchen.
“Hales, we need to leave. Come on, slowpoke!” I shout.
“Coming. Geesh!” I hear her feet stomping down the stairs.
She takes a black hair band held between her teeth and ties her hair into a ponytail.
I mentally critique what she’s wearing. Long capri pants and a long-sleeved button-down shirt.
“It’s going to be in the mideighties today. Aren’t you going to be hot in that?”
“I’m good.” She slides on her shoes and grabs a muffin. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Mom meets us at the door and hands Hailey her permission slip.
“Thanks.”
“Be good, girls.” Mom kisses both of us. “Who’s picking you up from work today?” she asks me.
Hailey and I share a car. It makes things a little difficult to schedule when we have different things to do after school.
“Jayson.” I kiss her cheek. “See ya!”
As soon as we get into the car, Hailey says, “So, how are we doing this? Ambush style or straight up gangsta?”
I chuckle at her enthusiasm. “Maria usually gets to school around seven and helps out in the main office.”
To graduate, every senior has to accrue a hundred hours of volunteer credits. My job at the library counts toward mine.
“You still don’t know why she won’t talk to you?”
“I have a pretty good suspicion.”
Hailey shovels the rest of her muffin in her mouth as she drives. “And?” she says after she swallows.
My sister is like a damn Hoover when it comes to food.
“And I think it has to do with Ryder breaking up with her.”
“You think she blames you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Is it?”
Hailey slows down for a stop sign, then turns right.
“I’m not dumb. I’m also not blind. I know the deal when it comes to you and the guys. But I also know that you and Ryder have not once crossed the line with each other since you and Jay hooked up.” I grimace, and her eyes grow big. “Or have you?”
I remember what I said to Ryder in my bedroom after Fallon’s party. How he held me until I fell asleep.
“Technically? No. Lines have not been crossed, but they’ve definitely blurred.”
“Blurred is not crossed.”
“Isn’t that just semantics?” I press my forehead to the window glass and sigh. “I don’t know, Hales.”
“Exactly. You don’t know. So, let’s go find out.”
We pull into the senior lot at school, and I see Maria’s car already parked.
“She’s here.”
“Want to be Riggs to my Murtaugh?” Hailey asks.
“Honestly, I think we’re more Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne from Dumb and Dumber .”
She laughs as she gets out of the car.
Just as I’d hoped, Maria is in the main office standing in front of the copier machine.
“I’ll wait out here,” Hailey says, taking a seat on the metal bench.
Here we go.
I pull open the glass door. Mrs. Teasdale, the school receptionist, greets me with a smile.
“Good morning, Elizabeth. How can I help you today?”
Maria looks over her shoulder and scowls. Not a good sign.
“Good morning, Mrs. Teasdale. May I talk to Maria for a second?”
“Of course, dear. Maria, I can take over until you get back.”
Not happy, she literally skulks right by me without a word. When she notices Hailey, she scoffs.
“Great. You’re tag teaming.”
“What’s going on, Mar? Why have you been avoiding me?”
She crosses her arms. “Like you don’t already know.”
“No, I really don’t.”
Another scoff, this one angrier. “Ryder broke up with me.”
“He told me. I’m so sorry.”
“Of course he fucking did,” she snaps.
Hailey jumps in. “Cut it out. Why are you mad at Lizzie? She didn’t do anything.”
That sets her off, and Maria explodes. “Are you kidding me right now? It’s always been about her! It’s been almost two goddamn years since she started dating Jay, and Ryder’s still in love with her . He still wants her . I never stood a chance.”
“Maria—”
Eyes blazing, she smacks me across the face. “It’s all your fault, you stupid bitch!”
Hailey is off the bench in an instant and shoves her away from me. “Don’t you dare touch her again.”
Several students walking by slow down to watch the drama unfold.
“You chose Jayson. The day Ryder asked me out, I was like, finally, he saw me. He saw me, and not you. I have bent over backward for years trying to get him to notice me. I was an idiot. He never wanted me. I was just a distraction for him while he continued to pine away for you!”
Stunned that she hit me, I’m rendered mute, not able to say anything to defend myself against her accusations, so Hailey does it for me.
“She’s not responsible for your relationship problems.”
“ She has Ryder and Jayson wrapped around her finger. Their princess. Isn’t that right?” she says, glaring hatred at me. “You’re a selfish bitch. You want everything and have to give up nothing.”
Her verbal daggers hit their target. My whole world has revolved around those boys. Ever since I was six years old, it’s been me and them. I don’t know how to exist without them.
And maybe that’s the problem.
Hailey gets in her face. “You’re the one being a petty, selfish bitch. I can guaran- damn -tee you that nothing has ever happened between her and Ryder. So, if Ryder wanted to dump your ass, that’s on him. Lizzie has done nothing but support you. You don’t deserve her friendship.”
“That’s fine with me. We’re no longer friends…bitch,” she hisses.
Mrs. Teasdale pokes her head out into the corridor. “What’s going on? Do I need to get Principal Waters?”
Did she not see Maria hit me?
“We’re good,” Maria says cheerily, acting like nothing happened.
“Elizabeth?” Mrs. Teasdale asks.
I cup my stinging cheek and say the dumbest thing. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Me, too,” Hailey says and quickly ushers me toward the girl’s restroom. “Enjoy the show, assholes?” She growls at a few of the onlookers, who have their cell phones out.
Wonderful. I’m sure this will be posted before the first bell rings.
Once inside the restroom, Hailey does a quick check of the stalls.
“All clear.”
I burst into tears. “What the hell just happened?”
She tears off a paper towel, wets it, and hands it to me. I rub underneath my eyes to wipe away the mascara smears. I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but I don’t want raccoon eyes.
“Screw her, Lizzie. Just screw her. That was the biggest pile of denial bullshit I have ever heard.”
“She’s one of my best friends, Hales. I didn’t know she was so angry with me. Why didn’t she come talk to me? I don’t understand. I never interfered with her relationship with Ryder. I may not have liked it, but I supported it and stayed out of it.”
Fabulous. More tears. I rip off another paper towel.
“Can you imagine what you would do if Brea did that to me?”
“I’d kick her ass. Wouldn’t matter that she’s Ryder’s sister.”
“Exactly. Be lucky I didn’t do just that.”
“Hopefully she’ll come around,” I say.
I wash my hands and splash water on my face. I’ve got some makeup in my bag that should cover the bright red handprint Maria left.
“I know how you love to shoulder the blame. This is not one of those times. You did nothing wrong,” my sister insists.
“But I kind of did. Maria was right about me being selfish. The guys have been my everything for so long. Our relationships are not normal.”
I know this. We’re too affectionate. Too close. I’m in love with two of them. Not normal.
Hailey smothers me in a hug. “Who’s to say what’s normal? There is no right label to slap on love. Your heart wants what it wants. Whatever you and the guys have, it works. That’s your normal.”
But it doesn’t work, and that’s the problem.
My phone rings, and Jayson’s name pops up.
“I think shit’s about to hit the fan,” Hailey says.
My voice is a bit throaty from crying when I answer. “Hey.”
“Liz, what the fuck? Are you at school right now?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m with the guys at Ruby’s. You’re on speaker. Please tell me what we just saw did not happen.”
Well, that was fast. Sometimes I hate social media.
Hailey yanks the phone out of my hand. “Where’s Ryder?”
“I’m here,” he says over the speaker.
She paces to the other end of the bathroom when I try to take back my phone. “You broke up with that crazy bitch, so she’s your problem. She comes near Lizzie again, all bets are off.”
“I’ll deal with it,” he coldly states.
Jayson comes back on. “We’re on our way. Hales, take her back out to the car and wait for us. I love you, baby. Everything’s going to be okay. Be there soon.”
“Okay.”
He hangs up.
“Come on, sis. Let’s go wait for your boys.”