8. Kaitlyn
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kaitlyn
PAST
I’m starting to get worried about Bailey. He’s just seemed off the past couple of weeks, which is understandable considering there’s an arsonist on the loose who lit the Walkers’ house on fire. I’m torn between giving him the space to come to me about it or asking what’s wrong.
Last weekend, he and Mira got into a fight at the Puppy Bowl our families went to, and he was abnormally quiet. It was weird, and I didn’t like it.
Then, a few days ago, he showed up at school with his blond waves cropped short like Hunter’s. It looked good, but it was still a surprise.
“Do you want to go with me to the season opener for the soccer team after we both get done with practice today?” I ask Hunter as he takes notes over the section we’re supposed to read for AP Government tonight.
I should be taking my notes too, but I’ve been doodling flowers and clouds all over my page instead.
If I don’t get it done now, then I’ll probably end up falling asleep at my desk again since I won’t get home until after the soccer game .
Procrastination is a bitch, but it’s a choice I keep making. I do my best work under pressure at the last minute.
His hand jerks, causing his pen to slip. “Shit,” he mumbles under his breath, frowning at the page. “Um, no, I don’t think so.”
Holy shit. Is something going on between the twins too?
I literally can’t keep up with all of this.
My brain already hurts trying to wrap my head around the fact that Henry and Mirabelle have been having a secret relationship none of us knew about.
I’ve only gotten into half a dozen arguments with my dad over the way he’s treating Henry like some kind of criminal.
Mom tried to explain it to me, but even then, I don’t understand what the fucking problem is since they’re two consenting adults. I’m barely talking to Dad, though.
“Why not?” I press, before the dots connect Hunter just might not want to go with me .
He’s being welcomed with open arms by the popular crowd, and I’m not surprised, but I’m also not expecting an invitation to be extended to me because we’re friends.
“Sorry, do you already have plans to go with someone else?”
He nudges my foot with his from underneath the table. “Are you serious? You really think I’d pick someone else over you?” he asks, his nose scrunching.
I look down at the doodles I’ve been drawing on my paper, praying my face isn’t as red as I think it is. “Fine, then why didn’t you say yes? It’d save me a trip to the gas station if we carpooled to the game.”
“You do know that you still have to go to the gas station to get gas, right?”
Of course, Hunter has to point that out. “There’s nothing wrong with waiting until the last second to go to the gas station,” I argue, defending my logic.
“Didn’t I have to come get you this summer after you ran out of gas on the side of the road? ”
“Okay, so you have a point there. I did wait too long that time, but it said I had four miles left. How was I supposed to know that four miles didn’t actually mean four miles?” I ask, and Hunter laughs quietly to himself.
“You shouldn’t have let the gas tank get to where it only had four miles left.” He stretches, and I try not to roll my eyes at the girl in the background I see swooning. I mean, I get it. I’m not blind. I know my best friend is hot, even if my crush is on his twin. It’s just weird .
“I said no because I’m not going to the game, not because I didn’t want to go with you,” he continues, and now I’m even more confused than I was before. He’s skipping Bailey’s game?
“At all? Are you serious?”
Hunter glances around, but there’s no one within earshot of us as long as he talks quietly. “Bailey quit soccer,” he says, and this has to be a joke.
Bailey breathes soccer. He said he was getting ready to commit to Duke. I thought we were going to go together, and maybe . . . maybe nothing.
“You’re joking.” Please, please, please be lying.
Hunter’s mouth flattens, and he shakes his head. “I wish I was.”
Something is seriously wrong. Bailey wouldn’t do this out of nowhere.
You didn’t even notice , the little voice in my head reminds me. How did I miss this?
I swallow the guilt climbing up my throat. “Did he say why? What did your parents say?”
“He just said he didn’t want to play anymore, but they don’t know,” he says, and now I feel even worse. “They’re still wrapped up with everything in the fire investigation, and freaking out about Henry and Mirabelle. He couldn’t have picked a better time to fly under the radar.”
“Well aren’t Bash and Thalia going to find out when they realize he’s not at the game tonight?” I can only imagine the hell they’re going to raise. I would definitely not want to be Bailey tonight.
“I’m not sure they even know there’s a game tonight.” Hunter shrugs, clicking his pen repeatedly. “He really hasn’t said anything about this to you?”
I feel like the worst fucking friend in the world right now.
I’ve been so wrapped up with the beginning of the school year and cheer practice, somehow I dropped the ball on this.
It didn’t help that when we were in Charlotte last weekend, he didn’t go to the game on Sunday with everyone.
Instead, Bailey met up with some of his friends.
I was so pissed off at Dad about Henry, I never asked how it went.
“No,” I say, my gaze flickering to the pen he’s still clicking. “Can you stop?”
“Sorry,” he mumbles, dropping the pen on the table. “I don’t know what’s going on with B. I’m so pissed at him, Kait. It’s like he’s trying to ruin everything, and I don’t get why he’s making everything so difficult.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, because I don’t know what else I can say. I want to defend Bailey and believe he must have a reason for why he’s acting like this, but if he won’t tell anyone, then how are we going to understand?
“You’re stuck in the same shitty boat I’m in, so I don’t know why you’re apologizing. The only apology I want is from Bailey.”
I’m not sure if Bailey’s ever kept anything like this from Hunter before, so it’s understandable why he’s upset. “I know, but I can still be sorry you’re upset.”
Hunter’s emerald green eyes search mine, almost like they’re looking for something. “Thanks, Kait.”
I knock his knee under the table with mine, earning a faint smile from Hunt. “What are best friends for?”
“I’m not sure,” he teases, and I roll my eyes, trying to lighten the mood from the unknown. I don’t want to keep pushing the topic of Bailey, but I’m wondering if I asked him about what’s going on if he’d tell me.
I just hope he’s okay.
“Jerk.”
The bell rings, signaling the end of the period, and I groan, dragging my hands over my face as I look down at my nonexistent notes, instead seeing a page filled with flowers and clouds.
Hunter looks at my page compared to his full one before he closes it, a knowing smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“I’ll send you pictures of my notes later so you can copy them,” he says, and that might be the best thing I’ve heard all day.
“Are you serious? Oh my god, I think I could kiss you,” I blurt out, thinking of how much faster I’ll get done with everything if I don’t have to comb through the fifteen pages to figure out what minuscule details I should’ve decided were important.
I’m a good student, but I struggle with keeping everything organized. I also tend to procrastinate until the last minute to get anything done. Hunter seems to be good at everything, and if it weren’t so helpful in moments like this, I might say it’s annoying.
Hunter’s cheeks flush, and he starts gathering his things together, while my brain is slow to catch up to what actually just came out of my mouth.
“Oh my god, I don’t mean actually kiss you.
That’d be weird, but like you know, it’s just a saying that people say when they get really excited?
I’m sorry, but also thank you for offering to send me your notes?
” I ramble, hoping I didn’t just make things incredibly awkward for us.
Thankfully, Hunter puts me out of my misery with a short laugh. “I know what you meant. It’s fine.”
This is beyond embarrassing. I’m probably never going to live this down.
“Thanks.” I close my notebook and textbook, shoving them into my backpack before slipping my arms through the straps. “Do you have weights next?” I ask, and Hunter nods, shouldering his backpack.
“Yeah, but I can walk with you to your next class.” He falls into step next to me as we walk out of the library.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you like spending time with me, Hunt,” I tease, glancing at him.
“Then you won’t question whether I’d rather go with you to stuff than other people,” he says, and I wish he’d just forget about that too. “So there’s this bonfire coming up this weekend that it sounds like a lot of the team is going to.”
It’s all everyone’s been talking about at practice this week, and while it’s getting better, a couple of my teammates still asked if I thought Hunter and Bailey would be going. “I think the entire cheer squad is going. It could be fun,” I say as Hunter reaches to hold the library door for me.
“Are you going?” he asks, and I nod, my brain already skipping ahead to see if I could convince Bailey to go with us.
“I think so. Also, I totally forgot to tell you, but Ruby has been talking about how she’s going to talk to you at the bonfire.”
Hunter’s arm bumps mine. “Really?”
“She’s really pretty and nice. Who knows? Maybe you’ll like her if you give her a chance,” I say, and he shakes his head.
“I don’t think so,” he says, giving me no clues to understand what’s running through his head. “Just promise me you won’t leave me to get cornered?”
I roll my eyes, wondering what it would take for him to give someone a chance, because as far as I know, Hunter has never had a girlfriend.
“Dude, it wouldn’t kill you to think about something other than academics and football, but I promise I won’t let you get cornered by anyone.”
Hunter isn’t an introvert, but he’s not nearly as extroverted as Mirabelle and JJ.
“There’s nothing wrong with being focused,” he says, and I wonder if there’s more to it that he’s leaving out.
“Is it because you don’t want to start something before leaving for college? Have you thought any more about where you want to go?” I ask, feeling my phone vibrate in my back pocket. It’s probably the group chat I’m in with the cheer squad, but I’ll check it in my next class.
“There’s a couple coaches that’ve reached out about coming to games this season, but I haven’t decided anything yet,” Hunter says, and I’m surprised he’s waited this long to choose.
He practically has his pick of any school he could want, and I know he took a couple of visits this past summer. I’m not sure what he’s waiting for.
Duke was an easy choice for me because it’s where Henry and Dad went, but I wish I knew what I wanted to do with my life past where I’m going to school.
“You’ll figure it out,” I reassure him, catching a glimpse of his twin at the other end of the hallway just before he slips around the corner out of sight.
We’ll all figure it out. Everything’s going to be okay.
I just know it.