Chapter 19 #2
At the top, most people, including Ralph, Maddie, and Jasmine, who never came in the water, have already cleared out for the night, since it is a Tuesday.
I find my sundress and slip it on, not bothering to look at my phone in my purse for any notifications.
It’s been such a great day, and I don’t want to ruin it with a reality check.
Unfortunately, a guy walking back to his car with his friends doesn’t get the memo. He stops when he notices me braiding back my wet hair, his brow furrowing like he’s trying to place me from somewhere.
“Hey, wait, aren’t you Pukey from Oakwoods?” he asks, tone genuinely curious instead of taunting.
“What the fuck, Nolan?” Jay growls, taking a threatening step toward him.
Nolan retreats, hands raised by his sides in an innocent gesture. “Chill out, just asking. Ralph said this chick Kalani sent him a video of you puking out the window of this gorgeous blue BMW. Have you seen it?”
“Wait, what?” I ask, processing his words.
“Yeah, you haven’t seen the video?” Nolan asks, presumably feeling less threatened by Jay now because he joins us and pulls out his phone. “Want me to show you?”
I hold out an arm to stop him. “No. Not that. Did you say Kalani sent it to Ralph?”
Nolan looks at our confused faces. “Uh . . . yeah.”
Emi and I trade glances before I ask, “Are you sure it was Kalani and not someone else? Or maybe he mixed up the name?”
Nolan’s brow furrows. “It’s pretty hard to screw up a name like Kalani.”
Emi pulls me to the side, away from Nolan and Jay and Nolan’s friends, who are wondering what’s going on.
“Why would Kalani share it with Ralph?” I ask Emi, trying to think past the hurt. “Why would she share it with anyone at all? I’d never do that to her. This can’t be right. She’s my best friend. She’d never send a video like that of me around on purpose.”
Emi’s already gotten her phone out and is clicking around with a determined look on her face. Jay joins us, Nolan and his friends having already left.
Emi holds her phone flat in her hand between the three of us and clicks the speaker button. Rings fill the air, then a deep voice. “Miss me already, Emi? I literally just left.”
“Hey, Ralph, settle something for me,” she says, getting straight to the point. “Did Kalani send you a video of someone puking out the window of a car? And if yes, when did she send it?”
“Yeah. Friday night. It was of a girl puking out the window of a beautiful Beemer while going a hundred on the highway.”
Emi and I look at each other with wide eyes. We’re both thinking the same thing. I force myself to breathe through the shock as Emi asks, “Can you check the time stamp for me of when she sent it?”
“Yeah, hold on . . .” There’s shuffling, and then his voice is so clear I can’t pretend I didn’t hear it when he says, “It was at 11:19 p.m.”
“At 11:19 p.m.,” I repeat, my heart beating in my chest, hurt at the betrayal.
“That was literally right after I puked. I know because I looked at the clock at 11:10 wishing Wyatt would hurry the hell up and get me home, then I couldn’t hold it anymore.
That means . . .” No. It can’t mean what logic tells me it means.
I don’t want to believe it, but the facts are staring me right in the face, and I can’t bury my head in the sand and pretend they don’t exist because I don’t want them to.
“Kalani must’ve been the one to take the video of me, and she was the one to send it around. ”
Saying the words out loud hurts more than I thought it would. Wyatt mentioned a white car in his blind spot. It must’ve been Emmett’s Volvo. Kalani would’ve had the perfect vantage point to take the video.
“Is that Carina?” Ralph asks. “Hey, Carina. I didn’t want to bring it up earlier because you were having so much fun with Jay, but I’m really sorry. I didn’t realize it was you until after it started going around more. I wouldn’t have sent it to anyone if I had realized it was y—”
Emi hangs up on him. “Kalani’s such a bitch!
I can’t believe her! She’s been extra bitchy lately, I’ll be the first to admit that, but recording her best friend at such a low moment and passing the video around with the intention of embarrassing you, then pretending not to know anything about it after?
On top of the fact that she’s been setting you up on shitty dates on purpose? Let’s go have some words with her.”
She starts marching toward the car, but I stand in the same spot, frowning at the tree line as I try to make sense of everything. I’ve known Kalani since the second grade. What’s happened to our friendship that she’s having these malicious intentions toward me? She’s actively trying to hurt me.
“Why would she do that to me, Emi?” I ask, my voice cracking, though I force myself not to cry.
Emi’s anger softens as she returns and pulls me into a hug. “I don’t know, Carina. I’m sorry.”
I glance at Jay for the first time and see his jaw and fists are clenched. His entire stance is tense, and he looks like he’s trying really hard not to say something he can’t take back.
Emi pulls away, and a thought occurs to me. “Do you think she’s the one who started the rumors about me at school? Needing to pay for dates and stuff?”
Emi and Jay exchange glances, and it’s clear by the set in their jaws and their rigid postures what their opinion about that is.
Why is she doing this to me? Because I was ruining her prom numbers and seating arrangement? Because I didn’t want to go on any more stupid dates? Because . . . because she knows about Emmett?
But even if that was true, does that make what she did any better?
I swipe at my cheek when I feel some tears slip out, and Jay’s nostrils flare.
“I’m sorry, Jay, but I need to go. Are you ready, Emi?”
“To go kick her ass? Yes!”
“No, Emi,” I say, not feeling the same fight she’s feeling. It’s clear she and Jay are pissed on my behalf, but I just feel drained. “To go home.”
“Are you okay to drive?” Jay asks, gently wiping the wetness on my cheeks I didn’t get the first time.
Emi says, “You mean okay to drive straight to Kalani’s house and stir up some shit?”
“No, no confrontations,” I say, walking with them along the path to the car. “I want to go home.”
“There’s a chance this could all be a mix-up,” Jay suggests, though it’s obvious he doesn’t really believe it. Emi snorts in disagreement, but Jay continues, “You’ll never know if you don’t talk to her.”
Is it all a big misunderstanding? The signs point to no. My heart wants to believe it, but I can’t live in denial.
We reach the clearing where our cars are parked. Jay’s friends are still at the cliff hanging out, so there are still a few cars here.
Jay pulls me to the side as Emi stomps to the car, muttering in Japanese. I pick up a swear word or two that she taught me last year.
Jay places his hands on my arms and looks intently into my eyes. “Remember what we said about getting stuff off your chest and saying how you feel? Even if it makes you uncomfortable?”
I nod, but I don’t know if I can face Kalani and get everything out in the open just yet. I still need to process all these emotions and figure out exactly how it is I’m feeling and what I would even say to her.
Jay studies me for a moment. “If she did it, she doesn’t deserve a friend like you, no matter what. Text me when you get home, okay?”
“Okay,” I repeat, and Jay pulls me in for a bone-crushing hug.
I pull him even closer to me, pressing my cheek to his warm chest and inhaling his fresh scent, trying to absorb all the comfort I can take from him before he has to let me go.
He reluctantly pulls back and presses a kiss to my forehead.
“You’re a badass, Princess. Don’t forget that.”
I don’t feel like one right now. I feel like a girl who wants to crawl into bed and cuddle with her dog and forget about everything threatening to turn her world upside down.
He walks me to my car, and Emi and I get in.
Beside me in the passenger seat, Emi’s ranting—in English this time—about all the things we need to say to Kalani. I let my thoughts wander instead of listening as I start the car and pull down the road.
In my rearview mirror is a reflection of Jay, who hasn’t moved from his spot, watching me slowly wind through the trail with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He stays that way until I make a turn, and I lose sight of him completely.