Chapter 24
Our chapter meeting was more grim than usual. Lincoln and I decided to sit apart, at least for now, and keep our newly hatched relationship a secret. Ms. Reaper, our sponsor, sat at the head of the table in her classroom, and Lincoln leaned over her with the totals. The other officers included Beau, and some other committee members. And me, the treasurer.
Usually the meetings were cheery and chatty, but today it was tense and quiet before we started. At the first meeting, there was a ton of kids, now we were down to maybe thirty-five. We sat together in our divided committee groups.
Marie held hands with Brett. Larry and Lisa sat close, and Kat and Jefferson practically shared the same chair. Marie leaned over. “Do you think we’ve won?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“It was close right?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Beau would win. When did I start keeping secrets from her? I hadn’t even had a chance to tell her Lincoln and I had kissed—officially.
Ms. Reaper and Lincoln were finally ready.
With a grim face, Lincoln took the center of the classroom, one of those giant lecture-type places. “We’re here to announce the totals of how much the committees raised and to announce the winner of the contest.”
He cleared his throat and shot me a glance. I never loved him more. “In third place was McKenna’s group.” A few people cheered when he announced the total.
I shot a glance at McKenna who crossed her long legs and folded her tanned arms, her expression unreadable. Neither joy nor sadness registered there. Her eyes never wavered from Lincoln.
“And I’ll skip right to first place. Beau’s group for the win. Their BMW scheme netted over thirty-five thousand dollars. And who won the BMW?”
Beau grinned. “Someone very deserving.”
Ms. Reaper furrowed her brows at the indirect answer.
I smoldered.
Lincoln chickened out.
Marie poked me in the ribs. “We didn’t win? After all the money we made?”
“Beau.” Ms. Reaper waved him forward.
Marie’s face crumpled. My enemy ruined her dreams, too.
Ms. Reaper nodded. “You get to pick three people from your committee to travel to DC to the national convention and ball and present them with a check for all our winnings.”
Beau stood. “Okay, I pick, Travis.” That was the dude who nominated him. “Me of course and…”
I thought for sure he’d say Tia. They’d been dating all semester.
“Jenny.”
I sucked in my breath and cast Marie a sideways glance. “Who is Jenny?” she mouthed.
I shrugged. A girl I didn’t recognize gave him a wide smile. I couldn’t find Tia in their group. I shrugged. Then from the back of the room, a shout came.
“I protest.”
At the door, Tia, red faced and angry, entered. “I protest,” she said again. “Beau didn’t win. He cheated.”
All eyes flew to Beau.
Lincoln arched his eyebrow. “Do you have proof?”
“Yes. I’m so sorry, Gabby. I should’ve told Ms. Reaper earlier. Beau took some of the cash from the Winter Ball and supplemented his own winnings.”
A general murmur went up among all the charity club members. Beau scowled at her. “That’s not true!” He stood and faced her; the crowd murmured through the lecture hall.
“I have proof. I recorded the whole thing on my phone.”
Beau glowered at her, lowering his head like a bull. I thought for sure he was going to charge her.
“And I have this.” She held up a printed paper with a few bids on it. “He replaced the original bidding papers with forged ones with lower amounts, hiding the cash that was paid out, to the tune of nearly two thousand dollars. I found the originals in the trash.” Tia trembled all over. She was really brave to bring this forward.
The room erupted in questions and speculation.
Ms. Reaper stood from her chair at the table. “That’s enough. It looks like we’ll have to examine the evidence.”
Beau stood, his face bright red. “Wait, Lincoln and Gabby cheated, too. They worked together on the tabulations. They are a couple, and I found proof.”
I expected a huge outcry from someone, especially McKenna. I expected the people to whisper and be horrified, but no one seemed to care after Tia dropped her bomb.
Ms. Reaper stood at the front, her arm outstretched. “Tia, if you can bring the papers and your phone up here so I can view your evidence.”
“Doesn’t anyone care that Lincoln and Gabby were in this together?” Beau flipped open his wallet and held out the photo strip from the booth.
“Dude,” a guy called from the back. “We’ve known Lincoln and Gabby were a thing for a long time.”
My eyebrows shot upwards, and I glanced at Lincoln. “What is this?”
“I’ve liked you ever since the first service project and you rescued McKenna. You were brave, smart, and fearless. I knew you were the girl for me.” He flashed a smile that lit me up inside like an oven.
“But they counted up the totals.” Beau still tried to make it sound like we did something wrong.
“So what?” a girl called. “At least they didn’t cheat like you did.”
“Cheater,” another girl called, but I didn’t catch who.
Beau’s face reddened. Tia was at the table with Ms. Reaper, who examined her phone through a pair of readers and read over the papers. Beau threw down a long and skinny photo. “I can’t believe you ratted me out. I want the BMW back.”
“You dumped me for her!” Tia thrust out her finger in accusation at Jenny.
“Wait, did he cheat in the car raffle, too?” Ms. Reaper removed her glasses, horrified.
Red-faced and angry, Beau raced from the room.
“Will someone call campus security?” Ms. Reaper stood. “Let’s bring him back in here to stand accountable.”
“Looks like Gabby’s group’s going to Washington DC.” Lincoln grinned at me.
* * *
After everyone had left,I stayed to help stack chairs in the lecture hall with Lincoln.
He found the photo strip under a chair and bent to pick it up. “Here, you should have this. I have the other one at home.”
Furrowing my brows, I flipped it over. Four consecutive images of Lincoln and me kissing filled the paper. Warming at the memory, I pocketed the picture.
“Thank you.” The two of us seemed so small in the large room. We exited the double doors out the back and threaded through an almost empty campus. Finals were mostly finished. Only a few straggling students remained. “How did you get Tia to provide evidence against Beau?”
“I knew that Beau was seeing Jenny behind her back. If I made him name the people going with him to DC, Jenny would be among them. I wagered Tia would be upset and reveal everything, even if he gave her the BMW, which he held over her to keep her silent.”
“I’m glad she did. But I feel sorry for her.”
“Why?”
“We have something in common. We both kissed Beau.” A chilly breeze blew through me as we headed toward Lincoln’s car.
“Ugh, you don’t have to remind me.” His voice held disdain.
“I need more kisses to forget his. Displacement. I learned about it in one of my classes. Like when you learn a second foreign language and you can’t remember the first one. A-B replacement.”
“Easy.” He slipped his hands around my waist, drawing me near. Even the wind couldn’t part us. His laundry soap scent reminded me of the laundry day. His eyes burned with fire as he slipped his lips over mine. I leaned in, drawing on the strength of his embrace. Lincoln was amazing. He made me feel safe and secure. I breathed him in, enjoying every caress and flutter of his fingers across my cheek.
He slipped his lips over mine again, warm and tender in his embrace. There was no car horn here to interrupt us. I wanted to inhale him, make him a part of me, draw him in to me. But we had to go at last.
At my doorstep, he paused for another kiss. “You haven’t told me who you are bringing with you to DC.”
“Oh? Of course it will be Marie and Kat.”
“Not me?” He pretended to frown.
“Well, I figured you were going home anyway to see your family. You wouldn’t need a winning ticket. Wanna come in for a bit?”
The lights were off so hopefully no one was home. We slid inside the darkness.
Then the lights turned on with blinding brightness. Cheers rang out everywhere. Kat flew at me and hugged me, squeezing me until I couldn’t breathe.
“Congratulations!” someone said.
People I didn’t even know were my friends filled the room, all happy and excited, throwing streamers and confetti. I hope some of them were friends enough to stay and help clean up.
“Who are you going to take?” Kat asked in my face.
“You and Marie of course.”
Kat gave a sideways glance to Lincoln. “You’re not taking him?”
I elbowed him. “He’s already going to be there.”
Kat whooped and jumped up and down. “We should celebrate the Book!”
She held up the large tome, the one which had left a large goose-egg sized bump on my noggin, and lifted it above her head.
“The book worked, the book worked. Gabby the Goat Girl won the day!”
She galloped around the room, pumping the Book above her head.
I guffawed as she wove between people, shouting in their faces.
“What is she talking about?” Lincoln faced me.
“You don’t know what this is?” Kat held the book with both hands. “Gabby, you didn’t tell him about how the book transformed you?”
The room grew quiet.
My face burned with guilt. Everyone’s eyes were on me. Lincoln’s eyes bore into me. The spectacle of Kat dancing around the book was not nearly as embarrassing as this confrontation.
“It’s just a book.” I tried to laugh it off.
“What is it?” Lincoln held out his hand for the book.
Kat handed it over to him.
Lincoln stood, the book open in one hand as the other flipped through pages. He didn’t speak.
Finally, Kat blurted out, “It’s Gabby’s book to learn how to be normal. She grew up in the sticks of Arizona raising goats. There was no way she could have the skills necessary to pull this off without the book.”
Poisoned darts shot from my eyes at her. “It’s not— It’s more like?—“
His gaze lifted to mine. “You’re really Gabby the Goat Girl?”
The question hung in the air between us, separating us by miles.
I swallowed. “Yes. Everything Beau said about me was true. I learned things from the book?—”
He slapped the book closed. Then without a word, he opened the door to the apartment.
“Lincoln, wait!” I followed him out, the night chill greeting me harshly. Better to have a confrontation away from the party.
He stalked a few steps away from my apartment before pausing. “Yes, Beau was a jerk for sharing those things, but you could’ve trusted me. You didn’t have to lie to me about who you were. The reason I was attracted to you was because you were so comfortable being yourself.” He glanced me up and down. “Turns out, you’re just like everyone else—putting on a mask and playing a role.”
My heart imploded, sucking my breath, my thoughts, my words inward. The world shifted.
“And I hoped you would be able to help get funding for my cause.” He didn’t wait to see the effect of his words, but pivoted on his heel and crunched across the gravel to the gate.
“Lincoln, wait.”
“You have no idea how important this was. How much I trusted you. Now the trust is gone.”
I sank to the sidewalk. A few seconds ago, I couldn’t form a complete sentence. Now my brain fired a thousand thoughts a minute, rehashing his words, feeling the slap of them over and over.
I sat there for a thousand hours, or maybe a few minutes before Marie came out and sat next to me.
“Are you okay?” she asked, placing an arm around my shoulders. “What did he say?”
I hadn’t realized tears dribbled from my eyes. My chest constricted and it was heart to say these words. “I lied to him.” At the mere mention of the word lie, sobs tore from my heart.
Marie tucked me into her to cry into her, muffling the sounds of my wracking sobs with her chest.
When I could finally speak again, the pain constricted my thought causing me to squeak. “He’s right. Who am I kidding? Why did I think I could do it? You’re the real deal. Not me.”
Marie put her arm around me. “No, no. You’re the real deal.”
“This isn’t me. I’m just Gabby the Goat Girl from a small town in Arizona.”
She soothed my hair. “No! No you’re not. Don’t listen to Beau or anyone else who still tries to remind you of who you were.”
Seeing Lincoln hurt pained me more than Beau ever could. I’d sought Lincoln’s opinion, cherished it, yearned for his approval. Though Beau taunted me, teased me, belittled me, I would’ve taken all of that from him rather than lose Lincoln’s trust.
“He doesn’t trust me to help him get funding in DC. He’s lost his faith in me.”
“Then you go, and you prove to him you are worthy of every bit of trust he had placed in you.”
“How do I do that?”
She lifted my chin. “By being yourself. By accepting who you are, by embracing it, but adding to it all the wonderful things you’ve learned.”
Tears choked my throat again, and I hugged Marie for her encouragement and love.
“Now we need to go shopping and get something so fabulous that Lincoln’s jaw will when he sees you.”
I laughed and wiped my eyes with the cuffs of my long sleeves. I needed to call Mikaela.
* * *
“Hey, Mik!”I got her voicemail of course. She never picked up her phone. “I’m flying into DC Friday and was wondering if you could pick me up at the airport. I’d really love to see you.”
Because I wasn’t sure Lincoln would want to see me. And I needed a shoulder to cry on.