11. The New Girlfriend
11
The New Girlfriend
“Guys, I’m begging you, just drop it. It’s not too late to turn around.” I shift in the back seat, staring out the window at a neighborhood I’ve never been to before. None of the boys reply, bumping their heads along to the music playing on the radio.
“Fine, ignore me. But when Kendrick finds out and kills all of you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I put my hands up in surrender, gently pressing my forehead to the tinted glass.
“He told us to do whatever it took to fix it. That’s what we did. We fixed it. He’ll give us his blessing. You’ll see.” Will says, his eyes locked on the road.
“We’re talking about hiring Kendrick’s ex-girlfriend, which was a very messy breakup, may I remind you, to play his new girlfriend in front of his mother. The only thing I see him giving you is a broken nose.”
“Well, he’s going to have to deal with it because the dinner’s tonight and Nicole’s the only girl who said yes,” Will retorts. He claps like an overexcited child to spite me. “Look, we’re here.”
I glance out the window. He’s right. We’re in front of her house already. We got this far—might as well get it over with.
Alex furrows his eyebrows. “Remind me why they broke up again?”
“Don’t know.” Blake frowns. “Will?”
Will snickers. “No idea. Kendrick’s not exactly big on talking about his feelings.”
Then, as if they can read each other’s minds, they turn their heads concurrently and gaze in my direction.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know any more than you do.”
“Yeah, right. Spit it out,” Will says.
Will might be a complete jerk sometimes, but he’s right about one thing. Kendrick rarely talks about his feelings. Everything I know I heard from Kass after she bugged him for days.
I give in. “He wouldn’t tell her about the fights. She dumped him because she felt he was hiding things from her.”
Alex nods. “Dating her wasn’t a walk in the park either. Last I heard she was needy, controlling, and a bit crazy.”
Will makes a face. “Aren’t all girls?”
I roll my eyes so hard I see my brain.
Guys like him are the reason some girls go gay.
The boys reach for the car handle, ready to step out of the vehicle. I’m about to do the same when Will cackles.
“What do you think you’re doing, Canada?”
“What do you mean? I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not. You don’t know Nicole like we do. Let us handle it.”
“What? Absolutely not. I’m not staying in the car.” I’m about to open the door when I hear the unmistakable sound of defeat.
He locked the door.
The bastard locked the door .
Will has this great car that you can’t get out of if it’s been locked from the outside. Some call it childproof.
I call it a kidnapping car.
“Will.” I knock on the glass.
“Oh, you’re right. Sorry.” He rolls down the window slightly, amused. “Oxygen. Kind of essential.”
Freaking idiot.
My gaze diverts to Blake and Alex. Blake’s laughing, and Alex is trying not to. So much for being the nice one of the three.
The guys walk toward the front door, and I watch them, helpless. God knows how long I’m going to be stuck in the car. I get my phone out of my pocket and unlock it, hoping to distract myself until they come back.
0 new messages.
I never knew three little words could sting so much.
They’ve been more than stubborn for the past couple of days. They refuse to budge from my screen, reminding me of the words no one wants to say to me. Today is Saturday, and it’s been eight days since I heard from him.
Of course, I get texts from Allie, my best friend from Toronto, Kass, and Maria. But they don’t count.
I guess what I truly see when I look at my phone is:
0 new messages from Haze.
I shouldn’t be surprised, really. I did tell him to stop texting me for a week. The thing is, I didn’t think he’d actually listen. Especially after what almost happened the last time we were together.
I’ve seen him at school a couple of times, which makes it even weirder. He’s not ignoring me. Or at least, I don’t think he is. Avoiding me is more like it. He didn’t show up to the classes we have together all week. He smiles when he sees me. I smile back. But it’s not a “we almost kissed” kind of smile.
The fight is getting closer every day. I forbid myself from counting the days, convinced it’ll destroy what’s left of my sanity.
I deleted his number to make sure I wouldn’t be tempted to talk to him, but also to make me feel better.
It goes without saying that it didn’t.
In a way, I thought that deleting him from my phone would be like deleting him from my brain.
I know now that it doesn’t work like that.
To make it even better, since Haze broke things off with Bianca, she’s been spreading lies about me at school. She says he ended things with her to sleep with me. That Haze was interested in dating her until I showed up and ruined everything.
I’m not sure if Haze knows about it, considering that I saw him like two to three times during the week. But even if he did, I don’t know if he would care.
The sound of a new message coming through rips my attention away from my complicated thoughts.
Unknown: Locking the lady in the car. How nice.
I stop breathing, glancing around. There’s no one in sight. The streets seem empty, but they’re not. They can’t be. Not only is the message from a number that’s impossible to identify, but it also comes from someone who’s watching me at this very moment.
On the other side of the road is an imposing building that looks like it used to be a hotel. The broken windows and boarded entrances give away that it’s been closed a long time ago. A large board that reads TO BE DESTROYED in bright red letters covers the main entrance. Next to it, another one says DO NOT ENTER. DANGER.
It only lasts a second.
But that’s enough.
I see a shadow pass in front of a window located on the third floor. It vanishes almost as quickly as it appeared. If I had blinked at the wrong moment, I would’ve missed it.
Winter: Who are youth?
I curse as soon as I hit the Send button. Will messed with my phone yesterday. Looks like someone had wandering fingers and turned on the autocorrect.
Winter: Who are yogurt
God damn it.
Winter: Who are you***
The reply comes a lot quicker than I anticipated. I can feel my fingers tremble when I tap the message to open it.
Unknown: I’ll tell you who I’m not.
Five seconds go by.
Unknown: The guy with the shitty phone
I keep my eyes glued to the hotel and exhale. No sign of the shadow, but I know better than to think that it’s gone because I no longer see it. I desperately try and reassure myself. That’s something Haze would say. It’s probably him.
I begin typing a reply but turn my head when I hear a door closing. I see the boys walking out of Nicole’s house with, you guessed it, Nicole herself.
She is a solid five foot eight. Her perfect wavy auburn hair falls all the way down to her stomach. She’s that girl you see on the street that makes you say “I should start working out and drinking green stuff.”
I understand what Kendrick saw in her.
She’s beautiful. Her makeup is on point. She probably follows the fashion trends, and I bet she knows how to make even-winged eyeliner. Next thing I know, Blake has opened the car door for her, and she slides into the back seat next to me.
I smile. “Hi, I’m Winter.”
She looks me up and down. “That’s fascinating.”
Her answer doesn’t really surprise me. Kendrick didn’t exactly make it his life mission to get her back when she left him. That has to mean something. Will and I make eye contact in the rearview mirror. He’s right. I don’t know how to handle her.
“Remember, if Maria asks, you randomly ran into each other at the mall and—”
Nicole interrupts Alex, annoyed. “Yes, I know. I was crying, he comforted me, and we got back together.”
As I sink into the couch, I fight the urge to comment. What a terrible story. Might as well make her say, “Your son lied to me for months, broke my heart, and ruined my idea of love, but he saw me crying at the mall, because the mall is such a good choice for a crying spot, and I realized I never stopped loving him and we should get back together.”
The unknown number didn’t text me again after I stopped replying. I decided not to tell the guys about it. I don’t want to worry them when I’m 99 percent sure it was Haze.
It’s probably nothing.
Creepy shadow in an abandoned building texting me that he can see me. Nobig deal, right?
We’ve been sitting in the living room and waiting for Nicole to finish covering up what’s left of Kendrick’s wounds with makeup for an hour. Because it turns out Nicole’s a makeup artist.
Well, that’s convenient .
Most of Kendrick’s wounds have healed, but some of the dark bruises scattered across his face and neck have to be taken care of. It’s nothing a little concealer can’t fix.
To say Kendrick was pleased when he found out Nicole had been chosen by his friends would be a lie. He was pissed. Big-time. But he didn’t have a choice. So, he swallowed his pride and let his ex-girlfriend do his makeup. It was obvious that she was dying to know why he was bruised. But the guys gave her one rule and one rule only: don’t ask questions.
The dinner with Maria is scheduled for 7:00. She should be coming home from work anytime now.
“Do you guys happen to know anything about the abandoned building in front of Nicole’s house?” I ask as soon as the sound of Nicole’s heels fade out down the hall. I had to wait until she went to the bathroom to give in to the burning curiosity.
“You mean the abandoned hotel?” Will says, grabbing a handful of chips and shoving it in his mouth like a pig.
Gracefulness at its finest.
“Yes. It used to be a gang meeting spot.”
A shiver skitters down my body.
Whoever texted me was probably part of a gang. Again, all the signs point to Haze. Part of me wishes it was. But the other is desperate to get him out of my head. What can I say? I guess I got used to him annoying me every day.
Will goes back to eating and texting the same way he has for the past thirty minutes. I hear Blake say something from the kitchen about Will being weirdly secretive lately. Apparently, he put a password on his phone, which he never did before, and refuses to let anyone see it. The guys love to say it’s a girl, but he keeps on denying it.
“Why?” Will narrows his eyes.
“No reason. Just curious.”
Will seems suspicious, but he doesn’t say anything.
“How long has it been since Adams contacted you, Canada?” he asks like I said my thoughts out loud. “We’re wondering if he got sick of you and found some new girl.”
Alex gives him a severe look. Good old papa bear Alex.
“Man, come on. More tact, please?”
“What? Somebody had to say it.”
Deep down, I know they’re probably right. Bianca was, too. She said he’d get tired of me, and he did. After all, everybody keeps on saying that he’s a manwhore.
It’s always disorienting to hear them talk about him like he’s this entirely different person. He was never that guy with me. But then again, it might’ve been exactly what he wanted me to think.
“It’s been a week or so. Why do you care?”
“Word on the street’s that the North Side’s preparing an attack. We wanted to ask if Haze knew something about it. But that would require communication, you see?”
“I’m sorry that I can no longer be your little spy.” Irritated, I get up from the leather couch.
“Where are you going?” Alex asks.
“To my room. I’m bored.”
“You’ll be back for dinner?”
They’re probably worried that the story will lack credibility if I’m not there to confirm everything these two liars say.
“Sure. Just call me when it’s time.”
I sigh and disappear into my bedroom. This is going to be one heck of a long night. I need some time to myself before I have to fake smiles and lie to the woman I consider my second mother. I don’t know how Kendrick isn’t drowning in guilt. He’s been lying like that for years.
My phone chimes. I have a new message from an unknown number.
Unknown: It’s been a while, Kingston.
My heart skips a beat. I glance at the screen in silence for a couple of minutes. Only one person calls me Kingston.
The message is from Haze. No doubt. But what scares me the most is… that the other messages aren’t .