When We Were Us (Keeping Score, #1)(11)

“I think so,” I said. “Just another school, right? Hey, have you seen Abby?”

“I don’t think she’s here yet. At least I haven’t seen her.” We both looked around, checking it all out. It was weird to see older kids, people we hadn’t seen since they left our elementary school. They looked a lot older than I remembered. Jesse eased back until he was leaning against the brick wall of the school, and I moved to stand with him.

A few minutes later, Jesse caught my eye and tilted his head. “There’s Ab.” I turned and saw her mother’s car, and then Abby coming around from the passenger side. My heart began to pound. This was the first time I’d seen her since I really knew that I loved her, that I was in love with her. I couldn’t remember how to act, what to say or where to look.

Abby looked so pretty. She was wearing a skirt that was made out of jeans material, and a pretty blue top. Her hair, always so curly and unruly, was partly pulled back into a clip so that I could see her face, her eyes bright as she caught sight of Jesse and me.

She smiled, and my breath caught. She was beautiful. The girl I loved, the girl who would always have my heart, was really and truly beautiful. I wanted to run and jump and shout and do all those things I’d never been able to do, just to show the world how I felt.

I smiled back as she approached us and blurted out the first thing I could think to say. “Hey, Abby. You look really pretty.”

She looked down as if she’d forgotten what she was wearing and ran a hand down the skirt. “Thanks, Nat.” For a fleeting moment I had her full attention and her gratitude, and it felt amazing.

And then I saw her glance up at Jesse, who was still standing against the wall. Something flickered in her eyes that I didn’t quite understand. Jesse made some comment about how her mother must have dressed her, and Abby snapped back. She lost the look of eagerness that I’d seen on her face a few minutes earlier.

I was confused, wondering what had changed. Abby and Jesse had always had that kind of relationship, where he teased her and she shot back at him. I didn’t know why it would have bothered her now.

Jesse looked off over her shoulder, and this time it was his eyes that changed. Obviously he saw someone or something that interested him. Abby followed his gaze and her face changed again. It wasn’t curiosity so much as it was hurt. I was still confused.

Abby snapped at Jesse again, something about kick ball which I didn’t quite understand. And then Jesse wisely changed the subject, asking about my vacation. I was easer to tell them both about the canoeing we had done, how excited my dad had been when I could handle a canoe on my own; The idea of going out for something like crew gave me hope that they might be something me, a way to be more in Abby’s eyes.

Before I could tell them too much about it, a girl walked over behind Jesse and said hello. Her name was Sarah. I was curious, since I couldn’t figure out how Jesse would have met her, but he explained that her family was a client in the lawn mowing business. For some reason, it made Abby really mad. I could tell that.

The bell rang and everyone surged forward toward the doors. Abby stayed close to me, and I knew she was making sure I didn’t get knocked over by the bigger kids. We found out lockers and I was able to work mine without any problem. Abby was grumbling at hers, and then she turned to me.

“Where’s Jesse?”

I shrugged. We had lost him in the crowd. But since he and I were in the same homeroom, I was pretty sure we’d catch up to him later.

Sure enough, he was just about to go into the classroom when we got there. Abby snapped at him again, and he seemed embarrassed about the fact that she referred to Sarah as his girlfriend. Before they could get too far into this discussion, I saw that the teacher had risen from her desk and was beginning to take attendance. I pulled Jesse into the room with me, and turned just in time to see Abby wave to me before she shot Jesse another dirty look.

Jesse and I found two desks next to each other, and he flopped down in the chair. “What’s her issue, anyway?” he grumbled.

I shrugged. “I guess maybe she just didn’t feel like getting teased today. Maybe she’s nervous about the new school.” I waited a beat and then went on. “She did look really pretty today, though.”

“Yeah,” Jesse conceded. “But she was acting like—I don’t know. Girls are just crazy sometimes, I guess.”

I thought about it for a long time as the teacher went through the typical first day of school spiel. Abby had seemed all right when she was with me. It was only Jesse that was bothering her. And she had clearly been hurt when he didn’t compliment her the same way I had.

A new thought dawned in my mind, more troublesome than I cared to admit. What is Abby really didn’t feel the same away about me that I did about her? What if she was in love with someone else? And worst of all, what if that someone else was Jesse?

My palms began to sweat, and my heart pounded again. These were my two best friends. What would I do if Abby was going to break my heart?





Chapter 8: Abby


Eighth grade was a special kind of hell for me. Things were changing, and I didn’t like it.

First there was Jesse. Jesse had always been the more popular one of our little group. His looks and his sports ability gave him more of an in with the other kids than Nat and I had. It had never seemed to make a difference between the three of us, but now it did. Suddenly Jesse wanted to go to school dances. He wanted to hang out with the other kids, and although he always invited Nat and me along, both of us knew that it wouldn’t work.