Lovely Girls(34)

I mean . . . that’s weird, right? He didn’t even say that he’d watch me in practice or see how I was doing against the other girls. Just that I’ll play the next match. After weeks of ignoring me, he’s going to put me on the lineup just because I asked.

I bet Daphne did tell him that I saw them together. I wonder if she also told him she got rid of the video I took of the two of them. Which actually she didn’t.

Alex smiled.

She might have smashed my phone, but I back up all my photos and videos to the cloud. So I still have it. Not that I’d use it to blackmail Coach into giving me a spot. But maybe he thought I would? Well, I guess if it got me what I want, then that’s good, but . . . it’s all seriously weird.

Alex suddenly looked up. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips thinned.

Oh, shit. Callie’s headed this way. What the hell does she want?

Alex tapped the screen of her phone, which reversed the camera angle. Callie Nord approached. She was dressed in a tank top and running shorts and had her tennis bag slung over one shoulder.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Callie asked.

“What do you want?” Alex asked.

“Look, I’m sorry about the whole Ken-doll thing,” Callie said. “It was Daphne’s idea.”

“Which you seemed to find hilarious,” Alex replied.

Callie tilted her head to one side and looked at Alex for a long beat.

“Have you ever had a friend like that?” Callie finally asked. “Who makes you do things you don’t want to do?”

“No. I’ve had friends who were troublemakers. But no one ever made me bully anyone. Or talked me into hanging a doll in someone’s locker to make fun of their dead father.”

Callie sat down on the grass, crossing her legs in front of her. Her face was slightly off frame. She tucked a strand of her fine strawberry-blonde hair behind one ear.

“You’re right. That was fucked up,” Callie said.

“It was seriously fucked up,” Alex said.

Callie sighed and looked down, running her hands lightly over the top of the grass.

“When we were in second grade, we were all over at Shae’s house one day, swimming in the pool. Her mom told us she’d get us Popsicles but that we had to get out of the water first and that we couldn’t go back in until she’d returned. As soon as Shae’s mom was inside, Daphne dared me to jump into the pool. I said no, because obvs, I didn’t want to get in trouble. Get this . . . Daphne pushed me in.” Callie shook her head. “And when Shae’s mom came out and saw me back in the pool, she freaked out. It wasn’t like I was in danger, not really, I knew how to swim at that point. But it was one of our childhood rules. One we weren’t allowed to break. And I instantly knew I was in big trouble. Like, as big trouble as you can get into at that age. Shae’s mom called my mom, and my mom had to leave work to come pick me up early, and there was all this drama.

“And I could have told my mom what Daphne did. That I didn’t jump in, that she pushed me. I don’t know if Shae would have backed me up. She isn’t exactly known for having a backbone where Daphne is concerned. Although”—Callie shrugged—“you probably don’t think I’m one to talk. But for whatever reason, I didn’t tell. Daphne looked at me, and I knew. If I had told, there would have been repercussions. Worse than whatever I was going to face from my mom. I never told on her.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Alex asked.

“Just to give you some perspective. What it’s like to have a friend like Daphne.”

Callie said the word as though it tasted sour in her mouth.

“You’re the one who chose not to say anything,” Alex said.

“I was just a kid. We were in the second grade.”

“And now you’re a senior in high school. And you’re still going along with whatever Daphne wants?”

Callie’s head bowed, and her long hair fell forward, sweeping against her freckled cheeks.

“I know, you’re right. I’m not exactly proud of it. Of what we did to you.”

“You could have fooled me,” Alex said. “You were cackling like it was the funniest thing you’ve ever seen.”

Callie shrugged one shoulder. “That’s the thing you don’t get. The Daphne Thing. She makes you do things you don’t want to do. And you can’t say no. It’s, like, her superpower.”

“Whatever,” Alex said. “We don’t have to relive it.”

“No, I want you to understand,” Callie said.

“Why? So you’ll feel better about yourself?”

“No. Well . . . okay, yes. That’s part of it. I’ve felt like shit ever since that happened,” Callie said.

“Okay. What’s the other part?”

“I want you to give me a copy of the video. The one of Daphne and Coach.”

“Why do you want that?”

Callie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I just do.”

“I don’t have it anymore. You saw what Daphne did to my phone.”

Callie looked at Alex. “Bullshit. You saved a copy.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because if it were me, I would have saved it.”