The Friendship List(81)

Lissa crossed her arms over her chest. “I didn’t fall into bed with him. I’ve liked him for a while but I didn’t think he liked me. He told me in San Diego and we’ve been hanging out ever since.”

“You’re not hanging out. You’re having sex! Sex that I know about, so I’m going to have to say something. Imagine how well that’s going to go.”

Lissa touched Ellen’s arm. “You can’t tell him. Not while we’re on the trip. He’ll freak out and we’re all trapped together. Please. He won’t be able to handle it and he’ll get mad at Luka.” Her brown eyes pleaded. “As soon as we get back to Willowbrook, I’ll tell him. I swear.”

“I’m not sure your word is worth anything.”

“I didn’t lie before. I wasn’t sleeping with anyone.”

“No, but you wanted to.”

Lissa groaned. “That’s not against the rules. Haven’t you ever wanted someone?”

Not a question Ellen was going to answer. She turned away and pressed a hand to her stomach. No way she would be eating breakfast this morning, or maybe ever.

“I don’t like keeping secrets from your father,” she said, knowing in her very upset gut that Lissa was right about not telling Keith while they were on the trip. He wouldn’t take the news well and the trip would be ruined for everyone. “I don’t like any of this.”

“I’m not happy, either,” Lissa grumbled.

Ellen put her hands on her hips. “Guess how much that matters right now.”

“It matters to me.”

Ellen raised her eyebrows and waited. Lissa sighed.

“Sorry.”

“Thank you.” Ellen mentally worked through the logistics. “We’ll be in Eugene later this morning, then we just have tonight before we head home. It’s one night. We can get through that.” She pointed to Lissa. “You will not have that boy in your bed tonight.”

“You’re really bossy.”

“I am and you are going to promise me you will be sleeping alone.”

“I promise.”

Ellen walked to the door. “I still don’t know how Keith isn’t going to find out.”

“You have to make sure that doesn’t happen. He’ll go ballistic. You know he will.”

Ellen nodded and watched Lissa walk back to her room. When she was alone, she sent Keith a text saying she was running late and would be skipping breakfast. With any luck, he would think she’d overslept—a reasonable assumption considering the hours they’d been keeping.

She used the extra time to pack and fake her way into a calmer state of mind. If only she’d kept her fashion questions to herself, she thought glumly.

She saw Coop in the lobby and walked up to him. Her son turned and smiled. “Hey, Mom. I can’t believe the trip’s nearly over. It’s been great.”

She balled her hand into a fist and socked him in the arm as hard as she could, which, sadly, wasn’t very hard. He yelped and jumped back.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Because you knew and you didn’t say anything.”

Coop stared at her blankly.

“That Luka is sleeping with Lissa. You room with him every night, so you knew he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.”

Her son flushed, then ducked his head—just the way Luka had. Did they practice looking all sorry and pathetic together?

“I couldn’t say anything. It’s a guy code.”

“It’s Coach’s daughter and he is going to flail you alive. And guess what? I’m going to let him.”

“Mom, Luka’s my friend.”

“I thought Coach was your friend, too. I thought he looked out for you and made sure you got a good interview at Stanford. I thought he did a lot of things and you repay him by not looking out for his daughter?”

Coop’s discomfort seemed more genuine now. His expression turned guilty. “It’s not like that. Luka really cares about her.”

“Yeah, and Coach loves his daughter. What if she was your sister and one of your friends did this to you?”

“But she’s not.”

“Which isn’t the point. How would you feel? You betrayed him, Cooper. When he finds out—”

Coop looked horrified. “You’re going to tell him?” he asked, his voice cracking on the last word.

“Lissa is as soon as we get home. He knows you’ve been rooming with Luka, so it won’t take him long to figure out you knew what was going on. I sure wouldn’t want to be you when that happens.”

“Mom, you have to do something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Protect me.”

“I believe Coach going after you is part of the guy code.”

With that, she walked toward the bus.

She knew she’d laid it on pretty thick. Keith wasn’t going to hurt Coop—at least not physically. He might have a few things he wanted to say, but Coop deserved that. But if her son sweated his actions for a couple of days, she was fine with that. Let him worry. He’d earned it.

Now she just had to figure out how to act normally for the next thirty-six hours. Once they were home, it was all going to hit the fan and she would have to deal, but until then—