Chasing Spring(12)

I nodded, although I was confused by what she meant. I didn’t need to catch Kimberly up on my life; she and the rest of that small town knew every sordid detail from beginning to end. My family’s secrets had been plucked, pressed, preserved, and put on display.

It wasn’t fair that everyone knew my secrets but I didn’t know theirs. The scales were tipped in their favor, and since I couldn’t erase the secrets on my side, it was time to start weighing down theirs.





Chapter Fifteen


June 1997

Blackwater, Texas





Graduation day symbolized freedom. Elaine and Hannah had counted down the days, marking them off one by one until they could finally don their creased graduation gowns and walk across the stage once and for all. Blackwater High didn’t have much of a budget for a graduation ceremony, which meant each year it took place out on the football field, on top of the dry summer grass with the twinkling stadium lights usually reserved for Friday nights in the fall.

Elaine cursed the poor lighting in the stadium bathroom as she tried in vain to flatten her hair beneath her graduation cap. No matter how much she worked with them, the pale blonde strands wouldn’t cooperate. If she’d had it her way, she and Hannah would have skipped graduation altogether. There was no point in her being there. Her mom was working a late shift and her dad was rotting away in a jail across the state. No one would be cheering for her in the stands.

“Okay, I give up with my hair. Are you almost done in there?” Elaine asked, spinning around to face the stall Hannah had locked herself inside ten minutes earlier. “We’re gonna be late.”

When Hannah didn’t respond, Elaine stepped closer and pressed her ear to the stall door, trying to hear Hannah over the noise of the stadium.

“Oh my god, c’mon!” someone yelled from the back of the long line. “There are other people waiting!”

The bathroom was small, only three stalls in total, and Hannah had occupied one of them for too long.

“Hannah?” Elaine asked, trying to coax her friend out before mob mentality took over.

When Hannah didn’t reply, Elaine crouched down to look beneath the stall door. Hannah was pacing back and forth in the tiny space.

She frowned. “Hannah. What are you doing?” She stood and rattled the locked door. “Let me in.”

For the past few weeks Elaine had noticed that Hannah was off. She hadn’t wanted to talk about their approaching move to Austin, she hadn’t wanted to browse through classified ads for apartments. Elaine had assumed she was getting cold feet, but as Hannah opened the door to let Elaine step into the stall with her, she feared it was much, much worse.

Hannah’s graduation cap was upside down on the bathroom floor, dirty and forgotten. Her graduation gown was unzipped and falling off her shoulder. Her makeup was smeared and her tears were carrying mascara down her cheeks in splotchy black lines.

Elaine stepped closer, trying to console her friend, and that’s when Hannah unfolded her fists, revealing the slim pregnancy test hidden inside. Two little pink lines stretched across the results window.

Those two pink lines took their best-laid plans and turned them to dust.

“I’m pregnant,” she whispered.





Chapter Sixteen


Chase





Halfway through Lilah’s first day back, I walked into the cafeteria with my tray of food and tried to find her. Even though most everyone had grown up together, the jocks still ate with the jocks and so on. Everyone had their unofficial assigned spot—everyone except for Lilah.

She was nowhere to be found. I took the long way to my seat and then looped around the room once more. Finally, I circled back to the entrance of the cafeteria and slid into the last open seat at my table of friends.

“Took you long enough,” Connor laughed.

I brushed off his comment and worked on my hamburger wrapper, barely managing to unwrap it before they jumped in on my living situation. They all knew my dad was a drunk, so they weren't surprised that I'd moved out—they were just surprised by where I'd ended up.

“I can't believe you used to be friends with Lilah Calloway,” Connor blurted out after taking a massive bite of his burger. “She’s in my second period and she scares the hell out of me.”

Kimberly spoke up before I could. “She's actually really nice. We used to be on dance team together.”

Connor had moved to our town at the beginning of junior year, so he’d never known the pre-loner version of Lilah. Even the kids who’d grown up with her hardly remembered that version of her, which is why I was surprised Kimberly was sticking up for her.

“Well, I think she’s hotter now than she was before. She looks like a sexy vampire or something,” Brian added.

I threw my burger wrapper at his head.

“You’re full of shit.”

“I said a SEXY vampire!” he clarified, holding his hands up in surrender and looking to Connor for backup. None came.

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering how many other guys at school had a thing for Lilah. Trent sure as hell did.

“Kim, do you know if Lilah and Trent are dating?” I asked, picking up a handful of fries.

Connor perked up like a dog begging for a bone. “Does the almighty Chase Matthews want to be an Edward to her Bella?”