Liars and Losers Like Us(60)

“Just please leave me alone, please,” I tell her from under my blankets, a fresh parade of tears springing to my eyes. I cradle my pillows, my stuffed dog Pippa, and an ache that feels like winter.





TWENTY-SIX


Sunday morning after the doorbell rings, Kallie marches into my room. “This is crazy. C’mon. Get up. You can’t let this get you down.”

“How’d you get in here?” I pull myself up and wrap my comforter around me like a cape.

“Your mom. Duh. I told her it was about a boy and the only panacea was your BFF and this.” She tosses me a white paper bag.

I open the bag, “Mmm donuts.” Powdered jelly. I take a bite and the tears fall out of my eyes and onto my donut.

“Omigod, this is so sad.” Kallie hops on my bed and wraps me in a hug. She starts crying too.

“It’s pathetic.” I pass her the bag. “You’re gonna need one of these.” We sit on my bed, eating donuts and wiping powdered sugary mouths and tears with paper napkins.

“So what’re we doing? Prom: Parties of One?” Kallie smiles.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Don’t make me say it. The scene after you left. Oh shit, it was a mess.”

“Really? Oops.” My shoulders slump as I sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I hope my drama didn’t ruin everyone’s breakfast.”

“It wasn’t you. Trust me, it wasn’t. It was the can of worm crap that hit the fan after you left. Poor Justin.” Kallie laughs through her tears. “He just sat there. You know it’s bad when Justin Conner runs out of jokes.”

“What happened?”

Kallie sighs. “Well, Todd asked Sean when him and Jane hooked up, like demanded to know when exactly this happened. And I’m standing there, pissed. So I’m asking Todd why. Why does he care—what’s it matter to him, right? Even though I know why, you know I know. Then Sean’s like, ‘Dude, not that it’s your business but it was the beginning of March, the night of that basketball game against Anoka. The one where Monroe kept missing those three pointers.’ So Todd says that’s f*cked up and he couldn’t believe it. He was so pissed. And Molly was so clueless, telling Todd to chill, saying that Sean wasn’t with you yet so it’s okay. As if Todd was mad because he cared about your feelings. He looked like he wanted to fight Sean. So, Sean steps up and looks Todd right in the eye and says, ‘Yeah, well I didn’t know you were screwing Jane at the same time too so it looks like I’m the only one in the clear here, right bro?’ Todd stood there like an idiot, Justin didn’t say anything, and Molly started crying.

I told Todd to grab his shit from my room and get the hell outta my house.”

“Oh. My. God. That’s craaaaaazy. I’m so sorry. I mean this in the nicest way, I tried to tell you so.”

“Yeah, I know.” She grabs my wrist. “Thanks. I’m sorry I acted like such an idiot. I believed you but I didn’t, if that makes sense. I really didn’t want to know. I think a big reason why is because of this Prom stuff. This stupid Prom stuff. I just wanted to keep being Todd’s girlfriend so bad and then I wanted to be on court, and once I got it, it felt like I actually had a chance to be Queen. Lame. At least the sex was good.”

“Can we stop force feeding me images of naked Todd? I’m trying to enjoy these donuts.”

“My bad.” Kallie grins. “You know who I actually felt sorry for? Molly. She couldn’t stop crying. She was more upset about Jane betraying her than Todd. After Todd left, Molly and Justin took off and then I drove Sean home.”

My mouth goes dry as I try to swallow an ounce of my pride. “Sean. What’d he say?”

“All the right things.” Kallie looks into my eyes with her half smile half frown. “You’re lucky, like really lucky. He’s so into you, Bree. I mean, he slept with her before you guys even went on a date—or anything. It’s not like he cheated on you.”

“Here’s the thing,” I say. “Jane is such a––” Maisey’s letter worms its way into my head. I clamp my mouth before “bitch” pops out. “She’s a mess. She was awful to Maisey and look what happened to her. She didn’t have to be like that. She should’ve …” I try to fight the battle against another barrage of tears. “Jane’s got issues. I mean, I’m sure she does. But she’s been a dick to me since day one. Sean knows that. I thought it was because of Prom and because she didn’t like you. But Sean knew why. Sean and I’ve talked about a lot of stuff. Like, everything. He should’ve told me. Especially since we …”

“Since you what?” Kallie smirks and raises her left eyebrow.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Because if it’s what I think you’re talking about you would’ve told me, right after, since we’re best friends.”

“Well, it is like right after. It happened Friday.”

Kallie shakes me by the shoulders and jumps up on the bed. She pretends to hold up a microphone. “Bree Ella Hughes. You’ve just lost your V card, what’re you gonna do next?”

“Well, by the looks of it, I’ll never find out if sex actually does get better, and worst of all, I’m going to Prom as a party of one.”