Shut Out(48)

“All right.” I could just make out the green of his eyes, and for a moment I considered moving back to him, letting his arms wrap around me again, and acting on a few impulses I could only excuse in the dark.

But I didn’t. Instead, I hurried out the door and went to wait in front of Cash’s car.

A few minutes later he walked out the side door and crossed the parking lot to meet me. He smiled as he unlocked the car and opened the passenger’s-side door for me. “Here you go,” he said.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, sliding in. This was all Logan’s fault, and Cash was just being a jerk, toying with me this way. I hated boys. All of them.

I was more determined than ever to lead the girls to victory over the rivalry and the guys who broke our hearts and messed with our heads. We had to win.


That night, after dinner, I went upstairs to do my homework. I was halfway through my physics assignment when I caught sight of the copy of Lysistrata Cash had lent me, lying on my nightstand, untouched.

I hurried through the rest of my work without double-checking my answers the way I usually did—when was I going to use physics in real life, anyway? I wanted to major in English, not build roller coasters—and reached for the book. Cash had said there was a battle of the sexes involved. I needed to know which side won.





chapter twenty-two


The third slumber party was held that Saturday night at Kelsey’s house. A few girls made excuses not to come because, well, they couldn’t stand Kelsey and didn’t want to be anywhere near her “fortress of evil.” But I managed to convince Chloe not to bail, and we headed over together at around eight.

By that point, I wasn’t getting nearly so anxious about the slumber parties. I’d gotten to know all the girls pretty well, and I was even getting used to the crowded bedrooms. That night, I was actually looking forward to the sleepover.

Turns out, Kelsey probably should have been throwing the slumber parties all along. Her place was huge. Especially her bedroom. It was as big as my living room and featured a giant wall-to-wall window looking out over her backyard, where there was an Olympic-size swimming pool and a swing set—the latter, I’m guessing, belonged to Kelsey’s little brothers.

“Rich bitch,” Chloe muttered when we walked into the room.

“Be nice,” I hissed. Part of me wanted to tell her what Kelsey had told me in my kitchen—that she only hated Chloe because she was jealous. But Kelsey wouldn’t want her to know that, so I kept my mouth shut. Maybe they’d be happier hating each other, anyway. It kept both of them from getting bored.

We took our places on a small love seat across from Kelsey’s bed. Kelsey had just run down to let in a few more girls, but we’d arrived a little early, so hardly anyone was there yet.

“Why does anyone need a bedroom this big?” Chloe asked. “Seriously.”

“I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. We won’t be so crammed in tonight. Please be nice, okay? I really don’t want her to kick you out, and you know she’ll be on the lookout for any excuse to do it.”

Chloe sighed dramatically. “Fine. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“Thank you.”

Just then, Kelsey walked back into the room with Ellen, Susan, Mary, and a few of the soccer players’ girlfriends. “Take a seat wherever you’re comfortable,” Kelsey said. “Just don’t make a mess.”

“She treats us like we’re five,” Chloe growled.

“I do the same thing,” I reminded her in a whisper. “And you don’t complain.”

“Yeah, but I like you. That’s the difference.”

I nudged her foot with mine and she fell silent.

Ten minutes later the rest of the girls had arrived, and Kelsey was playing hostess, passing around a plate of mini-cupcakes and retrieving extra pillows for people to sit on. It was a side of her I’d never seen, and it amused me. I think Chloe was getting a kick out of it, too, because she kept glancing at me and giggling between cupcakes.

“So let’s get started,” Kelsey said after the cupcakes had been passed around. She sat on her bed and crossed her legs. “What’s on the agenda for tonight?”

“Dude, it’s a slumber party, not a student council meeting,” Chloe said.

“But we usually do have something planned to talk about,” Susan argued, stretching out on her stomach on the floor. “The first week it was funny stories about making the boys miserable. Last week it was Lissa’s virginity.”

“That sounds so awkward when you say it out loud,” Ellen joked.

“We could tell funny stories again.”

“Yeah, that could be fun.”

I nodded at the suggestions tossed out by a few of the girls. This time, though, I wouldn’t be sharing. Catching your boyfriend cheating on you at Homecoming isn’t that funny, really.

Apparently Mary was thinking the same thing, because she asked, “Does anyone have stories, though? I don’t, really.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“Not me.”

Chloe and I exchanged a “the ship is sinking” look, and across the room, I could see a crestfallen expression on Kelsey’s face. She must have had high hopes for the first slumber party she hosted. I felt bad, but I didn’t know what to do. I started feeling nervous, that out-of-control feeling I got when I didn’t have a plan or a routine to follow, and I had the sudden urge to declare a game of hide-and-seek, the way I had at Ellen’s twelfth birthday party when things had started going wrong. Somehow, I didn’t think that would work this time.