The Wrong Path_Smashwords (14 page)

No. It couldn’t be. She used to think her friends were fun. She was just tired. It had been a rough week, and it was catching up with her. As soon as she got a good night’s rest, she would be back to normal.

When Malcolm won a stuffed crocodile at the ring toss game and the girls all started begging for it, offering to trade a kiss for the toy, Annabelle had to excuse herself. She received several stares of disbelief as she headed to the bathroom alone—it was unheard of to go without at least two other girls—but she needed to get some air. She didn’t actually need to use the restroom, she was just exhausted trying to maintain appearances, and no one seemed to notice, or care.

“Annabelle!”

She turned at her name, grinning despite it all when she recognized Ebony. Her briefly uplifted mood quickly soured when she saw Will standing beside her. She frowned at him as their eyes met, meeting his glare head-on.

“Come here!” Ebony called, waving her over. “Will’s about to win me the really big duck.”

Reluctantly, Annabelle headed over, looking down at the large duck Ebony was holding. It was the milk bottle throw… None of the guys in her group had been able to knock down any of them, but apparently Will was faring better.

Annabelle watched as Will drew back the baseball, his eyes focused on the milk bottles, and then sent the ball flying forward, knocking all three down. She gaped at him in disbelief, even as Ebony let out a squeal of delight and handed over the large duck for an even larger duck, bigger around than she was.

“Now get something for Annabelle,” Ebony ordered.

“No, I don’t need anything,” Annabelle assured her quickly, forcing a smile. “Thanks, though.”

Ebony waved a hand at her. “Don’t be silly. Will, pay the man.”

Before Will could snap back something nasty, Annabelle broke in. “Really. Don’t bother. I need to get back, anyway. Trevor already got me something. He was just holding it for me while I went to the restroom.”

“Annabelle?”

She froze, her eyes falling shut. Of all people to find her here… Why did it have to be Claire? She turned slowly, forcing a smile, even more horrified to discover her entire group of friends behind her.

“Hi,” she greeted breathlessly, taking in the accusing looks on their faces. Only Trevor appeared confused. “Ebony was just showing me the stuffed animal Will won for her.” She turned to look up at Trevor. “Did you know your brother had such a good arm?”

He looked genuinely astonished, a disbelieving look on his face. “No,” he said, almost uncertainly, lifting his eyes from hers to look up at Will.

“Well, if you’re done, can we go? I want to ride some rides.” From her tone, Claire wasn’t just mad… she was furious. She eyed the game they stood in front of with a sneer. “All these things are rigged anyway… so it’s not really a testament of skill.”

Annabelle felt her slumped shoulders straighten at the insult to Will’s abilities. “I thought it took more skill when the games were rigged?” she offered airily, in a tone she didn’t even know she possessed. She knew it well—the other girls often used it when they wanted to disagree with each other without starting an argument—but she had never used it before. She had never felt the need to. But somehow, hearing the scorn in Claire’s voice about what Will had accomplished made her burn with anger.

Claire stared at her, but she returned the look with deliberately wide, innocent eyes. Claire suddenly laughed. “Who knows,” she agreed, stepping forward and linking her arm through Annabelle’s. “Let’s go, though. You have to sit with me on the Octopus. That thing scares me to death.”

Annabelle paused, looking back at Will and Ebony, who were staring at them. “I like it,” she said to Ebony, smiling apologetically, hoping that she would understand.

Ebony just stared back at her.

It was hard to finish out the carnival. Claire wouldn’t let go of her for the remainder of the night—literally. Even when Annabelle really
did
have to go to the bathroom, Claire went with her. Between trying to be a good girlfriend to Trevor, hiding how miserable she felt, and having Claire attached to her like a fly on flypaper, by the end of the night she was so frazzled all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep for the rest of the weekend.

The tap on her window scared her straight up out of bed. Wide-eyed, her adrenaline pumping, she pulled apart her curtains to reveal Will sitting on the tree limb outside her window, his face almost completely hidden in the shadows.

She quickly pushed the window open, her heart pounding. “Will?” she whispered. “What’s wrong?”

“Ebony asked me to give you something,” he said softly, sliding into her room. She stepped back to allow him access.

“What?” she asked, bewildered. Couldn’t her skirt have waited until Monday instead of the dead of night, terrifying her half-to-death?

He reached back out through the window and emerged with a large blue duck. “This,” he said, handing it to her.

She took it slowly, stunned. “Her duck?” she asked softly. It was soft and plush, and so large she couldn’t hold it in both arms without squeezing it. She hugged it to herself, feeling tears in her eyes. She knew the gesture meant Ebony was saying everything was okay, but she slowly shook her head, holding it back out to him. “I-I can’t. You won it for her. I can’t take it.”

“No, I didn’t.” Will gently pushed it back at her. “She made me get you one, too.”

She was grateful for the darkness that covered the tears sliding down her cheeks as she hugged the duck to herself. It was large and silly, but it was one of the best presents she had ever received. “Will you tell her thank you for me?” she asked softly, her voice thick with tears in the silent night around them.

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.” She trembled in the cold air and searched for her robe, but Will was already at the chair in the corner of her room, where she had placed his folded shirts. She watched in disbelief as he picked up the white one and unbuttoned it, bringing it back to her. She knew it was wrong, but she was glad she was wearing her pale pink satin tank top and matching shorts. The pajamas were very cute, even sexy, and as she set the duck down on the bed and allowed Will to bring the shirt around her, the air between them grew thick and warm.

He drew her slowly into his arms, but she almost sobbed as she leaned into him, holding him as tightly as she could. His embrace was warm, strong, and dependable, just like Will. It surrounded her, protecting her.

When had she come to depend on Will so much?

She didn’t know how long they stood there in each other’s arms, but if she could have, she would have fallen asleep without letting him go. All the bad things from the past week—all the catty fights, vicious rumors, constant pretending—just seemed to fade away when she was with him. Will let her be herself, and forgave her even when she was downright cruel to him. Wasn’t that really why he had come into her room? To make amends?

Slowly, he released her, and she forced herself to do the same, though she really just wanted to continue to cling to him. “I need to get in,” he said, nodding at his room. He offered a light smile. “My mom likes to check on me in the early morning hours to make sure I actually came home.”

She smiled, feeling better than she had all week. “Yeah,” she agreed. She watched as he easily slid out of her window and onto the branch, making his way back to his room. She knelt down in front of her window and called out, “Will?”

He paused with one foot in his window and looked back at her.

“Thank you.”

He flashed her a smile, and then he was in his room.

Annabelle cheered at the top of her lungs as the football players came running out onto the field. Below the bleachers of the packed stadium, Claire and the other cheerleaders waved their pompoms at the players and the crowd, inciting them to scream louder.

Annabelle felt a surge of happiness go through her as her eyes landed on Trevor’s jersey. She cheered as loudly as she could, hoping he would be able to hear her through the audience’s deafening cries.

To her left, Claudia let out a soft growl. “Parker looks so hot in his uniform,” she declared.

“He definitely looks hot,” Erin agreed, on Claudia’s right.

Annabelle shifted uncomfortably, feeling some of her excitement deflate. She tried to force their words from her mind as the boys gathered at the sidelines, focusing her thoughts on Trevor.

Trevor headed out to the middle of the field for the coin toss, the crowd chanting for the Warriors, their school mascot. Annabelle’s breath caught as the coin was tossed in the air, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she waited.

The referee pointed at Trevor. The audience burst into thunderous applause. She could almost feel his grin as he headed back to the sidelines to rejoin his team for a final discussion of their plays. She was sure she was nervous enough for the both of them as the other team headed out for the kickoff, the Warriors preparing to receive.

“We’re so going to win this,” Claudia laughed, from beside her. “Those Lincoln guys are ridiculously scrawny.”

“Didn’t you date one of them?” Mary teased.

Claudia snickered. “About half of them,” she returned. She turned to Annabelle, her eyes twinkling devilishly. “So, Annabelle,” she began. Annabelle turned to her breathlessly, frowning at being distracted from the game. “If we win this tonight, you know Trevor is going to be in a celebratory mood. Are you prepared?”

Annabelle felt herself pale, going numb as her friend’s words sank in. Around her, the crowd roared to life, but she barely heard it. Was she prepared? Of course she wasn’t prepared. She couldn’t possibly… She and Trevor couldn’t… He wouldn’t really expect… She felt herself growing weak, her stomach churning. “I-I—“

“Oh, come on,” Claudia giggled, nudging her in the side. “Don’t tell us that you haven’t, yet. We’re your friends. Tell us.” She winked at her. “Is he as good as he looks?”

Annabelle gaped at her. Mary and Erin both leaned forward, their eyes dancing hopefully with the thought of some juicy gossip.

“We haven’t,” Annabelle breathed, choking on her words.

Claudia made a face at her in disappointment. “You don’t have to lie to us, Annabelle,” she complained. “You must have hooked Trevor somehow, right?”

She was horrified. Sick. Angry. Indignant. But somehow, she could only stare at her friends, stunned. Did they really think that about her? Did they really think Trevor had only gone out with her because they were sleeping together?

“Annabelle!”

She looked down at the sidelines, shocked to see Claire standing on the edge of the stadium, at least two feet above the ground. She held onto the rail for support, keeping herself steady. Her eyes were dark with anger, but her face was smiling. “Help me lead a cheer for your man!” she insisted, waving her over.

Annabelle quickly hurried to the railing, gratefulness to her friend overwhelming her. No matter how difficult being Claire’s friend could be sometimes, she was really always there to protect the people she cared about. She didn’t know how Claire knew what was going on, but somehow, Claire just knew. And Claire was there to rescue her.

“We’re going to do ‘Number Nine Scarlett,’” Claire told her, grinning. “Ready?”

Annabelle nodded, forcing Claudia’s snide comments away. No matter what the other girls thought about her and Trevor’s relationship, Trevor had asked her out because he liked her—and that was it. He was her boyfriend, and he was a star. He had pushed himself to succeed, and he had. And she was going to support him. She was going to help lead a cheer in his honor.

Claire half-turned, still standing on the edge of the stadium and holding onto the railing with one hand, and nodded at the cheerleaders on the sidelines. Annabelle watched as they instantly jumped into formation, a long line of black and gold down the field.

Claire held up a megaphone. “All right!” she shouted up at the crowd, drawing their attention to her. “Let’s show that number nine Scarlett some love! This here is his girlfriend Annabelle, and she doesn’t think you love him enough!”

Annabelle gasped, turning to her. The crowd immediately started booing, yelling at her. She flushed, stricken.

“So let’s show Annabelle here how wrong she is!” Claire ordered, her voice raising to almost a scream.

The crowd cheered wildly. Annabelle couldn’t help but laugh, clapping right along with them.

“What’s that, Annabelle?” Claire asked loudly, through her megaphone. “You still can’t hear them?” She turned back to the crowd. “Annabelle still thinks you guys don’t care. Do you love number nine Scarlett or not?”

The applause grew louder, almost shaking the stands.

Annabelle burst into laughter, turning to Claire and shaking her head as she caught on to what her friend was doing. Claire’s eyes danced, turning back to the crowd again. “Annabelle still thinks there’s not enough love here! Now let’s show number nine Scarlett some
love
!”

The crowd burst into such thunderous screams that Annabelle thought they might start stampeding. Claire threw her arm up in the air, holding her megaphone, and shouted, “Number nine!”

“Scarlett!” the crowd shouted back.