Flor faced me again. “Have you seen him today?” Her dark eyes searched mine. “Is he even home?” Hair in a ponytail, makeup long sweated off from running up and down a soccer field, she was still prettier than any girl had a right to be.
Jenna stared at me too, waiting and sucking on her Twizzler until it resembled a disgusting red antenna.
Spinning around in my swivel chair, I looked at Zach’s window directly across from mine and felt the familiar ache in my chest.
Ivy draped the entire side of his house. Only his window was spared the tangle of green. The devouring mass of vines and leaves had mesmerized me over the years, growing and expanding before my very gaze—just like my infatuation with Zach Tucker.
Once a year, Mrs. Tucker hired someone to trim back the ivy and keep it from swallowing his window. As a little kid, I would always breathe a little easier then. As though Zach were saved from being consumed.
Motioning in the general direction of Zach’s driveway, I pointed out, “His car’s here.”
Flor looked back at me, sinking her perfect white teeth deep into her bottom lip. “But he could have gone somewhere with his mom or a friend or something. Did you see someone pick him up?”
“No, but I haven’t been watching his house all afternoon.”
“You know, you could just text him,” Jenna suggested, dropping flat on her back on my bed, her hair fanning out around her head in a golden pool.
I glanced back at my laptop. Mr. Martinez had posted practice questions for tomorrow’s test. We were supposed to be studying, but I should have known we weren’t going to get any work done. An hour in and we hadn’t even made it through two problems. And I still needed to practice my cello. Ms. Rivela had assigned a new arrangement, and I was really struggling with it.
Flor shot Jenna a quick glare. “I have texted him. He hasn’t replied yet.”
“Maybe he’s too busy with Ava.”
I shot Jenna a death look. Did she really have to go there? Speculation was already ripe at school ever since Ava had sat with Zach at lunch this afternoon and not us like she did every day. It was a bold move. The kind of move someone only made when they had a sudden change in relationship status. Everyone gawked as she plopped herself down beside him. Laughing, flirting. Touching his arm every chance she got.
Jenna shrugged back at me.
“You think he’s with her now?” Flor demanded, her velvety eyes wide with alarm. And that was strange. Flor Hidalgo was many things, but never insecure. If this was what happened when a guy dumped you, no thanks. Single sounded just right to me.
Zach had broken up with her nine days ago. Nine endless days ago. They had been together for three months. The longest three months of my life. A month ago I’d sensed that Zach wanted out.
There were all the little signs. Easy to catch if you knew him. His eyes strayed from Flor’s face when she was talking. When they touched or kissed, he pulled away first. He missed a couple of her soccer games even when I knew he didn’t have anywhere else to be. And then there was the night when Flor got stupid drunk. Something went down between them that night, because he broke it off the next day.
It was like watching a car crash about to happen. Everything dragged to slow motion. I knew it was coming, but I wasn’t able to do anything except brace for the impact.
Still, I didn’t think he would hook up with another girl so soon. But this was high school, and hot, popular guys didn’t stay alone for long. I knew that. I had just hoped Flor would be over him before then. Or it would be summer and I’d be busy working and able to escape the ensuing drama.
Flor sank down on the foot of my bed, her face screwed tight with emotion. Clearly, she was far from over him. She pulled her knees up to her chest. She was still wearing her shin guards and socks, dirty and grass-stained from practice. “Friends don’t do this to friends.”
I glanced back at my laptop, tapping my fingers nervously on my desk. The guilt was there, even though I didn’t act on it.
“Willa?” Flor stared at me in an expectant way. “Can you believe Ava is doing this to me?”
“Yeah. It’s . . . wrong.”
“Wrong?” Her beautiful eyes blinked. “It’s more than wrong. It goes against girl code. We might not be best friends, but we’re tight.”
“There should be an official girl-code manual given out the first day of freshman year,” Jenna declared. “It would make girls think twice before they betray their friends. At least there wouldn’t be any confusion.” She stabbed a finger in the air. “You break girl code and everyone knows you’re a traitor.”
“For real.” Flor fell back on the bed beside Jenna and took a Twizzler from the bag Jenna held out to her. A moment of silence fell.
I turned back to my laptop, looking at the long-neglected math problem but failing to see it.
The Twizzler bag crinkled as they continued to eat.
The numbers blurred and danced. I side-eyed the window of Zach’s room. There were no blinds. Just curtains, and they were drawn, revealing a neat sliver of his navy blue bedspread. His mom always made his bed for him. She doted on him—even though he valiantly resisted her efforts.
Somewhere inside my house my sister’s child started crying.
“Chloe!” Mom’s voice rang out from downstairs.
I squeezed the bridge of my nose. My sister didn’t answer, but I didn’t expect she would. She was conveniently in the shower. She’d been in the bathroom for two hours. Ever since my brother-in-law dumped Chloe for another woman and she moved back home, she’d been spending a lot of time in the shower. I think she thought no one could hear her crying over the running water. The water bill was getting out of hand, if the increase of ramen on the menu was any indication.
“That’s it,” Flor suddenly announced. She sat up, waving a floppy Twizzler, her face alight with inspiration. “We need to write it.”
“Write what?” I asked.
She waved her hand in a little circle. “An official girl-code manual. We’ll write one and distribute it. Just like Jenna said.” A militant gleam entered her eyes. “All the Avas of the world will know their betrayals aren’t okay, and everyone will see them for the backstabbers they really are.”
“Yeah.” Jenna propped herself up on her elbows. “Right on.”
I stared at them both, my stomach twisting into knots. They were serious.
“Quick.” Flor motioned to my laptop. “Start a file in Google Docs. That way we can edit and add to it as we go.”
Stifling a sigh, I opened up a document and titled it: The Official Guide to Girl Code. Staring at those words on the screen, I felt a strange sense of foreboding sweep over me, and those knots just twisted tighter.
Flor leaned over my shoulder. “Nice. All right. I think we can all agree on the first rule.” For a moment I didn’t move, simply gazed at the blank screen, my fingers poised over the keyboard. The toddler was full-on wailing now, and I knew I should get up and go hold her. Mom was too tense. It was like Mia could sense that and cried harder.
“Come on, Willa,” Jenna pressured. “Type.”
Nodding, I started typing.
Flor cast a heavy shadow over me as she read my words aloud. “‘Girl Code Number One: Never date a friend’s ex or a guy your friend is really into.’”
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SOPHIE JORDAN grew up in the Texas Hill Country where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she’s a New York Times, USA Today, and international best-selling author of over thirty novels. She now lives in Houston with her family.
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Kissing Lessons Page 24
