“Nothing is up,” Whitney said dropping her strings. She felt hot as the frustration within her boiled towards the surface. You will not cry! She told herself. You will not cry!
“Did Jasmine say something? Is it the tournament? Is it your dad? Is he coming this weekend?”
Leif was being too nice. It wasn’t helping. She did not want to get sucked in again. Just shut-up, she wanted to yell at him. They were almost to her house. Freedom was so close.
“Yeah, if we are still playing on Saturday,” she said.
They pulled into her driveway and she breathed a sigh of relief, but Leif turned off the car and looked at her.
“Whitney, what’s really wrong?” he asked. He placed his hand on her arm, which she quickly jerked away.
“She knows Leif! She knows about all of it, whatever it is, and she yelled at me and I am tired of people yelling at me for something that isn’t even real!”
She was as shocked as Leif looked. It had just kind of came out. The heat and the boiling was too much, she couldn’t hold it in. Yet now his face was frozen in this confused and hurt expression that made her wish she could suck the words back in.
“Who is yelling at you?” he asked.
“Your sisters. Both of them hate me, and I’m sure everyone else will once they find out, which should be about now with the way Jasmine talks,” Whitney said.
“What did Jasmine say to you?”
“That she knew about the Val-a-Grams and about when I was at your house and our work-outs together and she thinks it all means more.”
“What did you say?” he asked. He looked at her with genuine concern and care. It was what made the whole thing so confusing.
“I told her the truth. I told her nothing is going on, that it isn’t like that,” Whitney said. She stared at the house, longing to be inside.
“It isn’t like what?” he said, touching her shoulder again. This time she let his hand stay.
“Like, you like me. I told her you didn’t like me like that and she made sure I knew how true that was and that you never would and then she left. I need to go.” Whitney ripped it off like a Band-Aid, then grabbed her bag and opened the door.
Leif reached for her arm, forcing her to look at him. “But that isn’t true Whitney,” he said, “That isn’t true at all.” His eyes pleaded with her to believe him. She heard her front door open and quickly got out of the car.
“Whitney!” he said leaning over so he could see her through the still open passenger side door.
“What?” she said.
“That really isn’t true,” he said again.
“Okay,” she said. Although it wasn’t, it was very far from okay. Nothing made sense right now. Nothing made sense in this whole town.
Chapter 12
The girls played at 2:30 on Thursday so their bus left the school parking lot at 10:30. In an effort to help the team bond, they had team breakfast at Eva’s house before they left. Whitney’s mom dropped her and Brynley off in front of the impressive home at 8:30.
“This is Eva’s house?” Whitney asked as they approached. Whitney had known Eva had money, and she’d seen the house every single day on her way to and from school, but she hadn’t put the two together.
“Yep. I wish it was my house,” Brynley said as they made their way up the paved walkway. The house sat right on the edge of town, where the new construction quickly gave way to expansive farmland. Eva’s house was one of those new houses made to look old. It was greyish blue with red accents, had a beautiful porch wrapping around the whole impressive house and windows galore. The yard was landscaped beautifully, although little was blooming this early in the spring.
“What do her parents do?” Whitney asked.
“Are you serious?” Brynley asked.
“Yeah….”
“Dude, they like own the town,” Brynley said, stopping Whitney to make sure she had her full attention. “They own the Farm Fare, like all of the Farm Fares and tons of farmland, and the country club where we always have fancy school events at.”
“Oh…” was all Whitney could say. The Farm Fares were big. When she moved to Millersburg she’d just chalked it up as another dinky breakfast spot, but she had since learned it was a staple in the town. It was basically the only restaurant with breakfast in town and everyone went there all the time. There were two in Millersburg and Whitney had seen a bunch more in the towns nearby.
Eva’s mom opened the door before they could knock and invited them in with a gesture that screamed, ‘I used to win pageants.’
“Hi Brynley. How are you? How are your parents?” She asked as Brynley entered first. Brynley gave the appropriate replies as she sat her bag down by the others piled in the entry.
“And I don’t think we’ve officially met, but I’m Pat, I’m Eva’s mom.” She said losing a little of her sweetness.
“Hi, I’m-“
“Whitney, yes I know. Nice to have you in our home. The girls are in the kitchen.” Pat said, cutting Whitney off mid-sentence and leaving her with an icy feeling which only got colder when she noticed the 11”x14” picture hanging framed in the hallway. She grabbed Brynley’s arm and pointed at the large, professionally taken, picture of Leif and Eva, all cuddled up in their formal wear on Eva’s front porch.
“What the hell is that?”
“I’m guessing its last year’s prom picture,” Brynley said.
“But why is it there? They broke up.” Whitney whispered as they entered the huge beautiful chef’s kitchen. The girls littered the brightly lit kitchen and eat-in dining room, chatting and picking at trays of food.
Brynley ignored the question and started right for the trays. Whitney found Everley talking to Jenn on the far side of the table and made her way over to them.
“Did you see the huge picture of Leif and Eva in the hall?” she asked them.
“Yeah. It’s from prom last year,” Everley said.
“Why is it still there? They broke up?” Whitney asked.
“I need more coffee if we’re going to discuss Leif and Eva,” Jenn said as she got up and headed across the kitchen. Brynley quickly took her seat with a plate full of food in her hand.
“What are we talking about?” She asked.
“The picture that no one else finds weird!” Whitney said. Brynley and Everley looked at each other for a moment.
“Listen Whitney, we will tell you why the picture is still there if you’ll tell us what’s going on with you and Leif,” Everley said quietly.
“And we want the good stuff, not the sugar-coated lies,” Brynley said between bites.
“What about me and Leif?” Whitney said. She glanced over to where the seniors were standing around the kitchen island. Had Jasmine told the whole world a slew of lies overnight?
“Ivy text me last night and said you’d been lying to us and hanging out with Leif, like a lot.” Everley started.
“And at night. And in his car!” Brynley said. “Is it true? Are you guys hooking up?”
“No, we are not hooking up. Ugh! It isn’t a big deal. I don’t know why everyone is making it a big deal!” Whitney said. The topic made her tired.
“Well if it isn’t a big deal then tell us,” Everley said.
“Not here,” Whitney said looking around. “I’ll tell you on the bus, I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that,” Brynley said.
“Now, why is the picture still up?” Whitney asked.
“We’ll tell you on the bus,” Brynley said mockingly. Everley shot her an annoyed look.
“Her parents either don’t know, or aren’t believing it. Eva’s parents are friends with the Smyth parents, like grew up here together, best friends, so they’ve kind of dreamed of Eva marrying Leif since Leif was born.”
“They probably already have the wedding planned,” Brynley said. Everley nodded.
“So they’re one of those families.” Whitney said more as a statement than a question.
“What f
amilies?” Brynley asked.
“The Millersburg families who have been here forever and hate when rich people from California move in and ruin their town,” Whitney said, stealing a piece of bacon from Brynley’s plate.
“Ummm, I guess you could say that,” Everley said.
“You guess?” Brynley asked her. “Yes, they are,” she said to Whitney.
“Well they don’t hate all people who come from California,” Everley said.
Whitney glanced across the kitchen to Eva and her perfect everything. All the money and talent in the world wouldn’t buy her what Eva was born into. The realization stung in her chest.
◆◆◆
“Hey!” Brynley said as they settled into the bus for their two hour drive to Portland. “Spill it!”
She caught Whitney by surprise. “What?” she said, figuring she’d missed something.
“The story. You said you’d tell us the story on the bus!” Brynley said. Whitney sighed and strained to figure out where the older girls were sitting.
“The seniors are way in the back,” Everley said. Whitney nodded.
Whitney climbed across the aisle and snuggled in between Everley and Brynley, in a seat made for two, and started the story. When she got to the first kiss Everley let loose a squeak that brought Kristi over asking for the scoop. The second kiss resulted in a squeal so loud that coach Turner turned around to give them the evil eye.
“So that’s it?” Everley said as Whitney finished. Whitney smiled. Validation.
“Is he gonna do it though?” Brynley asked.
“Do what?” Everley said.
“Yeah, do what?” Whitney pipped in.
“Date her,” Brynley said. “You saw Eva’s house. Did you see their mom’s together before we left? Did you see them together before he was talking to Whitney? Have you met his dad?” Brynley’s comments shut-up Everley and worried Whitney even more.
“It’s nothing against you Whitney. You’re great and so much better than Eva, but his family is… crazy.” Brynley continued.
“Yeah,” Everley said, sounding as deflated as Whitney felt, “that family is so wrapped up in Millersburg and tradition and….and everything you’re kind of not.”
“Thanks guys,” Whitney said, fighting not to cry.
Everley put her arm around Whitney. “It’s not you, it really isn’t.”
“You don’t want to get messed up with them anyways. Their dad really is a dick,” Brynley said.
Whitney just nodded. She felt like they’d ripped all hope from within her, and now they were pulling into the college where they had to play in a little over an hour. These were the distractions her dad told her to avoid in the days before the tournament, she thought as she gathered her stuff and exited the bus.
Entering the large college gym for the first time Whitney immediately felt the buzz. The huge gym, the huge crowd, the huge excitement. This was what she’d worked for. All those years of sweat and tears were for this and she wasn’t going to let her dad down now. She pushed everything else to the back as she ran through warmups with the team.
The girls won their first game by 18, granted they had drawn the lowest seeded team in the tournament, but still the win felt great. Whitney’s dad called with minimal corrections to order, as far as her dad went, and when she got back to her hotel from dinner she discovered at text from Leif.
I heard you guys won. Good job!
Thanks. I heard you won too. Congrats. She wrote. Beth had received a text from Ian about the boy’s win during dinner and hadn’t shut up about how awesome Ian was for the next 20 minutes. Eva, who looked directly at Whitney, chimed in about how amazing Leif was. Whitney nearly vomited on the table.
We squeaked out a win. You guys (mainly you) decimated those guys, Leif text.
Whitney felt her cheeks blush as she read the message.
“Who are you texting?” Everley asked.
Whitney let a shy smile escape, which was enough of a reply for the other two girls.
“Lief!?” Brynley and Everley said at the same time.
“Maybe,” Whitney said, relieved to finally be able to discuss Leif with her friends.
“What’d he say?” Everley asked.
“He was just congratulating me on the game.”
I’m pretty sure our JV team could have beat them. Whitney text Leif as Everley and Brynley continued butting in on either side of her.
“Who told him we won?” Brynley asked.
“I don’t know,” Whitney said. She knew Brynley was implying that a certain strawberry blonde senior on their team had text him, but she choose to ignore that possibility. “Probably his mom or Ian or Jasmine.”
“Or Eva,” Everley said.
“Ask him!” Brynley demanded.
“I’m not asking him!” Whitney said. Then she immediately contemplated it. She did want to know.
“Fine. Don’t ask… wait until the next game and I’m sure Eva will mention it herself,” Brynley said.
Who told you we won? Whitney asked and then clinched her teeth as she waited for a response.
I have my sources. Whitney read aloud when the text arrived.
“That is not helpful,” Everley said.
Like? Whitney text back.
I’m not giving up my sources.
Whitney flushed with regret.
My mom told me you guys won.
Then I looked online cause I wanted to see your stats.
Eva text me a bit ago to tell me also, but I didn’t text her back.
Whitney beamed brighter with each text that came through. She showed her phone to Brynley and Everley.
“OMG! He really likes you!” Everley said.
Whitney stared for a moment before squealing in delight and together they jumped on the bed. After they’d completely annoyed Brynley they collapsed and Whitney returned to the messages.
I didn’t say anything about Eva. Whitney said.
You didn’t have to say her name for me to know who you were asking about.
Sorry. Whitney text.
“He knew we were talking about Eva. Now he probably thinks I’m insecure in a relationship that we don’t even have. UGH!” Whitney said. Tossing her phone onto the fluffy white comforter and snuggling into the pile of pillows behind her.
“Make him commit to a relationship then,” Everley said. “He shouldn’t get to kiss you without a title anyways.”
Everley was right, but what if he said no. Then she’d lose it all.
It’s fine. She intimidates me too. He text. She shouldn’t intimidate you though. You’re like five leagues above her.
Whitney stared at his messages, unable to believe they were for her.
I’m going to bed. We have the early game. Good luck tomorrow. I’ll be thinking about you. Leif text.
Thanks! Good luck to you too. Night. Whitney sent back.
“He’s going to bed,” she told the other girls.
“You missed your chance. If you want this relationship to be something real you’re going to have to take the risk, tell him how you feel and that you need him to make it real. Otherwise this is as much as you get, and this isn’t real,” Everley said.
“After the tournament I’ll talk to him,” Whitney said. She doubted she’d have the courage even then, but she definitely didn’t have it now.
◆◆◆
They played two games on Saturday. The first was at 12:30, and they won by 8 sending them into the semifinals at 7:00. Between games Coach Turner sequestered the girls together in one room at the hotel, which did save Whitney from her dad, who’d flown in late the night before. They watched film and brought dinner in to keep the girls as focused as possible. If only it had worked.
The boys played at 10:30 and lost. They followed it up with a 2:30 game for 4th/6th place. As the girls ate their dinner they all secretly waited to hear how the boy’s second game finished. Whitney knew either way Leif would be upset. He hadn’t text her after his morning game and she
was trying not to turn that into something it wasn’t, but her mind kept doing it anyways. He’d wanted to win state badly. That’s all he’d been focused on all season, through all of their workouts. Her heart already ached for him and she wanted to be there for him, but mostly she prayed he wouldn’t turn to Eva for support.
“The boys won their game. 4th in state,” Beth said, reading from her phone. Every girl who had some sort of a connection on the team checked her phone to see if she’d missed a text.
“Well at least they finished with a win,” Jasmine said.
“They won’t see it that way,” Eva said. Whitney hated her.
“Did he text you?” Brynley whispered to Whitney. Whitney shook her head.
“Text him,” Brynley said. Whitney shook her head again. She wanted to. She wanted to badly, but if he wanted to talk to her he would have sent a text and she would be a mess if she text him first and he didn’t reply. Then what? She’d go into the semifinal game all stressed out about why Leif didn’t text her? No. She would not text him. She would focus on the game.
The game started fabulously. Whitney owned the girl who’d been assigned to guard her and their time spent watching film paid off giving them the ability to read nearly every play and cut-off multiple passes. They led by 12 going into half time. Coming out of the locker room for the second half Whitney felt great. This was it, they had to finish this game and then tomorrow they’d play for the state championship. She glanced up to where her family was sitting, hoping for a smile from her dad. Yet, before her eyes found her family they found another family: the Smyth family. The whole Smyth family. Mom, Everest, Aspen, Ivy, Opal, Dad and Leif with Willow on his lap. Her heart caught in her chest. Why had she not realized that he’d be here? Of course he would. His season was over and his sister was playing the last few games of her senior year. She tried to slow her heartbeat.
“Leif’s here,” she whispered to Brynley as she missed a warm-up shot.
“Where?” Brynley said. She stopped mid set-up and turned to find him in the crowd. Whitney grabbed her arm and yanked her around.
“By his family. Don’t look!” Whitney said.
Being Whitney (Book one of the Being Series): A Young Adult Novel Page 19
