High School Heartbreak (Forest Ridge High Book 2)

by Sherri Renee

  Kara giggled. “Is that even a thing?”

  It was to me, but I shrugged.

  “It’s his birthday,” she explained. “You should really come. It’s going to be awesomeness. Of course, you can bring your boyfriends, too.”

  Ugh! It was starting already. I didn’t think I was wrong in guessing that if Danny wouldn’t make the two-hour drive to visit me he sure wouldn’t do it for a party with people he probably didn’t even like. I had a feeling it was going to take him a long while to forgive his teammates who’d decided to use steroids and had taken away their chance at the state championship because of it.

  I was going to be the third wheel wherever we went. And even worse, then I’d have to answer the pity questions of, “Where was Danny?” I dreaded it already.

  “We might stop by.” Kristen grabbed her bag and my arm and headed towards the door.

  As soon as we got outside she stopped. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “You got pale as a sheet in there.” Her worried eyes roved over my face, searching for an answer. I hadn’t told her about Danny yet.

  “Do you want to come over? There’s something I want to talk to you about.” The door opened behind me and a couple of girls walked out.

  “Bye, Michelle. Bye, Kristen,” they called.

  “Cute necklace, Jenna. Love the new hairstyle, Cora,” Kristen called in reply.

  “See ya,” I said shortly, just wanting to get out of there so I could tell Kristen everything.

  “We have leftover pizza,” I added, not above bribing Kristen to come over if I had to.

  “What are we waiting for?”

  Chapter 9

  “Cold leftover pizza is one of the best things in life,” Kristen said, finishing her slice. “Now tell me what upset you so much at practice.” She wiped her hands on a napkin and wadded it up, dumping it into the trash with her paper plate.

  I took the last bite of my pizza. Well, the last bite before the crust because as yummy as the pizza was I didn’t do crust. I chewed and swallowed, swiping crumbs off my shirt. “Danny moved,” I said without looking up.

  There. Finally. It was out in the open. I hadn’t said those words to anyone besides Jace yet, which still seemed so strange since we hardly knew each other.

  Kristen shot a glance at me. Her eyes narrowed. “Danny moved where? Across town?”

  I shook my head slowly. “Nope. He moved back home. He’s going back to his old school.”

  “Oh, Michelle.” She pressed her hand over her mouth, and her eyes instantly got all glassy with tears. And then my eyes got all glassy with tears. I blinked hard. I didn’t want to cry about this anymore, but it hurt, and her sympathy just made it hurt more.

  “When’d he leave? He was just with you at prom Saturday.”

  “He said he had something to tell me and came over Monday morning and said he was leaving.” I bunched my lips to the side and blinked at the ceiling a couple of times, fighting back tears.

  “He told you just like that? What about you? Are you going to keep dating? How far away will he be?”

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen. He’s two hours away. He said he thought we could work something out, but then. . . ” I sniffed and bit my lip, trying and failing to hold back a sob. “Then he said he liked me.” I let out what sounded pitifully like a wail and threw myself towards Kristen.

  “He did not!” Kristen caught me and held tight. “That jerk.” She sputtered against my hair. “How dare he say that.”

  And that’s why Kristen and I were best friends. She got me. Unlike Jace who’d thought my comment was funny even though he’d tried to be sympathetic, Kristen understood why it hurt.

  She was lucky I’d already shed most of my tears on poor Jace’s chest because I was able to dam them up much faster today. And why did thinking about the patient way Jace held me while I cried make me feel all warm and comforted inside?

  I got a tissue for myself and handed one to Kristen.

  “Thanks,” Kristen said, wiping her eyes before throwing away her tissue. Her nose was bright red from the cry and I was sure mine matched it.

  “So what are you going to do?” she said after a minute.

  We sat on the couch in the living room and for once the TV was off. I looked over at the brightly wrapped presents under our miniature tree on the table and sighed. “I loved him. Or I do love him? Or I thought I loved him? I don’t know what to think. One minute I’m dreaming about our wedding. The next he likes me but is still moving two hours away.”

  Kristen slipped off her shoes and stretched her legs out on the couch. She wrinkled her brow, giving me a curious look. “Your wedding, huh? I didn’t realize you guys were that serious.”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head, too embarrassed to look at her. Apparently, we weren’t that serious at all. I’d just gotten really carried away.

  “But you said he wants to make it work right?” Kristen squinted at me, and I could tell she was letting me slide on the wedding comment.

  I tapped my nails against the beige couch cushion and cut my eyes to the side. “He said he thought it could work.”

  “Pretty much the same thing.” Kristen dismissed my correction. “Obviously he cares a lot about you or he wouldn’t even try to keep up with a long distance relationship. Maybe once you’re together longer his feelings for you will deepen.”

  “Maybe,” I mumbled. I wasn’t too hopeful about that. I filled Kristen in on the way he’d been acting since he left. He’d hardly texted or called. He sure didn’t seem to miss me.

  “He’s got a lot going on right now.” She said the same thing I’d thought a million times. “You have to give him a chance to get settled in and then see how things go.”

  “Tell me this.” I leveled a look at her. “If Matt moved two hours away, how many times a day would you text him?”

  Kristen’s face fell as she saw my point.

  “I just don’t know what to do. I mean, I told you how I feel about him. Should I fight for him and try to make him love me back or cut my losses now instead of letting him slowly rip my heart out?”

  “You don’t need to make that decision yet. You’ll see him Thursday, right?”

  I tucked my hair behind my ear and nodded.

  “All right.” Kristen’s voice was matter-of-fact and she pressed a finger to her lip as she came up with a game plan. “So you’ll see him Thursday for sure, and Christmas is this weekend. I doubt he’ll have practice Monday. Maybe he can come visit. Or you could go there. I’ll keep you company on the trip if you want.”

  That made me smile. I knew that the last thing she wanted to do was be away from Matt and yet she’d do it for me. “You’re right,” I said. “It’s going to take some time to figure out what our new relationship is. One day at a time.” I tried to force some optimism into my words, but I wasn’t really feeling it.

  She grabbed my hand and squeezed it, bobbing her head encouragingly. “Exactly.”

  “So what about you?” I changed the subject. “Are you doing okay after that gossip fest this morning.”

  Kristen dropped my hand and looked past me, wrinkling her nose as she focused on her thoughts. She bit her lip before letting out a deep breath. “I’m trying not to think about it. Right or wrong, I’ve worried myself sick over George and Laurie, and I’ve relived the moment that guy pulled a knife on me at the game so many times the image is burned behind my eyelids. Every time I close my eyes it’s all I can see. Now all I want to do is forget about all of it.”

  She met my eyes with such a pained expression I wished I hadn’t brought it up.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “That was a lot to go through.”

  She nodded and pulled a throw pillow on her lap. “It sounds like George is just going to get probation. He should be back at school after break.”

  “Did you talk to him?” I raised my brows in surprise. I didn’t really think she was quite ready to face him after everything that had happened.


  She shook her head. “Matt’s dad is his lawyer.” She gave a little laugh. “Kind of funny how things work out, huh?”

  “Wow! So, your new boyfriend’s dad is representing your ex-boyfriend who almost got you killed. That’s kind of messed up.”

  “Matt’s dad is good at what he does, but it was actually Matt who asked him to defend George. You know finances have been tight for his family so there’s no way they could have hired a lawyer for him.”

  I lowered my brows. “Oh, yeah,” I said softly. “They were going to lose their house.” Man, I was starting to feel like such a whiny baby. Oh, boo-hoo. My boyfriend moved. These people, including Kristen, were dealing with real problems.

  Kristen darted me a nervous look and a hint of a smile played on her lips.

  “What?” I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes at her.

  “You didn’t hear it from me,” she said, and I tilted my head to the side, even more curious, “but George might get to keep the money he borrowed from Laurie’s Uncle Marvin. If so, their house will be completely paid off. I don’t think there will be anything left to help with college, but I don’t even know if George will go to college now. He’s going to have a record and be on probation for a long time.”

  “How can he keep the money? Wouldn’t it transfer to Marvin’s estate since he’s dead?”

  With a shrug, Kristen said, “I don’t know for sure what will happen, but there’s no record of the loan. It doesn’t appear to be stolen money or anything either so without a paper trail it could have as easily been a gift as a loan.”

  I sat back against the couch and thought about that for a second. “I hope it works out that way,” I finally said. “It’s not that I think George deserves any favors, he made a lot of stupid decisions that hurt a lot of people, but I don’t like the thought of anyone being homeless. If Marvin’s bad deeds can be turned into something good I think that would be pretty awesome.”

  Chapter 10

  “What’s the special occasion?” Kristen asked.

  “Huh?” I’d been peeking at my phone, hoping for a text from Danny. There wasn’t one from him, but Jace had texted asking if I wanted to hang out later.

  Blood was whooshing past my eardrums so loud I could barely make out what Kristen had said. I knew it had to be wrong to be so excited that Jace had texted, but I couldn’t help it, and I was ninety-five percent sure I was going to tell him yes.

  I focused on Kristen’s face, trying to figure out what she was talking about. She pointed to something behind me. I glanced back and was met with Jace’s beautiful roses. I know he said they were for Mom, but I was pretty sure they were mostly for me, and I got a little melty inside every time I looked at them.

  Oh, wow. I hadn’t even told Kristen that Jace and I had hung out. How was I going to explain the roses?

  “So,” I started, searching for an explanation. “You know how you absolutely ignored me yesterday.” I decided if I made her feel guilty enough she might blame me less for my decisions.

  “Michelle,” she sat up straight, looking alarmed. “I told you I was sorry. I didn’t mean to get so caught . . .”

  I held up a hand to stop her apology but offered her a smile so she’d know I wasn’t mad.

  “Well, Jace invited me to get some hot chocolate with him since Matt was ignoring him too. I’d had a pretty cruddy morning and didn’t really want to be alone so I took him up on it. One thing led to another, and before I knew it he was here with a dozen roses having dinner with me and mom.”

  Kristen’s chin almost hit her chest and her eyes were so wide she looked a little like a cartoon. The fact that she looked pretty much like I felt made me laugh. “Close your mouth.”

  She did but continued to stare at me. “And you’re just now telling me this?” She shook her head and held her hands up with her fingers splayed. “Oh my gosh. What happened between you two? He brought you flowers? That’s so sweet. Roses are crazy expensive. What about Danny?”

  “Take a breath.” I rubbed my forehead and grinned.

  “Sorry.” She laughed. “You have to admit that was from out of nowhere.”

  “Tell me about it.” I pulled my legs up on the couch to sit cross-legged. The whole thing had been from out of nowhere, but I couldn’t deny I’d enjoyed Jace’s company.

  “No,” she said pointedly. “You tell me about it!”

  I chuckled. “I hadn’t seen Jace in a really long time, but we were kind of friends before so it wasn’t too weird to hang out with him.” I considered the understatement in that. It hadn’t been weird at all. If anything it had been very natural.

  “So . . .” Kristen drawled, eyeing me curiously. “How did a cup of hot chocolate turn into a dozen roses?”

  I reached over and ran my finger over a smooth petal. “He brought them for my mom.”

  Kristen raised a brow, not buying it.

  I shrugged, but a smile touched my lips at the memory. “That’s what he said at least.”

  Kristen crossed her legs like mine, and rested her arms on the pillow on her lap, leaning towards me. “Do you think he likes you?”

  My smile grew even though I tried to hold it back. I did think he liked me. I just wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  “He does!” Kristen saw my smile. “And you like him too!” she yelled.

  I felt my cheeks start to burn and ducked my head.

  “You do!” She laughed and bounced up and down on the couch cushion.

  I rubbed my hands over my face and peeked at her over my purple nail tips. “I do,” I admitted. “So how terrible does that make me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I’m supposed to be in love with Danny. How is it that I can even think about liking someone else?”

  Kristen’s smile faded and she leaned back, giving me a wary look.

  “What?” I frowned, confused by her look.

  “Do you want to know what I really think or do you want me to stay out of it?”

  “You know I want to know what you think,” I said without hesitation, but she had me a little worried.

  “All right,” she dragged out the words, picking at the pillow she held. “What I think is that you’re pretty much friends with all the guys at school.” She peeked up at me.

  I shrugged, wondering what that had to do with Danny or Jace specifically. “I guess.”

  “Well, that made it hard for you to date any of them. They were your friends. When you went out with any of them there wasn’t a spark because, well, they were friends.”

  “Okay.”

  “And then a brand new guy walks in. He’s handsome and nice and he likes you a lot. Most importantly, he wasn’t a ‘buddy’.”

  I looked down at the floor as I considered her words. “So, you think I made our relationship out to be more than it was just because it was more than I’d had with anyone else?”

  “Maybe,” she said so easily I wondered if it was something she’d thought of before.

  I stood up and focused on the pink roses. I moved flowers around, pulling some up a little higher and moving all the greenery to the back. I don’t know why, but Kristen’s words, as gentle as they were, hurt. I took a deep breath.

  “Or maybe I’m completely off base,” Kristen quickly said, seeing my expression. She stood up and put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “What does that say about me then? I’m so desperate for a guy I threw myself at the first available one?”

  “No, I didn’t mean that at all.” She dropped her hand from my shoulder and went to look out the window.

  “I know it’s not exactly the same,” she said, “but I felt really guilty when I started to like Matt before I should have had time to even start getting over George. I loved George. Or I thought I did. Every day I spend with Matt, though, I realize what George and I had doesn’t begin to compare to what I have now. It was just that I’d never known anything more than the feelings I had for George until Matt
came along.”

  “But I still love Danny,” I said, although I wasn’t sure if that was completely true. “I’m just, I don’t know, disappointed in him? George had cheated on you by the time you and Matt started talking. I’m pretty sure you weren’t still in love with him.”

  She turned from the window with a sympathetic look. “Maybe it’s what you said then. Danny hurt you so you’re looking for someone to make you feel better, and it sounds like Jace is doing that. Either way, it doesn’t make you a bad person.”

  Didn’t it though? I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but her words only made me feel worse. What was wrong with me?

  Kristen and I decided to veg with a movie. As hard as it was, I thought it would be best to ignore Jace’s text about hanging out. At least for now. Kristen had given me a lot to think about, and no matter which way I turned those thoughts I didn’t feel very good about myself.

  Which was it? I didn’t know the difference between love and like and misjudged my feelings for Danny? Or, possibly even worse, I only liked Jace because he was making me feel better after Danny had hurt me?

  It was harder than I expected, but I slid past Jace’s text without answering it and started a new text to Danny. Sure I’d be the one reaching out to him first as usual, but it wasn’t a big deal. He always got back to me eventually.

  Hey! How’s it going? I miss you! I added two hearts at the end and hit send. I was prepared to wait for hours for a reply so I was surprised when my phone pinged in my hand.

  You too. Can’t wait to see you Thurs.

  He hadn’t added any hearts, but the words gave me hope. He couldn’t wait to see me? Maybe I’d blown the situation out of proportion.

  It was understandable. He’d totally blindsided me when he said he was moving. Anything that came after that was like a train wreck, each small thing piling into the next making it bigger than it should have been. It wasn’t any wonder my feelings were so confused.