“But what about that other part, Gabe?” she asked. “You ever plan to face that?”
“I knew I’d regret confiding in you.” Again, there was another long, awkward pause. “Listen, I’ve gotta get over to the school to meet the group. Let your sister know we’re setting out at four to start working. She’s welcome to join us, as are you. We’re meeting outside the gym in fifteen.”
“I’ll make sure she gets the message,” Bailey said.
“See ya.”
“See ya,” she said, and then I distinctly heard him walk away and out the door. I was frozen in place, still stunned by what I heard. It wasn’t until I was certain that he was gone that I finally stood up. Jones beat me around the corner, turning to look at Bailey.
“Hey,” she said, smiling. “I was just wondering where—”
“I’d stop talking if I were you,” he said, and then I turned the corner behind him, glaring at my sister.
She slowly turned her chair in my direction, her stare meeting mine a lot slower than she’d turned around.
“Uh-oh,” she said under her breath.
“What—was—that?”
“Hmm?” she asked, feigning the most pathetic look of innocence.
“Bailey, what the heck?” I asked. “What were guys talking about just now?”
“I don’t know,” she said, pretending to search her brain. “What are you referring to, exactly?”
“Stop playing cute and fess up. What do you know? What has he told you?”
“It’s nothing—”
“It’s not nothing,” I said. “I want to know!”
“I’m not really in a position to disclose that information,” she said formally. “He told me those things in confidence. I gave him my word.”
“Things that he couldn’t tell me?”
“I’m sure he’ll tell you—”
“I can’t believe you!” I said. “Why haven’t you told me?”
“It’s not my place to tell you anything. It’s his. And I’m trying to help you. I’m doing what I can to nudge him in that direction, but in the meantime, you need to be patient. He’s a real piece of work, that guy.”
“I just. . .” I searched my brain. When had Bailey and Gabe even had the time to strike up a friendship and swap secrets? “When did this happen? When did you guys go and get all buddy-buddy?”
She twisted her lips and looked down to the floor. Jones perked up, almost looking as interested in learning the answer as I was. It was clear he was just as uninformed as me.
“Remember back when you had that English essay to finish and I filled in for you at the soup kitchen?” Vividly. It was the same night I’d found out that Dad was moving us to LA, leaving us with only one week to pack and say our goodbyes. I was an emotional wreck, and I ran down the streets of Sugar Creek in the pouring rain to track down my sister. “He came by the church that evening. We worked together on the line in the dining room, and when food started to run low, he asked if I’d come with him to the grocery store. We spent a lot of time together that night, and we bonded. We’ve just stayed in touch ever since.”
I sank into the chair that Gabe had just vacated. Her story sounded far too familiar. Gabe and I had also worked pretty closely together, doing things RI related, talking, sharing. And then when everything started to fall apart, he walked away from me. But they’d stayed in touch?
Jones stepped forward, eyeing my sister a little closer. “Is there something going on between you and Gabe?”
“Ew, no, gross,” she said. “Guys, it’s not like that. Gabe’s my friend.”
“Oh, and isn’t that just lovely? So perfect that you’re friends now,” I said, aggravated that she would even say that to me, knowing that I’d already blown my chance at having any kind of friendship with Gabe. “That’s just wonderful. I hope you guys are enjoying all the time you get to spend together.”
Because I didn’t get any of his time. It was impossible to keep my cool. I’d gone above and beyond, respecting Gabe’s wishes to ignore my feelings and let him walk away. Since he’d made up his mind to shut me out, I hadn’t asked him for anything. I’d never once asked him to change his mind, to reconsider. In the week since he’d turned his back, I’d stood idly by and waited. Just—like—I—promised—I—would! And then I find out that he and Bailey had maintained some kind of friendship behind my back? That wasn’t okay.
“Mandy, don’t be mad,” she said, standing up. “I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think it was that big a deal.”
“Bull! You’re just as bad as Dad,” I said, standing up. “You’ve had a hundred opportunities to tell me the truth, to come clean about whatever it is that you and Gabe are so easily able to share with one another. You didn’t lie to me to protect Gabe’s secrets or because you didn’t think it was no big deal! You only lied to me because you knew that I’d be angry when I found out. And guess what? I am.”
“I never lied to you!”
“A lie by omission is still a lie, Bailey!” I said, turning away from her. I charged over to the door before whipping back around. “I hope you enjoy the position you’ve just put yourself in because I am so done with you.”
“Mandy—”
“No! Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, and don’t you dare expect me to say another word to you. Dad’ll be happy to know that you’ve officially taken his spot, Bailey: you can now consider yourself Public Enemy Number One. I’m done.”
Chapter Six
I wanted to scream.
Gabe and Bailey were friends? No. No way.
I promised myself that I’d be patient and wait. It had been my intention all along to be nice to him, to be there for him whenever he was ready to talk. All along I prepared myself to do exactly that. But how was I expected to keep standing by? I’d never felt more lied to, more kept in the dark—and by people who supposedly cared most about me, nonetheless!
Learning that Gabe was more comfortable talking to my sister than he was talking to me—especially knowing how rocky my relationship with Bailey had been for so long—was unfathomable. If Bailey was the kind of girl that Gabe could open up to so easily, the kind of girl he could talk to, then maybe I’d been wrong about him all along . . . because my sister and I were nothing alike.
Every impulse in my body urged me to go straight home and let Carla have her way. The last thing I wanted was to participate in the Neighborhood Enhancement Project, especially considering she’d gone above and beyond to make sure that I wouldn’t show my face.
As spiteful and vengeful as I was feeling, I knew I was better off going home and stewing alone. I needed to calm down. I needed to sort out my feelings, and I knew I couldn’t do that by facing Gabe or my teammates. But in spite of my inherent disposition to hide away and shut everyone out, some unknowable force still compelled me to drive out to the school. Whether it was the fact that I wanted to prove she couldn’t scare me off, or maybe just so that I didn’t risk my opportunity at winning the scholarship, I’d never know for sure. I just knew I had to go.
I was going to show up, put in the time, and do what had to be done. And I wasn’t going to let one of my friends suffer just because Carla had some personal vendetta with me. Picking on me was one thing, but targeting my friends was a whole other story. I wouldn’t stand for it. I sent a short text to Fletcher to let him know that the group had scheduled a last-minute event, gave him the details as I knew them, and hoped that he would be able to do with that information whatever he could. He sent a quick thanks, but I had no idea whether or not he would be able to make it to the school on such short notice.
“Mandy, hey,” Lashell said, smiling as I jumped out of my car five minutes later. Gabe, Mr. Davies, and the rest of the group—minus Fletcher—were all gathered in the parking lot, huddled in a circle. “We thought you were working tonight. Glad you could make it after all.”
“Yeah, me, too,” I said, throwing a quick glance at C
arla, but she wouldn’t meet my stare. Instead, she kept looking at all the other teammates, pretending she hadn’t even noticed that I’d pulled up. I turned back to Lashell. “Just one quick thing.”
“Sure?”
“I don’t know that Fletcher will be here this evening,” I said, and she nodded knowingly. “No, I mean, he was never informed of tonight’s event.” A few heads turned in Carla’s direction, including Gabe and Lashell’s. Everyone turned back to me. “If he doesn’t show, it’s not because he didn’t make time for the group. He just didn’t know until I messaged him five minutes ago.”
I didn’t feel the need to mention that I, like Fletcher, had just found out about this evening’s mission.
“Well, jump on in.” Lashell waved me over to join the group.
I squeezed in next to her and turned once more to say, “I don’t want his absence to reflect poorly on his commitment to the team. He would’ve been here, had he known.”
“Honey, it’s okay,” she said. “Sometimes wires get crossed. Mistakes happen. No one’s going to hold it against him.” She turned back. Simple as that? Fletcher had a perfect attendance record for every Sugar Creek RI event, and she was going to let it go that easily? “Okay, we were just about to break into groups and decide who was going where.”
“Actually, we already did,” Carla said. “The teams are picked.”
“Oh,” Lashell said, looking to me again. “Then pick a team.”
I looked around, but it didn’t seem as if the teams had broken off yet. They were all still standing around in one, large, congregated group. It wasn’t easy to discern who’d teamed up, so there was no way to be certain that I wouldn’t get stuck with Gabe or Carla.
“I’ll go with whoever. I’m not picky.”
“Good,” Carla said, waving me over. “You can come with us, then.”
The initial shock of her invitation took a few, long seconds to wear off. Was she serious? Why on earth would I ever want to join her? As I turned to survey the rest of the group, I noticed a wave of relief sweep across Gabe’s face. I knew at that moment he was working on the opposite team, and that look of relief was actually happiness; he wouldn’t get stuck working with me all evening.
“Yeah, okay,” I said, nodding, and then I squeezed in with the rest of the group. It was just then that Fletcher’s pick-up truck barreled into the school parking lot, speeding toward the first empty spot.
“Oh, look,” Lashell said, beaming a smile. “No worries, after all, Mandy. Looks like we’re a full team tonight!”
“Yay,” I said, looking at Carla from the side of my eye. “Lucky he could make it on such short notice, huh?”
“For sure,” she smiled. “Lucky!”
The group chattered as we waited on Fletcher to make his way over, and my cell phone rang just as the talk started. I pulled it from my back pocket. Jones. I held up a finger to excuse myself from the huddle, turned away from the group, and pulled the phone up to my ear.
“Hey, I only have a second. What’s up?”
“Besides the fact that the whole Gabe-Bailey alliance has left a God-awful taste in my mouth?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
My heart ached for him, the same way it ached for itself. Bailey’s secrecy was not only a betrayal to me, but it was a betrayal to her boyfriend. Whatever was going on between her and Gabe—no matter how platonic—should’ve never been kept a secret. The fact that it was kept secret made it all the more suspicious.
“I’ve got your next, big idea.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yup!” he said. “Brace yourself.”
“I’m braced,” I said. “What’d you come up with?”
“Bailey and I got into it big-time, man,” he said. “And as she was going on and on, talking in circles, and saying that same load of crap she fed you, I started looking around the book shop, okay?”
“Sure, sure,” I said, motioning for him to hurry along, even though he couldn't see me.
“And I started thinking: man, there are a lot of books here.”
“It’s a book shop, Jones.”
“I mean hundreds and hundreds of books. And I’ve only ever read like…what, maybe eight?” I hardly believed that, seeing as he would’ve never made it out of elementary school, let alone high school having read only eight books. “And then I thought, well, there’s nothing stopping me from reading now. Actually, it’d be a lot more enjoyable than listening to Bailey drone on and on. All I had to do was pick up a book, buy it, and start reading.”
“Jones, I love ya dearly, but I need you to make your point a little faster.”
“Okay, so buying books is only easy when you have money to spend, and I’m just a poor, part-time employed, college freshman with no pocket change to spare.”
“Okay?”
“So then I thought, too bad I can’t just borrow a book and return it when I’m done.”
“Right?”
“So there’s your idea.”
“Jones,” I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose with my one free hand, “what you’re describing is called a library.”
“And what’s the one thing Sugar Creek doesn’t have?”
“We have a library, Jones,” I said. “It’s just down the road from the post office.”
“Right, yeah, I know, but hear me out, MandyMoo,” he said. “Here’s where it gets good. The Sugar Creek Public Library had to cut all of their funding to the children’s reading program last year.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Sometimes, unlike you, I actually pay attention to the things your Dad talks about over dinner.”
“Okay. And?”
“I don’t know how the Sugar Creek program used to work before they got the ax, but we had a similar program in Desden growing up. They designate one night each week to have a librarian host a children’s themed book party. They sit in a circle, read the book, do activities, share their thoughts. They even have refreshments at the end of each night for the parents and kiddos. Mandy, that’s what you need to do. We don’t have a children’s reading program. Reestablish it through RI.”
“Oh . . . ”
Getting lost in Jones’s brain was about the last thing I could imagine doing, and I’d just gotten closer to that mess than I ever wanted to be again. Even after hearing his explanation I could hardly remember how he’d gotten from an argument with Bailey to the lack of children’s reading programs, but it didn’t matter. He was right. He was absolutely right!
The RI foundation focused on creating a positive impact in the community, and re-establishing the program would definitely be a way to do that. The library would save money by using volunteers in place of staff to conduct the evening sessions—
“And I stopped by the bakery to talk to Julia,” he said. “She said she’d be happy to donate cupcakes once a week as refreshments for the parents and kids.”
“Oh my God, are you serious?”
“For sure. Call your RI guys now and ask. I’ll get over to the library and see what I can figure out. Let’s get a move on.”
Jones assumed I’d gone home, and thankfully, I hadn’t. I could turn around right now. I could ask Lashell for the green-light, and then I could started working toward that goal.
But what if I waited? I knew that she and Gabe were a huge fan of playing devil’s advocate. They’d ask a lot of questions, and they’d expect just as many answers. And if they didn’t like what they heard right on the spot, they’d scrap the idea without giving it much of a chance. And with only two and a half weeks to go until the end, I couldn’t risk one really great idea by being careless and jumping the gun.
I had to tread carefully with this. I would carry out my responsibility this evening with Carla’s project, allowing myself plenty of time to brainstorm. After finishing up for the night, I could go home and pull together the perfect proposal. I’d get it all planned, fleshed out, and make sure the library was on board with re-es
tablishing the program with no cost to them. Then I’d ask. Even with a serious time constraint, I couldn’t see my RI leaders turning it down.
I said a quick thanks to Jones, told him I’d call back tonight, and then I turned back to the group.
“Everything okay?” Lashell asked, and it wasn’t until then that I’d noticed half the group had cleared out and left the parking lot. All that remained was my half of the team . . . and they were all waiting on me.
God, how rude. I’d gotten so caught up in Jones’s call that I’d forgotten where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said, and yet I still couldn’t stop smiling. “I’m . . . great.”
Carla looked at me that time, her brow creased with curiosity.
“Okay, team,” she said, clapping her hands once. Though she tried to ignore the sudden onset of my smile, I could see it was eating her alive. She hated being left out of the loop. “You know the drill. Let’s get out there and get this done! Hands in, Sugar Creek on three.”
Chapter Seven
Life was unusually quiet.
I hadn’t heard from Jones since talking to him on the phone yesterday afternoon. I tried calling as soon as I got home from the Neighborhood Enhancement project, but he wasn’t picking up. I concluded this had everything to do with Bailey. I heard the shrieks and groans of their phone conversation, her pleas for forgiveness as she paced back and forth in her bedroom all night. I had no idea how they left things, or whether or not Jones was still as upset as I was, but I imagined I’d find out sooner or later.
Without his guidance or vision for re-establishing the children’s reading night at the library, I was going at it alone. I called Julia at the bakery to confirm the information Jones had offered, and then I sat at my computer for two evenings putting the perfect proposal in order. I printed up a mock flier to show Lashell, and I was ready to get the feedback from my RI leaders as soon as I saw them again.
I had the plan in order: because we didn’t have a lot of time to pull it off, I wanted to set the first reading night as late as possible in the program. It was ideal to do the kick-off the Thursday night before the big, finale dance. If everything went well on the first night, then maybe—like Carla’s soup kitchen—I could find a way to keep the program running even after the RI team disbanded.
Breaking Walls Page 6
