“Jackson,” she snaps.
“Make her see the light, Henley,” he calls. “I miss hearing you two singing Taylor Swift at the top of your lungs while momentarily forgetting that you’re not as hard as you think you are.”
I cringe as I try to adjust myself on the couch, still stunned that they’re even here and I seem to have started mending the burnt bridge between me and Jackson. I guess that leaves one other bridge to fix. “Can’t make any promises.”
“Well, try. I want to introduce you to Elle.”
“Fine,” I groan.
With that, he disappears down the pathway, leaving me to face the girl who hurt me in one of the worst ways, though to give her a little credit, she did think I was betraying her.
Kaylah drops to her knees in front of me and thrusts a packet of peas into my hand before getting to work.
I let out a shaky breath and try not to cringe. Why am I finding it so hard to talk to her? We used to be like sisters. “Can we at least talk?” I ask, trying to appear much braver than what I feel.
She watches me for a silent minute before looking away. “Not much to talk about.”
“Bullshit,” I grumble before an awkward pause. “How are you?” I ask, hating this weirdness between us.
She nods and looks away. “Pretty good,” she tells me with a fake enthusiasm. “Broken Hill High is great.”
“Really?” I scoff, remembering the millions of times we had complained about all the rich bitches who went there.
She bites down on her bottom lip before finally deciding to give in and try properly. “Don’t get me wrong, the chicks there are brutal, but Jesse is there and he’s kind of amazing.”
“I didn’t think you’d have to deal with the chicks if you’re with Jesse? Doesn’t he, you know, keep them away?”
She shrugs, putting a bloodied tissue aside and grabbing another. “He thinks he does, but you know how girls are when they want something. We don’t do things the way dudes do.”
I scoff, for the first time not agreeing with that statement. Dudes are usually the ones you expect to beat the shit out of someone to make a point, Noah and Spencer being the perfect example of that this morning. But I guess women everywhere are fighting for equality and wanted to get in on that action. After all, Monica and Candice literally just handled their shit the way dudes do.
I let out a sigh as I watch her expert medical skills. After all, we used to patch up Jackson all the time. He used to get in plenty of fights with the guys from Broken Hill, Jesse and Nate in particular. It’s funny how things change. “You left, Kaylah. You didn’t even say goodbye.”
Her mouth drops open as he fingers pause on my skin. “Are you serious? You screwed my brother. You turned out just like all those other skanks who were using me to get close to him.”
“How can you say that? After the years we spent being friends, how could you possibly say that? You know that two-faced, fake bullshit isn’t me. It never has been and it sure as hell never will be.”
“So, you just happened to fall into his bed? You tripped and landed on his dick? Give me a fucking break.”
“Kaylah,” I sigh, admitting my cold hard truth that I never once let myself tell her before. “I thought I was in love with him. For years I thought that.”
She pulls back. “Bullshit. You never once told me that. Don’t come up with shit like that to make you look like the good guy.”
“Are you kidding, right now?” I demand, wishing I was in the position to throw myself to my feet and make a scene. “I am the good guy. I couldn’t tell you because every fucking day you reminded me just how awful it would be if one of your friends wanted to get close to him. You made me feel like what I felt for him was wrong. You made me feel worthless for having a fucking crush on an amazing guy. Of course, I couldn’t tell you.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying, Kaylah. For so long, I thought he was it for me. I had dreams of having his babies… and then, well, shit went up in flames and I didn’t only lose him, I lost you too. You were supposed to be my best friend and you didn’t even give me two seconds to explain myself.”
“Because you betrayed me,” she yells.
“No, you betrayed me.”
Kaylah continues as though I didn’t say a word. “You got close to me just so you could be with him just like every other girl in this fucked up place does.”
“Stop lying to yourself,” I sputter. “You know that’s not how it is. We were both drinking. You were home sick, and it just… happened. Look, truth be told, I should have told you from the start that I was crazy about him, and you should have told me that you were leaving. I deserved an explanation,” I tell her. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me all alone at that damn school? I’m practically a chew toy for Monica and Candice.”