on the entrance and exit. Iâd had one too many surprises in high school because I had my back to the door.
âMilan. Hey! I didnât expect to see you here. What up, baby?â Melissa walked over to me. I was standing in front of my locker, taking off my suit. Ceceâs locker was way down at the other end. Lockers werenât really available. They were vintage rentals. This had been my motherâs locker for, like, 10 years. Cece was using her motherâs locker too. Melissa gave me two air kisses. We werenât really close friends. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Cece slip on a pair of sunglasses and walk to the toilets. Wow, was it like that? âSo, what you up to?â Melissa asked.
âGoing to play tennis with ⦠some friends. What are you up to?â I asked.
âGosh, a little sunbathing. Listen, Morgan is having a fire pit thing tonight around 8. You know, sheâs with Bobby now so all the cute basketball players will be there. You should come with. Iâm going, Henriettaâs going, and Trinity is going,â Melissa said.
âI ⦠I donât know. I may need to phone a friend first.â I didnât know how to say no sometimes. Melissa looked at me as if I had just dropped dead in front of her. She exhaled deeply. The acting classes were certainly paying off. Today, a cheerleader; tomorrow, Guiding Light.
She leaned in to me closely. Then she covered one side of her mouth. âYou are not referring to Cece, are you? She cannot come with,â Melissa said.
âWhy is that?â I was much more annoyed than curious at this point.
âDuh, we canât have a case of the ex on our hands, can we? Listen, the twins or Cara are totally fineâjust not H girlâs arch nemesis. Iâm way too smart to start it up.â My phone was vibrating in my bag.
âDeuces,â Cece texted.
âThanks for the heads up. I donât know, though. If not, weâll catch up for lunch or something.â I double-kissed Melissa. Cece bolted out the door.
âWhatâs going on?â I texted.
âMeet me at the courts,â Cece texted.
âGive me 10,â I texted.
I got dressed. I kept wondering what I should do. I had just met Cece like a day ago. I couldnât blame her for leaving at the mention of her ex. Anyone would, right? Who was her ex? The thought of anyone knowing about Noel and how I missed him made me want to crawl under a rock. It was like having someone else rip off your Band-Aid. Iâd prefer to rip it off myself so at least I knew when the pain was coming. That was it. I decided to go play tennis and not make mention of this.
After the game, we sat on the side of the courts. âYouâre really good,â I said.
âWhatever. Not really. I used to play with my father. Then he moved,â Cece said.
âIâve never played tennis with my Dad.â
âParents. My mom says sometimes it takes parents a little while to get it right. Theyâre human too.â She smiled. I was quiet for a moment.
âDo you want to sleep over my house tonight?â
âOkay. Let me ask my mom.â Cece texted her mother. âThanks for not asking.â
âItâs okay. I donât have to know about it. If you donât want to tell, thatâs fine.â
âIt was a while ago â¦â Cece paused for a moment. She started staring at her fingers. Her right eye began to twitch. It was a little weird.
I put my head on her shoulder. âLetâs grab a bite. Maybe you can show me your backhand slice later,â I said.
âHow is the lunch going?â Merek texted.
âI skipped it.â
âAre you free for dinner?â he asked.
âNo.â I wasnât sure what to do with him. Soon the answer would be kissing him.
We never talked about Melissaâs comments again.
Chapter 6 SH Lisaâs House
âLadies, lunch is served!â
Julie Buxbaum
MAGGIE SHAYNE
Edward Humes
Samantha Westlake
Joe Rhatigan
Lois Duncan
MacKenzie McKade
Patricia Veryan
Robin Stevens
Enid Blyton