Read Online Hallie Hath No Fury . . . by Katie Finn - Free Book Online

sigh.
    â€œSo, your girlfriend,” I said, making sure my voice sounded shaky. “Um … how long have you guys been together?”
    â€œWe don’t have to talk about that,” Teddy said, his voice guarded.
    â€œI guess I’m just confused,” I said. “Because if you’re super happy with her, why were you hanging out with me?”
    â€œIt’s not that I’m not happy with Gemma,” Teddy said, and I instinctively gripped the phone harder when I heard her name. “I mean … I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about it like that.” Doubt was beginning to seep into his voice, and I could feel myself smile.
    â€œI think you know when you’re happy,” I said, keeping my voice small. “I knew I was happy when I was with you.”
    â€œI was too,” Teddy said immediately. “But…” There was a long pause, and I waited it out, letting him put the pieces together for himself. “I mean…”
    â€œIs it just habit?” I asked, and could hear that the confusion in my voice was actually genuine. It was one of the things I was still having trouble getting my head around—how Teddy and Gemma had gotten together, and then how they’d stayed together for so long. “If you guys have been together for a long time … I mean, maybe you’ve just grown apart?”
    â€œWe have been together for a long time,” Teddy said slowly, like he was still putting things together, repeating me unconsciously. “And maybe … we’ve grown apart.”
    I let the silence between us stretch out, and then I said, keeping my voice soft, “I really liked you, Teddy. And I was hoping that we could actually be together. But I’m not going to be with someone who has a girlfriend. If your situation changes, give me a call. Otherwise…” I took a shaky breath that wasn’t even acting. The thought that this really might be the last time I spoke to him was making it feel like someone was squeezing my heart. “Have a nice life, I guess.” I hung up then, feeling like I needed to leave him with this, not let him talk himself down to a less emotional place.
    I set the phone aside, then went ahead and turned it off so I wouldn’t be tempted to call him back, or to answer if he called me. I started pacing around my room, then stopped when I could feel myself getting more anxious because of it. I didn’t know what would happen now. Had I pushed it too far? Would he actually go through with breaking up with Gemma?
    I looked down and saw my hands were shaking. I folded them together, and realized all at once that I’d broken one of the biggest rules—I’d gotten myself into a situation I wasn’t willing to walk away from.
    *   *   *
    I heard my phone chime with a text, and I was reaching for it before the sound had even finished. It had been a week of hearing nothing from Teddy, and I almost hadn’t been able to take it. I’d had to stop myself, more times than I could count, from texting or calling him. I had been monitoring Teddy’s and Gemma’s Friendverse profiles carefully, along with Sophie’s and some other Putnam High juniors and sophomores I’d befriended. I had a feeling that the second news got out, it would spread across the social networks like wildfire. A couple who had been together that long breaking up, especially when one of them was Teddy, was bound to make waves. But there had been nothing on his profile page or Gemma’s, so I just had to assume that he’d decided to stay with her, and that I would never hear from him again. When the thought of this made me want to cry, I’d tell myself that it was because of the plan going awry. That’s why I was upset. But even I no longer believed this anymore. It was because the thought of losing Teddy was so much more painful that I had imagined it would