“You don’t have to say it. I don’t think you have admitted it to yourself yet. But you know you do. You like him. And it’s okay. Almost all of us who went to school with him fancied ourselves in love with Nick at least once in our lives. We were a few years younger than him. He was the most popular boy in school then. He was the hottest and the smartest too. Every girl in school wanted him.
“He was charged with destruction of public property. That wall by the beach was old—and too white! They painted a mural on it overnight. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Going to juvie didn’t make Nick less popular with the girls. Actually, it made them want him even more. And to think, he covered up for all his friends? Admirable.
“Up to this day, nobody knew who vandalized that wall with Nick. He didn’t tell a soul who worked with him even when the police offered him a deal to let him off completely. My family will forever thank Nick for that.”
“Why?”
Terry smiled thoughtfully. “Because one of them was my brother. He was a senior then. Nick was only a sophomore. How they ended up joined at the hip was beyond me. But my brother needed to get into one of the Ivy Leagues. His average was not exceptional but he had a chance. But a juvie record would hurt his chances.”
“You asked Nick to keep his mouth shut?” Or perhaps they paid him. Terry’s family was one of the richest in the city.
To my surprise, Terry laughed. “My parents wanted to offer to pay Nick for his silence. But my brother was so sure it wasn’t necessary. He said he knew Nick and we didn’t even have to ask. Nick would never sell him out. Offering him money would insult and anger him, although, during that time, Nick’s family was going through difficult times. My brother said that honor and friendship meant more to Nick than money.”
“Yeah, that does sound like Nick.” I couldn’t help smiling thoughtfully at that.
“Nick was way too young then. He got away with a few hours of community service.”
“Yeah. He spent time on the other side of town. He still does, actually.”
Terry nodded. “My brother always said that Nick is a great guy. I had a crush on him only because he was insanely hot. Didn’t care much if he was a good guy or not. You know pre-teen girls drooling over the older high school heartthrobs?”
It took me a moment to realize that she was actually asking me a question. I raised a brow at her. “Excuse me. I’m… I’m sorry I didn’t go through that.”
“Oh, sorry. Anyway, I got over it. Jennifer Gracie didn’t. She was devastated when Nick left town. I didn’t understand the obsession since Nick didn’t even know her. It was good that you came to town that same year. Jennifer found a new friend to take her mind off him. But when Nick came back, so did her feelings. She thought she had a chance with him this time.”
I sighed. “She did. I ruined those chances for her.” Yeah, Nicholas was pursuing her before, until he realized that she was too fragile, and he said he wasn’t ready for that.
“That’s what she thought too. And she hated you more for it. I tried telling her that you were only protecting her. Although Nick seemed to have changed a lot, he did have a reputation of being a player before he left. But Jen didn’t care if she got hurt. He was her dream when she was a little girl and she thought you crushed those dreams for her, especially when she came so close to achieving it. At least, that’s what she believed.”
I looked away from Terry. Jen was right to think that. I did ruin her chances of making those dreams come true, but that was because I sincerely thought Nicholas was bad for her.
And now, what would Jen think if she found out that I was falling for Nick myself? She would think I betrayed her on purpose. That I deliberately crushed her chances to be with Nick so I could be with him myself. That wasn’t the case, but she would never believe that. She would assume the worst.
Sometimes, the people you call friends would believe the worst about you and not even give you a chance to defend yourself. All it would take was a little lie or the wrong assumption and boom! Years of friendship over! And you’d end up wondering what you did wrong.
They should have known better because they were supposed to know you better, right? But I guessed in reality, the opposite happens more.
But Jen just chose to hate me. She’d believe every single lie about me or make the worst assumptions about me. She’d think that I prevented her from going after Nick because I wanted him for myself. I didn’t want Nick then. In fact, I wanted him to disappear forever.
But now…
“I thought Jen was wrong though,” Terry said. I raised a questioning brow at her. She shrugged and added, “From the very beginning, I didn’t think Jen had a shot at Nick Atkins.”
“Jennifer is pretty.” I know I should not be defending her anymore. Force of habit. Loyalty isn’t easily broken if it’s real.
“She is. But she was shallow, you know. And it will take more than that to get Nick interested.”
I snorted. “I think it only takes a little to get Nick interested. Particularly in the amount of clothing a girl needed to wear.”
“That’s jealousy talking,” Terry said in a teasing tone.
“I’m not jealous!” I protested angrily.
“Sure.” She sounded so unconvinced I fought the urge to punch her pretty face. I doubted Brett would take that lightly. I glared at her and she only laughed. Was this girl on Prozac? She seemed to have overdosed on a chill pill; nothing would crush her spirit. Then she asked, “Why did you say that Nick sees you like a little brother?”
“Because he does,” I murmured. “He said so.”
“What? Is he blind? You’re Ken Clarke! And you’re one of the most gorgeous people in this town.”
“Thanks,” I said unenthusiastically. “But Nicholas Atkins had said it loud and clear. He does not see me as a girl-girl and he’s out of my league. He only dates supermodel hot girls.”
“Holy piece of crap!” Terry cursed. “He did not say that to you!”
“I wish he didn’t,” I said quietly. And yeah, everything between Nick and I were perfect before he made it clear that he likes hot, gorgeous girls.
“Come on, we need to do something about that!” Terry said in a determined tone. She stood up from the chair and pulled me inside the house.
“The fuck?”
“Stop with the cursing,” she scolded me. “Girls do not curse too much and not in public.”
“Okay. What the fudge are you doing?”
She smiled at me brightly. “Better.” She continued pulling me upstairs toward the guestroom. She pushed me inside. “Grab your jacket, put on your shoes, and meet me up front in five minutes. We’re going shopping.”
“Are you fu—freaking out of your mind?”
“Yes.” She smiled from ear to ear. “You haven’t met crazy ‘til you’ve met me, Ken Clarke. Now five minutes or I’m telling Nicholas Atkins myself that you have a crush on him.”
My eyes widened. “You will not freaking dare!”
“Oh, I will. Huge crush. You couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot while staring at his picture on your phone.” She smiled at me evilly.
“Fu—” I was about to swear again but she widened her eyes at me as if daring me to do it. I don’t know, but this girl had a weird way of getting things done her way. So instead, I said, “Fuzz it!”
She giggled. “Your swear vocabulary is very vast, Ken Clarke. Bravo!”
I rolled my eyes. “You should meet my father.” I turned to the room to get my jacket and put on a pair of sneakers.
Five minutes later, I was standing by the front door, staring at Terry descend the stairs. She was wearing a colorful skirt, an off-shoulder blouse, and a black beret hat. I must admit, she looked fashionable. I couldn’t believe she put that together in under five minutes. It was like she had a natural sense of fashion.
“Brett’s still in bed. We can use his car. We’ll just bring him lunch when we get back.”
“What are we shopping for once again?” I asked.
She smiled at me enthusiastically, her eyes glistening. “You’ll see.”
Terry drove like a maniac. I didn’t bother using the seatbelt at first, but when she stepped on the gas, the car went from ten to fifty miles per hour in just five seconds.
“Holy crap! Is your ass on fire?” I asked her, quickly buckling my seatbelt. I liked to drive fast, too, but I was precise and careful. Terry was just reckless.
“No. I’m just excited,” she said chirpily.
I held on to my seat and barely spoke as I held my breath and my seat for dear life. Terry talked non-stop, and I thought she was barely paying attention to the road.
Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at a shopping mall just outside of town.
“What are we doing here?” I asked as we went inside. I have never been here before although I have heard about it. This mall was known for bargain deals, especially for clothing. Since my father’s secretary shopped for most of my clothes, I barely visited a clothing boutique. And my father would die first before his daughter would be spotted in a bargain shop.
“If you’re planning to shop for clothes, I’m barely the right companion. I have absolutely no skills in this department.”
“I’m not shopping for me. We’re shopping for you, silly!”
My eyes widened in disbelief. “What? No! Weren’t you listening to our conversation last night? I have absolutely no plans and no means to shop for new clothes.”
“I heard you loud and clear,” she said. “That’s why we came here. I always come here. They’ve got great bargains in this place, so you will not spend much. And I’m a pro at spotting great deals. So you’ll be looking in style, without spending much.”
“Terry, are you out of your frigging mind?” I asked. “I do not need this!”
“You do. Trust me, you do,” she said. “Or Nicky will forever think you’re a boy.”
“I don’t care!” I protested.
“Liar!” Terry said. Then she took my hand and pulled me toward one of the shops.
“Besides, I do not have money on me. You took me by surprise.”
“You don’t need the money. I have some cash on me.”
“I don’t want to spend your money.”
“It’s not my money. It’s my stepfather’s money. His company gives him monthly clothing allowances for the whole family. It’s a bit too much sometimes. We do not know what to do with it. But we need to spend it no matter what—on clothes—not on anything else. So I need to bring home some receipts from clothing shops to my father by the end of this week so he can liquidate them from his company.”
“So why don’t you use them on you?”
“I will. But you will help me. I did plenty of shopping last week. A girl could only have so many clothes, you know.”
“Terry, are you freaking kidding me?”
She shook her head. “No. I will shop for your clothes. Don’t worry, I do it all the time with all my other girlfriends. Why do you think Jen wanted so desperately to be my friend?”
I was surprised by this. I remember Jen would have new clothes almost every week and she would always parade them in front of me. I didn’t ask where they came from. I always assumed she took them from her allowance, although I did find it impractical for her to be spending her money on clothes and bags that were beyond what she could afford. Now, I knew that she was using Terry for her perks.
“And you didn’t mind that she was using you for this?”
Terry rolled her eyes. “I didn’t care. It wasn’t my money. But yeah, it was distasteful of her to benefit so much from me and then betray me afterward. I guess you’re only valuable to some people when they can extort something from you. But c’est la vie. Let’s move on. Someday, they will get their piece and if we’re lucky, we get to watch karma come for them.”
Honestly, where this girl got her endless supply of sweet lemons was completely beyond me. It was as though nothing could break her spirit no matter what. Not even bitches like Jen could take her down.
She dragged me to the first shop that sells casual clothes. She pulled a couple of pieces of clothing from the rack, and then she pulled me to the fitting room.
“Okay, so why are we doing this again? Besides me helping you spend your father’s company’s money?”
She smiled. “Let’s just say that since you’re living a different life now, you should also try a different you. Change your style, explore the other side of you.”