The Boyfriend Thief

CHAPTER 27





For a week, I was too busy to think much about Zac. I threw myself into studying for exams, barely noticing anything that went on around me. Molly and Elliott were an official couple now and the three of us often met at each other’s houses to study together. I pretended not to notice whenever they slipped in a kiss between textbooks and pretended even harder that it didn’t make me think of the feel of Zac’s lips on mine.

On the morning of the last day of school, I noticed the table of jars for class queen and king. I had been so wrapped up in everything else that the stupid popularity contest had completely slipped my mind. For the first time, I really looked all the gaudy, ridiculous “vote for me!” posters plastered all over the walls. The winners would be announced that afternoon during the end of year awards ceremony.

Twenty years from now, would any of us remember who won class king and queen?

Hannah would. If she won, it would be one of the things she held onto as her shining moment, even when we were all old and gray. Because she needed that validation. She needed to know that, yes, she was good enough.

Maybe Hannah and I weren’t so different even now.

I dug into my bag, searching for my change purse. I counted out half of my coins and then dropped them into the jar.

“I’ve already won,” said a voice behind me. “So it doesn’t matter if you vote against me.”

Hannah smiled smugly, looking as put together and pressed as always. Her hair shone like silk in the fluorescent lights overhead.

She stepped toward me, offering a small folded piece of paper.

“What’s that?” I asked, not taking it.

“The rest of the money I owe you. Three hundred dollars, a check written out to you.”

My heart fluttered in my chest and I almost couldn’t breathe. “He dumped you?”

She nodded. “Last night. It was tragic. There were tears.”

I still didn’t take the check she held out to me. I stared at it, unable to move.

“So what was that all about last week when you accused me of cheating on Zac?” Hannah raised her eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

“My brother’s doing a photography project for his art class.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to explain. Hannah was the one sneaking around, she should have been the one explaining things. “He ended up taking a picture of you outside the Book Nook with some guy a couple weeks ago. Then again at the movies.”

And then, Hannah did something I hadn’t seen her do in a long time.

She laughed.

Now I was the one raising my eyebrows. “What is so funny?”

“You. You always expect the worst in people, don’t you? If a girl is in the presence of some guy who isn’t her boyfriend, then obviously she’s cheating. It’s so black and white in your world. No room for shades of gray.”

“Then you didn’t cheat on Zac?”

“Of course not. Why would I get rid of one boyfriend that takes up too much of my time to get another one? Not that it’s any of your business, but the guy you saw me with was my life coach. He keeps me from completely stressing out and ripping your head off.”

Hannah had a life coach?

“Is that like a therapist?” I asked.

Hannah’s glare made me snap my mouth shut. “He is not a therapist. A life coach advises me on steps I should take to eliminate the stress in my life. One of those being getting to know myself by being single for a while. Not dealing with anyone else’s expectations of me except my own. He’s helped me tremendously these last few months.” She smirked. “You might want to try it sometime.”

I tried to make sense of what Hannah had told me, but my mind was spinning. The chaotic swirl had started again and I couldn’t get things back under control.

“But if all you wanted was to be single, why do this whole break up thing?” I asked. “I’m sure if you had talked to Zac and explained how you felt, he would have understood and backed off. You could have broken up easily long ago. Why get me involved to hurt him?”

Her eyes hardened and she crossed her arms. “My intention wasn’t to hurt Zac.”

The silence hung between us. Farther down the hall, I could hear voices and footsteps, lockers slamming as other students arrived for the last day of the school year. The chaos in my head had finally grown quiet as I understood what Hannah wasn’t saying.

The entire plan wasn’t to hurt Zac. It was to hurt me.

“Hannah,” I said, taking a step toward her, trying to cross the chasm that had existed between us for four years, “I’m sorry about what happened that summer.”

Hannah stiffened. A muscle in her jaw twitched, but she only shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. We’re even.”

So much had changed after that summer. Hannah’s family had changed, her entire life had changed, and I hadn’t been there like I once was. My mom’s leaving had affected so many more people than just me and I was only now realizing it.

“Do you remember that time we ate all the raw cookie dough your mom had in the refrigerator?” I asked suddenly.

A small smile twitched at her lips. “Five tubes of it,” she said. “My parents swore we’d die from E. coli.”

“I did spend the entire night sick with a bad stomach ache.” I smiled sadly. “If I could go back and change what happened that summer, I would.”

Hannah’s face clouded over again. “What’s done is done. And believe me, I don’t miss you.”

But her voice cracked halfway through the words, and it came out sounding more like a lie. She held the check out to me again.

“Do you want this or not?”

I looked at the check, but didn’t reach for it. “No, I don’t.”

Hannah blinked. “What?”

I pulled the first check out of my bag and ripped it into tiny, neat squares. “I’m out. I’m not doing this.”

“It’s already done. All you have to do is cash the checks and then you’ll be off to save the world like you always wanted.”

“The world can wait a year for me.” I opened her hand and dropped the ripped pieces into her palm.

Then I swung my backpack over my shoulder and smiled at her.

“Don’t let your mom convince you that you’re not good enough, okay?”

Her brown eyes turned glassy and she clenched her jaw tight, the muscles in her neck twitching.

I started to walk away as the morning bell rang to signal the start of the last day of school. Then I paused and looked back at her.

“By the way,” I said, “I didn’t vote against you.”