It shouldn’t have hurt. I was used to it. I’d heard much worse. But it did hurt, and I didn’t want him to see that. I left the line, not sure where I was going, when I saw Lucas sitting beside his friends, listening to music. Present but not present.
I marched over. When I arrived in front of him I tugged on the cord to his earphones. They fell into his lap and his eyes met mine in surprise.
“You want to go do something?” I blurted out.
“What? Now?”
“No. Friday—this Friday. The day after tomorrow. There’s a concert at the all-ages club in Phoenix. A new band is playing. You want to go with me?” My nerves were catching up with me, overriding the bravado that had propelled me here. All of Lucas’s friends had gone silent and were staring at me. He was staring at me.
“Sure,” he said.
“Sure?”
“Yes, I’ll go. Should we meet there at eight?”
“Okay. Friday at eight.”
I managed not to let out any form of happy yelp or excited jump as I walked away.
The next morning Isabel jogged toward me as I walked to first period, determination in her eyes. When she reached me we both stopped.
“Time’s up,” she said.
I smiled and she handed me some sheets of paper. Had she written me a letter?
“What’s this?”
“The last thing I thought about before I went to bed last night.”
I unfolded the papers. They were ads, printed off of Craigslist. Gently used acoustic guitar. In great shape. New strings. Plays perfectly. $150. Or best offer. There were several more similar to the first for different prices.
I smiled. Those prices were a lot more doable than four hundred, but they still seemed impossible. I glanced up at Isabel tentatively, knowing this was her peace offering, feeling bad for not having one of my own.
“I’m sorry,” we both said at the same time. Then we both smiled.
“Let me go first,” she said. “I should have told you it was Cade.” She looked around and dropped her voice. “I’m so sorry I didn’t. It was wrong of me and I can only imagine how you felt when you learned who you’d been exchanging your thoughts with. And it hadn’t even occurred to me that you might have been telling him things that you wouldn’t want him to know. I really just thought they were letters about music.”
“I’m sorry, too. I should’ve shown you the letters and then you would’ve known. And I’m really sorry for getting in between you two when you were together.”
She shook her head so hard that her hair went one way and then the other. “No. Please don’t apologize for that. You can’t get in between something that isn’t already broken.”
I gave her a hug, choosing to believe she was sincere. Even though I now knew that on some level, she really did think it was my fault. But I’d own that because I knew in some ways, it was. “You’re the best friend on the planet.” I held up the Craigslist ads. “And thank you for this.”
“I know they aren’t your guitar,” Isabel said, nodding. “You’d saved up for a great one. But it’s something, right?”
“Yes. It’s perfect. I might be able to afford one like this in a couple weeks.” Maybe in time to still make the deadline for the competition, I thought, feeling a rush of hope. If I won that, I’d be able to afford a guitar and more. “Thank you, Iz.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome.”
I put the papers in my backpack just as the first bell rang. “So … I asked Lucas out.”
Isabel’s eyes widened. “You did? When?”
“Yesterday,” I said, feeling a jolt of nerves. “I asked him to a concert this weekend.” I turned to her. “Please tell me that you and Gabriel will go with me.”
“Of course!” Isabel put her arm around me. “I can’t believe you asked him out.”
“I can’t believe it, either! And he said yes.” I was still in shock.
“Of course he did.” Isabel nudged me. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. You don’t need anonymous letter writing when you are Lily Abbott.”
I laughed, blushing. “Let’s not get carried away.”
“So how did that go, anyway?” she asked.
“How did what go?”
She shot me a sidelong glance. “You stopped writing Cade, right? I know you. You probably felt the need to explain why in a letter. What did you say?”
I wrung my hands together. “I haven’t been able to explain why yet. But I will. I will.”
“I know you will. I mean, it’s Cade Jennings. Mortal enemy number one.” She laughed, gave me another hug, then turned around and headed to her first class. “See you later.”
Yes, exactly. Mortal enemy number one.