Page 23

“Kendra!” Jaz tried to stop me for the second time that day, once again without success.

I walked over to a frustrated and angry looking Veronica.

“Hey…”

Those dark eyes just rolled back at me.

“Not a step closer! Don't start it, I'm not in the mood.” she was all guarded up.

“Look, I didn’t come to mock you, okay?!” I explained. “You said I was right, tell me, what was I right about?”

Veronica seemed suspicious of my good intentions. In fact, even I might have suspected what the hell I was doing there, but I tried not to think too much about it, otherwise I would have given up trying to help that idiot.

“Sex in the pool...” she whispered softly and I was forced to cover my mouth with both hands. I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh in her face or if I was just surprised by her stupidity.

“Are you serious?” A laugh almost escaped and her expression closed even more. “Okay, I'm sorry, but it's just... it's funny.” I couldn't control myself. God, that was horrible, and I knew it, but I was still in complete shock that she would do that. “I didn't think you were that stupid.”

“Fuck you, Kendra!”

She got up and tried to pass by me, but I grabbed her arm and stepped in front of her.

“Okay, what are you going to do about it?”

“I don't know, okay?!” Her voice raised a tone, and some people looked at us. Soon her obsidian eyes almost let tears escape, but she controlled herself. “I don’t know…” she repeated, quieter this time.

“Hey... What's going on?” Jaz approached, stopping next to me. Karlee and Evans' eyes were on both of us, carefully watching our every move, so I pulled away from Veronica, taking a step back.

“I messed up massively. And, honestly, if you don't know how to hack into a security system and delete footage, I don't thinkit will be of much help in my case... None of you.” Veronica was disgusted and irritated. Sadness was written all over her face and it was uncomfortable, because it made me empathize with her and I hated that more than anything.

Jazmine smiled.

“Good thing I know how to do that.”

We both looked at her and were amazed in unison:

“What?”

“For real?”

“You guys seem too surprised…” Jaz mocked. “Come on, I grew up with money and in private schools, do you really think I never got into trouble and had to cover my tracks?”

That girl was devilish. We would definitely be the kind of best friends who became bridesmaids at each other's weddings!

The three of us got together and talked about how we would get them both out of practice early. For a moment, everything seemed like a dystopia, because I never imagined that I would find myself in the middle of a plot to help someone I hated so much, but apparently, there I was being friends with Veronica Torres. Uh, how pathetic!

Jaz pretended she wasn't feeling very well and missed a landing, which ended up getting her dismissed, Veronica went with her. My roommate promised me she would keep me informed about things while I stayed at practice.

It wasn't like I could concentrate completely after they left, but I did my best in the time I had left in the gym. About an hour later, Karlee finally dismissed us.

In the end, I picked up my bag and walked back to the dorms with Sidney. We went to pick up dinner and ended up just callingJaz and asking what she wanted for dinner. We got the food and decided to eat in the room. We were too tired, and I still needed to go out with Hayley. I was excited about someone like I hadn't been in a long time. And given my track record, that was at the very least... interesting.

We went upstairs with Sidney babbling that she would have more classes with the boy she had a crush on the next day.

We arrived at our room and I saw Veronica all happy and smiling.

“So that means it all went well, hmm?” I declared, getting both their attention.

Veronica's smile faltered as she looked at me, but she didn't let it get to her too much.