Page 26 of The Rebel (Covington Prep: The Girls We Love #7)

VALENCIA

The silky notes of my ringtone had me frantically pulling my phone from its charger on the bed stand. Bleary eyed, I had a crazy hope it was Gabby offering me a ride to school, but I saw Mom’s name and answered with a croaky, “Mom?”

“Good morning. Guess I’ve woken you. Sorry it’s so early, but we’re just about to head out to the courts, so I thought I best catch you now.”

“It’s okay,” I said, clearing my throat and sitting up against my pillows, the small crack in the curtains revealing it was still dark out. “I wanted to call Paris last night, but I thought he’d be asleep.”

“I had an email from Vice Principal Hayman,” Mom said, skipping the small talk and not disguising her irritation. “You were given a discipline slip and never showed to detention.” Her pitch was rising. “What on earth is going on? We’re barely out of the country and—”

“Gah!” I scoffed. “It was a misunderstanding, that’s all. It’s all sorted now.”

“All sorted?” Mom’s voice lilted in disbelief. “I was told it was disruptive behavior, Valencia!”

“Mom, I promise, it was absolutely nothing. The sub just lost it. She’s like 90 years old. She was confused. Anyway, how is Paris doing?”

“Valencia! Mrs. Fox is a respected teacher and she is not 90 years old,” Mom said, but mention of Paris soothed and excited her. “He’s playing his first round match this afternoon against a boy from Bulgaria. He’s ranked below Paris.”

“So he has a good chance of winning?”

“Well, yes, he’s hitting the ball really well.”

“And he’s not having any trouble with his shoulder?” He’d complained of it being tight after the flight.

“No, massages have fixed it. He’s all good now.”

“Who’s doing his food and drink?”

“Dad and I are. We’ve—”

But I butted in. “You know he only likes berry flavor? Don’t get him lemon lime, he hates it. And don’t forget raisins in his oats. And don’t get bananas with any spots on them. He likes them yellow.”

“Yes, yes,” Mom said dismissively. “Your father and I are onto it. But let’s get back to you, young lady.” Her voice eased. “You’re helping Dani with chores, I hope.”

“I’m keeping my room tidy,” I said, hoping that would satisfy her, because to be honest I hadn’t done much around the house, well Jade hadn’t let me. He had heated the meal, served up, cleaned up, set the dishwasher.

Mom went on and on about Paris’s training and the facilities and a rant about the lines people who were officiating.

At bigger events there would be electronic line calls, but at this level there were real people calling the lines.

Mom was sure Paris had been hard done by one particular older person who called several center line serves out when they looked to be in.

She complained that the seven hour time zone difference was super inconvenient and that she’d message me his results.

She scolded me again for my detention and made me promise to do better, to keep out of trouble and to help Dani with chores.

Dad came on the line, and I blasted Mrs. Fox again, though he was only a little more sympathetic than Mom.

“Be respectful to your elders,” he said. “We’re running late now, so we’ll call again. Love you, Poppet.”

“Love you too.”

“Oh, your mother asks if you’ve brought in the trash cart?” Dad asked, echoing Mom who I could hear in the background. “And used the milk?”

“Yep,” I said, and after Mom yapped on about yogurt and the fruit bowl and completing my detention, the call ended.

I tossed my phone down the bed and let out a muffled sound as my stupid chin wobbled. I bit down on my lower lip to stop my mouth twitching, not sure why I was so emotional. I mean, they’d only been gone a few days.

And ironically, the one person who I needed to talk to, my best friend, wasn’t there for me.

Maybe that was why I was on the verge of blubbering.

I missed Gabby. But she was making no attempt to reach out.

If anything, it seemed like she was alienating me more.

Yet our falling-out was so minor, so pathetic, blown out of all proportion.

Being wide awake, I decided I may as well get up.

Hopefully I could leave the house without seeing anyone.

I could hang out at home with Volley and call Jazmyn and see if she’d give me a ride to school.

I needed to know what was happening with Gabby.

Surely, we weren’t over, that this was just a glitch, a temporary drama.

A misunderstanding—like Mrs. Fox. Or when Reina and Kelsey had a fight.

Reina accused Kelsey of flirting with Ben Holmes back in sophomore year, her crush at the time.

They didn’t talk for weeks. Then Ben Holmes moved away and it was like nothing had happened, everyone back to normal.

Maybe that would happen to me and Gabby.

I’d sit next to her in Algebra class and we’d work through an equation together and our friendship would be miraculously reinstated.

Laden with my school backpack and my art pad in my tote bag, I opened my door quietly, leaving the door partially open.

That way, Dani would realize I’d left already.

When I heard Dani come home last night, I’d waited in my room wondering if I should talk to her, explain that the sledding had been my idea.

I felt bad that Jade was prepared to lie to cover up for me and I didn’t want him to get into trouble.

I could hear voices coming from the living room, so I headed down, but I froze outside the door.

There was something in the tone of the conversation that told me they weren’t talking about sledding on a school night.

Dani was saying she was worried and Jade said that she didn’t need to be. At that, I’d scuttled away, feeling like I was intruding on something private and hoping I wasn’t the source of Dani’s worry.

“Oh, hi.”

My heart thundered in my chest as I met Jade in the hallway.

With a protein shaker in his hand, he was vigorously shaking it up and down, but it was a wonder I even noticed that—because he was shirtless.

Yes, his chest was bare, dressed only in long light blue pants that looked more like training pants than pajamas.

They had the Manchester City club crest on it.

I’d only been here three days but I knew that he was a fan of the soccer team, evident from souvenirs and clothing and photos around the house and the posters I’d seen on his bedroom wall.

“You’re leaving already?” he asked, glancing at my bags hanging off both shoulders.

“Uh, yep. I’ve got stuff to do.”

“You want a lift? I’m about to go to the gym.

” He’d stopped shaking his drink and held it right in front of his pecs, his well defined pecs.

I was accustomed to a boy’s physique with Paris obsessed with his physical appearance and not shy in showing it off, but Jade’s body was affecting me. ..in a weird way.

“Uh, no, it’s okay. I’ve got to feed Volley and...” I tapered off, already moving away, removing those shoulders and bulging biceps from my line of view.

“Okay. Sure,” Jade said, or I think he said that. I was bolting for the door, my face feverish, like the heating had ramped up all of a sudden.

I breathed in the crisp air, begging it to cool down my burning cheeks as I jogged along the path through the back yard.

There was no need to rush, I had ample time before school, but it felt imperative to get some distance between me and the Sinclair house.

Seeing Jade’s chest shouldn’t have me all hot and bothered, like he was some hottie tennis star who trained at the Florida academy. Gah!

I needed to chill—literally. Once inside, I opened the door to the freezer and stood there for a moment while Volley looped between my legs, meowing as if he was in starvation mode.

“Wait a minute, Volley,” I squeaked in my cat voice. “Give me a second to cool down. Jade Sinclair was shirtless!”

Volley didn’t care one bit. He only wanted to be fed.

Bringing his bowl into the kitchen, I sat at the counter and watched Volley gobbling down his food while I checked my phone.

The last entry in the group chat had been Aaron asking if there was a test in Chemistry and both Reina and Jonathan had answered yes.

But Kelsey’s unsent message was there to taunt me.

I feared there was something being organized with Gabby that I was not a part of.

I grabbed my bags and Mom’s keys. My direction was aimless.

I had an hour to kill before I had to be at school.

In that time I could drive all the way to Falls Creek.

Not that I wanted to go to Falls Creek. I drove in circles, ending up on Gabby’s road, which was pointless because her house was behind a high fence and wasn’t visible from the street.

There was no way of knowing if she had left for school yet, but I wasn’t even sure what my intention was.

Was I going to confront her and demand an explanation? Or grovel and plead for her friendship?

I crossed the bridge over to River Valley.

There was a certain amount of freedom being away from Covington Heights.

If I went for coffee at The Kitch, someone from school would likely see me, but over in River Valley I could be anonymous.

I drove through the town square and headed to the fast food drive-thru.

Such a normal, everyday activity for most people—but I realized I’d never done it before.

Despite all the traveling we did with Paris, Mom was not a fan of fast food and only in times of desperation let us eat junk food.

I ordered a cheeseburger and fries combo for breakfast, relishing in my newfound rebellion.

Later, my stomach might regret it, but for a moment I felt in charge of myself.