Page 6 of The Rebel (Covington Prep: The Girls We Love #7)
VALENCIA
Do not cry in front of Jade Sinclair!
That was the overriding thought in my head as I stood beside him at the coffee cart.
Jade had ordered four hot chocolate drinks, but I had no idea why I’d agreed to one.
With a lingering taste of blood down the back of my throat, a sickly sweet hot chocolate was the last thing I wanted.
But he’d been so nice to me after I’d collided with Oliver, and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful.
I could see Gabby and Scott with my friends over on the hill. They must have witnessed the collision, but I couldn’t deal with any of them at the moment.
My phone had vibrated in my pocket while Jade and Oliver had been tending to my nosebleed. Gabby’s message was a stark reminder that everything had changed while I’d been gone: Are you mad at me?
I’d had to bite my lip and pretend my eyes were watering from the blood, anything to not start blubbering in front of Jade and Oliver. How humiliating would that have been, crying because I crashed off of my sled?
Jade Sinclair had been one of Paris’s friends, and our moms had become besties because the boys used to play together all the time.
Usually outside with a ball of some sort or riding their bikes, sledding in winter and swimming in summer.
But after Paris started doing school online, we’d seen less of Jade at the house.
And from what I could see, he’d changed a bit since then.
Like gotten taller and bigger and...seemed he didn’t sled anymore, that it was a bit immature for him now.
So, yeah, sniffling in front of him and acting like a crybaby wasn’t an option.
For now, as he handed me a hot drink, I had to keep all my emotions locked inside.
Play pretend, like news of Gabby’s relationship with my crush wasn’t affecting me in the slightest, though I wasn’t totally sure if I was more bothered by their relationship or the fact that Gabby hadn’t told me about it.
So focused on holding it all together, I neglected to see Gabby, Jasmyn and Kelsey approach the coffee cart.
“Hey Vali,” It was Jazmyn’s voice that made me turn around. “Did you get hurt?”
“Yeah, it looked like you crashed,” Kelsey said.
“Didn’t we say it wasn’t safe?” Gabby said softly, but infused with an unmistakable I-told-you-so tone.
In amongst that, Jazmyn piped up, “Are you all right, Vali?”
I nodded, swallowing hard, but not quite looking anyone in the eye. I’d acted like a brat but my stupid heart felt betrayed. I had to get over Scott, leave that silly crush behind, be thrilled for my friend. But it was easier said than done. Being human sucked—I wished I was a robot.
I tried to form a smile, but my lips twitched as my gaze took in Gabby’s rosy cheeks and bright eyes. Jazmyn was right—Gabby looked so happy, and I should be happy for her.
“I can take you home in my car,” Gabby offered, “It’s just over there.” She pointed across to the shiny red car, but before I could answer, Jade cut in.
“It’s okay, I’m taking Valencia home,” he said forcefully, leaving me a little stunned, Gabby, Jazmyn and Kelsey too, if their raised eyebrows and gaping mouths were anything to go by. Jade handed me a cup of hot chocolate and said, “You ready?”
I nodded, swept away by his assertiveness, his unexpected command of the situation, and maybe it was because he was a senior that no one dared to question him.
“I’ll call you,” Gabby said timidly, and all I could do was flash a smile and flutter my fingers in farewell as Jade said, “Let’s go.”
As we walked to his truck, I sipped my hot chocolate, the sweet liquid sliding down my throat, removing the metallic taste.
Unlocking the door, Jade gestured for me to sit in the front passenger seat.
He turned on the engine, and as the seat beneath me heated, I let out a tiny squeal.
See, these were the joys of living in a cold climate—you appreciated little things like that. No one needed heated seats in Florida.
Jade laughed. “Thought you’d like that.”
“Is this new?” As I scanned over the dashboard, my heart beat ramped up as I caught sight of Scott leaning against Gabby’s car.
“Kind of,” Jade said, turning around to place the tray of cups in the back for the boys. “Got it last summer.”
I reached out and lowered the sun visor to restrict the stark reality right before my eyes. Lifting the cover on the mirror, I peered at my reflection, somewhat surprised to see that I actually looked okay. Considering the amount of blood that had flowed, Jade had done a good job of cleaning me up.
“You okay?” Jade asked, pulling his seat belt over him and clicking it.
“Uh huh.” I flipped the visor back and picked up my cup, taking a long sip. “Mmm, it’s good.”
“You always liked sprinkles,” he said.
His random statement made my mouth twist, wondering if my eardrums had been affected.
“Your tenth birthday? Remember your cake was covered in sprinkles?”
I frowned, vaguely recalling the two tier chocolate cake that was basically a sugar feast. How the heck could Jade remember that?
I barely did. It was probably the least memorable of my birthday cakes.
My sneakers cake when I turned twelve and my makeup cake for my 14th had been way more impressive.
“I don’t know why you remember that,” I said.
“It was different from Paris’s usual tennis cakes,” Jade said with a laugh. “Remember the Wimbledon cake?”
“And the tennis ball one, and the racket,” I said with a roll of my eyes. Paris had no interests other than tennis. Unless you counted his cat.
“So, what’s been happening at Cov Prep?”
“Huh?” I blinked back at him blankly.
“I was away last semester,” Jade said, his voice lilting, like he thought it was something I should know.
“Oh, Mom said you were back from your trip. Where’d you go?”
“London.”
“London, England?”
“Yep.”
“Did you go to Wimbledon?” I asked. Wimbledon was a famous tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam events in the sport.
Being the oldest tournament, established in 1877, it had a tradition of wearing all white clothing and was the most prestigious on the tennis calendar.
Paris dreamed of winning the trophy one day and perhaps for a fleeting moment, I had too.
It was played on grass, a surface he’d only played on a couple of times.
Grass courts were few and far between in our area, but they suited Paris’s style of game, which was a big serve followed by coming to the net for a volley.
“No, it’s in July, isn’t it? I went over in September,” he said.
“Yeah,” I answered his question first, before asking, “You’ve been away since September?”
“Yep.”
That was kind of a lot to grasp. That Jade had gone to school over in England for a whole semester. Though, I guess it was like Paris going off on his own to Florida. He was independent, mature...reminding me that I was a silly girl who was sulking because my best friend was dating my crush.
Oliver and Tyson came back to the truck with their sleds and piled in the back seat, chatting about their rides and drinking their hot chocolate.
I sat back and listened but didn’t say anything.
I wondered whether Jade had missed Oliver when he’d been away in England.
And what had made him go to England in the first place?
Tyson lived near Main Street, so Jade dropped him home first. I said that I could walk through their orchard and climb the fence to save him a trip to my house, but Jade said it was no trouble to drive to my front door.
Oliver lifted my sled out of the back of the truck, once again apologizing for the collision, but I reassured him I was okay.
I really just wanted to go into my room and try to make sense of Gabby and Scott’s new relationship.
Mom was on the phone as I dropped my sled, boots and jacket in the entranceway and headed upstairs. She called out something as I opened my bedroom door, but I didn’t hear it. I needed a hot shower and a chance to process what had happened. Because my brain was about to burst.
It was all too much, too crazy, out of this world.
Gabby had never indicated she had any kind of attraction to Scott.
In fact, if you’d taken our group of friends, Gabby would be voted least likely to have a boyfriend.
Not because she wasn’t cute—on the contrary, she was gorgeous with her long hair and pretty blue eyes—but Gabby was a serious student who excelled in academics, music and theater.
She was one of those all-round students who couldn’t put a foot wrong.
She ran the school’s community garden, babysat for her little brother and volunteered at the blind center.
She’d made me get involved too, but while she played the piano, I did art projects with the low- vision group.
Gabby said it was all to make our eventual college applications look like we were amazing people, but I actually enjoyed the bi-weekly sessions.
The people I worked with were all ages, some as old as Mom and Dad, and some had other disabilities besides their vision, but they loved to paint and draw with crayons and paste with glue.
Our holiday project had been making a paper mache pinata.
It had been neat to see everybody proud of their creative efforts.
But now I was staring at my phone, wondering how I should respond to this new development.
Gabby and I had been friends since freshman year when we’d been paired for a drama project.
Luckily for me, Gabby was a natural at acting, whereas I was awkward and stiff on stage.
Only thanks to her did I get an A, but it was the start of our friendship.
Gabby didn’t play tennis, or know anything about the sport.
Even though I’d stopped playing tournaments, I‘d continued with group coaching and club sessions because Mom and Dad said it was essential to play a sport. But it had been hard constantly being compared to Paris all the time.