Page 28 of Whispers

Paige swallowed hard and felt that particular tingle deep inside her when she realized what had just transpired. Kendall and Harley had done it! Even though he was supposed to be dating Claire.

“I’ve always loved you.”

“Stop it,” he growled.

“But you love me, too.”

“Shut up!” Harley said and Kendall gasped. “Christ, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean—” He stopped, closed his eyes, and tipped his head back as if stretching the tension from his spine while searching for the right words in that thick skull of his. “It’s over, Kendall. Just accept it.”

“I can’t. Not when I know you love me.” She sniffed loudly and lifted her chin the way that Paige had so often emulated in front of her mirror.

“I don’t love you.”

“Then you used me, is that it?”

“You seduced me.”

“And you couldn’t stop,” she reminded him, a note of triumph in her voice only to disappear when she asked, “What if you just got me pregnant?”

What? Paige got goose bumps. Pregnant? Kendall? As in fat with big, sloppy boobs? Yuck!

Harley had the decency to turn white. “You’re not—You couldn’t be—”

“We won’t know for a few weeks, will we?”

Harley sagged against the rail, his fingers gripping into the wood, his jaw rigid. The spineless creep. “Then . . . then you’ll have to get rid of it. I’ll help. I’ve got money—”

“If you’re talking about aborting our baby, ours, Harley, then forget it. I’d never do anything like that.”

“But I can’t—we can’t—”

With a sad sigh, she shook her head slowly side to side, as if finally seeing him for the gutless jerk he was. “Things will work out, honey,” she said, as if she had to console him, when she was the one who might be knocked up. Oh, jeez, what a mess. Kendall slipped her arms around Harley’s waist and rested her head against his chest. He didn’t move, just stiffened. “You’ll see.”

Paige slid away from the window and sat on the floor, her back propped by her bed, her chubby white legs stretched in front of her.

“Kendall—for the love of God—we can’t let this happen.” Harley’s voice sounded strained, as if he were afraid. What a coward! Kendall was just too good for him. Paige reached up to her nightstand for her pencil and notepad again, but her fingers encountered the tangle of wires that was her headgear, meant to fix teeth that refused to grow straight. She hated the appliance; it made her feel as if she were some alien from outer space, and she refused to wear it at school. Her hand stopped moving when she heard Kendall’s voice.

“Look, Harley, I can’t see Paige like this . . . tell her I had to leave; I was late for an appointment or something.”

“You tell her.”

“I can’t deal with her now. Come on, Harley,” Kendall cajoled, as

disappointment wallowed deep in Paige’s guts. Her fingers encountered her pad and pencil and she drew the writing tools onto her lap. “It’s the least you can do. I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s a nice kid. Misguided but nice.”

Paige brightened a bit. Kendall still liked her.

“She’s weird.”

Kendall’s laugh was brittle. “All you Taggerts are weird. That’s why you’re all so adorable.”

Paige’s stomach turned over.

“I love you,” Kendall said, and Paige squeezed her pencil so tightly, her knuckles turned white.