The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook [18]
“You okay?”
I jumped and spun around. “What are you doing here?” I asked. Kelsie’s room was on the other end of the floor, and she usually used the other bathroom.
Kelsie stopped short. “Whoa. Someone woke up cranky. I came to bring you a Starbucks. I bribed one of the juniors to make a run. It’s my way of saying sorry again for the history project thing.” She held out a cup for me.
My mind went blank for a second. I had completely forgotten about our history project. It was like something that had happened in another lifetime. When I’d gotten back to my room the night before, I’d felt like I had run a string of marathons. I had pulled my muddy clothes off, dumped them into the hamper, and crawled into bed without even taking the time to brush my teeth.
I hadn’t done a thing on our project. The time line wasn’t done. The presentation wasn’t even close to done. We were screwed. I opened my mouth to tell her what had happened last night, and then clicked it shut. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her. I told Kelsie everything. We’d been best friends since freshman year. It wasn’t like she expected me to be perfect, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that she wouldn’t approve of what had happened. Not that she should approve. Even I knew that kissing Joel back was a lousy thing to do. I had lain in bed earlier that morning thinking about it after my alarm had gone off. I liked Joel, I really did. But not like that. He was always teasing how he was crazy for me, but it was just a running joke. He never meant anything by it. If he did, he surely wouldn’t have joked about it right in front of Tristan. Besides, even if we did like each other, it wasn’t like it would work out. He was best friends with Tristan. The kiss was just a onetime thing. There had been all that emotion, and then Joel had talked about how he felt like an outsider, and things had just happened. Besides, Joel and I had already decided that we were going to blot out the event altogether. If I told Kelsie, even if I told her only part of the story, it would make it real again.
Plus, there was the fact that Kelsie couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She was an awesome friend, but she wasn’t the kind of person who had a big future ahead of her in keeping secrets. It was safe to say the CIA wouldn’t be recruiting her anytime soon. She was just incapable of keeping a good story to herself.
“Earth to Hailey,” Kelsie said, interrupting my thoughts.
I blinked a few times and saw Kelsie staring at me with concern in her eyes. “Sorry. My dad and I had a fight last night and it’s playing with my head.”
Kelsie yanked out the plush stool next to mine and plunked down. “You and your dad never fight. What happened? Was he screaming? My dad yells so hard that the vein in his forehead looks like it’s going to pop out of his head. I think it’s all the sugar he eats at his job. It makes him really high strung.”
“Well, I guess it wasn’t really a fight. There was no yelling or anything. In fact, we didn’t even talk.”
“So this was, like, an imaginary fight?” One of Kelsie’s eyebrows went up.
“He sent me an e-mail. He’s canceling our summer plans. He’s going to England for some conference.”
“What about the party? Everybody’s already planning on going.”
I felt a rush of anger. The party? That was the first thing she thought of, how it would affect her and her summer plans? “There isn’t going to be any party,” I spat out.
Kelsie touched my arm softly. “I’m sorry. I know how much you were looking forward to the whole curing lepers thing. On the upside, now you can go traveling with Tristan all summer. Think about how amazing that will be. Be a glass-full kind of person.”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. Try to keep down the enthusiasm there. Oh, the horrors you have to deal with, a whole summer in Europe with the cutest guy in the world, who’s insane for you. How will you manage? The UN should totally step in and do something. Maybe some celebrities could band together and hold a telethon. If you ask me, the big problem