Love Letters

“So what are you up to tonight?” Andy asked, lying on my bed and flipping through her math notes, trying to memorize the Cosine Law before our quiz on Monday.

“Nothing,” I lied, putting some popcorn in my mouth while I read over the letters from Anonymous.

Andy looked up at me. “Are you still trying to figure out who that guy is?”

“Well it’s bugging me that I don’t know.”

“Tell me about the guy,” she said, waving a hand in the air.

“He’s sixteen years old, he’s a summer baby, he’s got an older sister and an older brother, his favourite colour is yellow,” I said, shrugging. “But it could be anyone in the class. I can’t really narrow it down yet.”

“Do you have any ideas?” she asked.

“So far, I can only think of Dalton or Trey,” I replied.

“Well, Trey’s birthday is in July,” she said, tapping her chin with her finger, “so it could be him. And he does have an older sister, but Pax is his twin.”

“Yeah, but he’s eight minutes older.”

She nodded. “Fair enough. He’s never told us what his favourite colour is, though. And judging by what he wears, I’d say it’s either green or blue.”

“All right, then let’s look at Dalton,” I said, lying down next to her on my stomach. “His older sister is Amanda, he’s told me about his brother Sam, who’s in his twenties but apparently operates like he’s still a teenager and Anonymous did say something about him not acting his age.”

“Okay,” Andy said, flipping over onto her back and staring at my ceiling. “What else?”

I looked back at the first letter. “He mentions something about being crazy for his best friend.”

“Is he gay?”

“No!” I exclaimed, laughing. “If that were the case and it was Trey, then it would mean that he would have a crush on Pax and that’s just . . . wrong.”

Andy giggled. “So he says ‘she’ or ‘her’ when he’s talking about it?”

“Yes.”

“Hm.” She bit her lip and then looked at me with a smirk. “If it’s Trey, that means he’s crazy about you.”

“But he’s not,” I said, shaking his head. “Besides, Anonymous said ‘when I was dating my girlfriend . . .’ Was. That means he’s not dating her anymore and Trey is still seeing Ruby.”

“Right, but he could have just been talking about some girl he was going out with before Ruby. It could imply that he thinks about her and you now. Do you know what I mean?”

“Still . . .”

“If it’s Dalton, that means that he’s in love with Ruby,” she added.

“Then I would seriously be wasting my time,” I mumbled.

“Do you think that it’s some kind of ploy to get Ruby jealous so then she’ll break up with Trey and get together with him?” she asked, her jaw dropping. “Imagine if that were true.”

“Don’t make jokes,” I snapped, glaring at her.

“But do you think it’s possible?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s no way.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Hey!” Roxy said, grinning at me when she opened the door. “Come on in! We were waiting for you.”

I stepped inside and looked around. Roxy’s house wasn’t a glamorous mansion but it wasn’t any shack either. It was a cute, suburban house for just the right amount of people. I saw Ruby sitting in the living room with a few other girls, all giggling about something that I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to know about.

Ruby looked up and smiled at me. I just waved because after what Trey had told me, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I wanted to be her friend. After all, she made fun of us.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked Roxy, putting my sleeping bag down beside everyone else’s.

“We’re playing Kiss And Tell,” she replied. I raised an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, there isn’t really anything else for us to do and they want the details. See, they live for gossip. Don’t give into them; believe me, you’ll regret it.”

“Why don’t we just watch a movie?”

“Oh come on, Karlee,” Ruby called over the couch. “Have some fun!”

I sighed and walked into the living room, sitting down beside a tall girl with glistening blond hair. She looked at me and smiled, then returned to the conversation she was in with the girl on her other side. I felt very out of place around everyone because these were girls that people at our school marveled and looked up to, and here I was, about two thirds of their height and definitely not as pretty.

“So,” Roxy said, grabbing a few grapes from the platter on her coffee table. “Who goes first?” I glanced around, and when everyone edged on for Roxy to just get on with it, she rolled her eyes but the smile on her face told me that she was looking forward to it. “Okay, uhm . . . Alex Matthews.”

This was followed by a series of girly screeches and a bunch of teasing slaps.

“No way!”

“You are so lucky.”

“When was this?”

“Tell us more!”

“Did you really?”

I bit my lip. I wondered if she was going to say anything about Josh but knowing her and who she hung out with, it was bound to slip out eventually, even if it was just for the attention. There wasn’t anything wrong with Roxy, and I definitely didn’t have something against her but the fact remained; she was one of those girls.

I sat there quietly for a good half an hour, talking to the girl on my other side who, I had learned, was named Bella and had been dragged into this psychotic loop just like me. One thing I hadn’t realized though, was that Roxy had befriended two girls that were now friends with both of her ex-boyfriends. I wasn’t sure if it was a trend, or if she was trying to get gossip, but there was something suspicious.

“See her?” Bella whispered, pointing across the circle at a red headed girl who looked out of place as well. “That’s Derek Hamilton’s best friend. Ruby dated him and ever since they broke up, she’s been dying to find out what he’s been up to—or who he’s been getting up to.”

She waggled her eyebrows and my jaw dropped.

“Are you serious?”

“Personally, I think this is all just some kind of gossip party where they can gather information about the boys we’re involved with. If they didn’t know I was kind of seeing Alex, then they wouldn’t talk to me. I can guarantee it,” she replied.

“You’re dating Alex?”

“We’re considering it,” she replied. “We haven’t really talked about it but after he broke it off with Roxy, he started hanging out with me because I was his lab partner in chemistry. All I’m saying is that there’s definitely something up with these girls. I mean, come on. Honestly, did you think it was a little weird that they just suddenly started inviting you to stuff and asking you to hang out?”

I did find it very weird, and what Bella was saying seemed to make sense. Maybe Roxy wasn’t as “over” Dalton as she was saying, and maybe I was just her way to find out what was going on with him.

“Don’t you just hate high school?” she mumbled, shaking her head.

“Karlee!” Roxy exclaimed, laughing. “It’s your turn!”

“My turn for what?”

“Tell us who you’ve kissed!” Ruby answered excitedly.

“Oh, uhm . . .” I glanced at Bella, who raised her eyebrows at me. “I’ve actually . . . never kissed anyone.”

Several jaws dropped at that.

“Shut up!”

“You’re lying!”

“Awh! That is so cute!”

“Are you kidding me?” This came from Roxy, and I was surprised, to say the least. I looked up at her.

“What?”

“You’re really saying that you and Trey have never . . .” She hesitated, and then put her pointer finger through the hole she made with the other hand. My eyes went wide and my cheeks went bright red, whereas everyone else burst into a fit of laughter.

“Oh my God! No!” I exclaimed. “He’s like my brother!”

“So he’s never kissed you before?” a girl asked from across the table, gaping at me.

“No, he hasn’t,” I replied, confused. “Did you guys think he has?”

“Yeah!” they yelled simultaneously. Ruby looked angry now.

“Why?”

“Because you two have been inseparable since the beginning of time!” Roxy replied. “I don’t know anyone else that spends that much time together and claims to be just friends. Like . . . that’s insane! We all just figured that you two had done the deed by now.”

“Roxy,” Ruby hissed, speaking through her teeth.

“Can we please not talk about this?” I asked, blushing. “Trey and I are just friends.”

But if that was the way everyone else saw us, I wasn’t so sure it was that simple.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Hey,” Roxy said, tapping me on the shoulder. I turned around to face her and put the cap back on my water bottle. “I’m sorry about what happened in there. It really wasn’t any of our business and I probably shouldn’t have asked you to share that stuff when you clearly didn’t feel comfortable.”

I swallowed hard. “It’s okay. I’m pretty sure that Ruby’s angry at me now.”

“She’ll get over it,” she replied, waving a hand in the air. “Besides, it’s not like she’s so innocent. She and Dalton have been on again off again for years. It’s like gosh, make up your mind.”

I froze. “What?”

“Didn’t Trey tell you?” she asked, looking confused.

I gritted my teeth. “No, he didn’t.”

“Well she broke up with him over the summer and hooked up with Dalton, and on more than one occasion,” Roxy began to explain. “Dalton broke up with me too, just to get with her and then asked me out again the next day. I don’t know what’s up with those two but they’re both ridiculous.”

“I can’t believe this,” I mumbled, leaning against the counter and shaking my head.

“Well that’s the risk anyone runs if they were to date either one of them,” she said, crossing her arms. “As odd as it is, Dalton’s actually Ruby’s booty call. I had expected it to be the other way around but whenever she had no one to hang out with, she’d call him over and they’d hook up. Of course, he always broke it off with me then so it wouldn’t be considered cheating. I can’t say I know why I’m still friends with her.”

“I’ll be right back,” I said, walking out of the room and grabbing my phone out of my pocket.

“Where are you going?” Roxy called from the kitchen but I didn’t reply. I stepped outside and dialed Trey’s number, and he picked up automatically.

“Hello?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that Ruby broke up with you over the summer?”

He paused. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Uh . . . Karlee, she didn’t break up with me.”

I nearly screamed. What the hell was going on? Someone was lying. Either Roxy was, to get me to give up on Dalton, or Ruby had cheated on Trey and just told Roxy that they had broken up so she didn’t seem like a bad person. Either way, everyone in this situation was being an absolute idiot.

“Karlee, are you all right?” Trey asked. “Are you sure you’re not just getting mixed up? Ruby never broke up with me during the summer.”

I cleared my throat. “Okay.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I replied quickly, biting my lip. “I’ve got to go. Talk to you later.”

“Wait—”

I went back inside of the house and Roxy stood in front of me with her eyebrows raised.

“What was that about?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

I wasn’t ready to deal with this right now so I just went upstairs to brush my teeth, changed into my pajamas and threw my clothes back into my bag once I was inside Roxy’s bedroom. She and a bunch of the other girls were gathered up together on her bed, whispering and laughing again.

My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked down at it.

So can you come to the party? Dalton had sent.

I frowned. I’m not sure. I haven’t asked yet.

Are you okay?

Not particularly.

So what’s wrong?

Roxy just shared some unappreciated information with me, about what happened between you and Ruby over the summer.

And what happened with Ruby and I over the summer exactly?

You’re seriously pretending to not know that you hooked up with her? Come on.

What the hell? I was in Cuba the entire summer.

Well Roxy told me that you broke up with her to get with Ruby behind Trey’s back.

I’m being serious here; I didn’t hook up with Ruby and like I told you before, I’d never do that to Trey. They’re in a good relationship. And I broke up with her, yeah, but only once because she became really clingy and I could hardly enjoy my vacation so I ended it and told her I would consider asking her out again when we came back to school because I wanted space.

And Cuba wasn’t enough space for you?

Just hear me out. I asked her out again because she called me the night after and she wouldn’t stop crying. Then I broke up with her the second time because I found out she fooled around with some other guy behind my back after putting up all that effort to get back with me. I wouldn’t hook up with Ruby; she’s practically family and that’s just weird.

“Karlee?”

I closed my phone quickly and looked up. Ruby was glaring daggers at me across the room even though I didn’t do anything to her, and Roxy was sitting on the edge of her bed, waiting for me to join them.

“I’m actually really tired,” I lied. “I think I’m just going to go to bed now.” I wasn’t even the least bit tired. I was fully awake but I just didn’t want to talk with them anymore tonight. It was stressful enough to know that I was suddenly involved in the biggest drama crisis in the history of the world, but now that everyone else sucked into it had different perspectives and someone was lying, it was making my head spin.

“Are you sure?” Roxy said. “It’s only eleven.”

“I’m sure,” I replied. “Good night, guys.”

All of the girls said good night back to me and turned the lights off but left a lamp on so that it wasn’t blasting in my eyes, and continued their conversation quietly.

After about what felt like ten minutes, I heard Ruby say “do you think she’s asleep?”

“Why do you ask?” That was Roxy.

“I’m just wondering.”

“She didn’t do anything wrong, you know.”

“She’s all over my boyfriend.”

“No she’s not,” Bella scoffed. “They’re just friends. You heard her.”

“Yeah right,” Ruby hissed. “They’re too close to be just friends.”

“Coming from the girl who’s in love with hers,” Roxy retaliated.

“I’m not,” Ruby mumbled. “He likes her. Everybody likes her.”

I couldn’t hold back the smile now.

“But you don’t,” Roxy said.

“No.”

“Why?” Bella asked. “What the hell did she do to you?”

“Nothing. I just don’t like her.”

“She’s nice.”

“She’s too nice.”

“I don’t think it’s possible to be too nice, Ruby,” Roxanne said. “I think you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” she growled.

“Didn’t you ignore your boyfriend for the past like . . . month? He’s a good guy.”

“I know he is,” she replied. “He’s a great guy, but I’m worried that he likes her.”

“If he did, he wouldn’t be dating you. Besides, she doesn’t have feelings for him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I think we all know she has feelings for Dalton,” Bella said.

“Does that bother you, Roxy?” Ruby sneered.

“Why would it? I’m over him,” she said calmly. “Don’t turn this on me. It’s not about Dalton and I and whatever we had, okay? Can you just leave her alone? They’re a good couple. And her and Trey, they’re just friends so relax.”

“Whatever,” Ruby muttered. I buried my face in my pillow and bit into it, trying not to giggle. I really owed Dalton an apology.