Discipline

“Oh God, I’m sorry I ruined your dreams!” Kelsey giggled, pulling me into a big hug and planted a kiss on my cheek. “But like, didn’t we all expect this? They were that couple, they had to get back together. They’re like, grown up versions of the prom king and prom queen. And — ” Kelsey jumped in the middle of her speech. “ — oh! The best part: he’s amazing because literally, people could hear Cara moaning from their own houses. Isn’t that crazy? We always knew they were the hot couple but we didn’t know it was… that hot. Like… the fact that he’s not a gentleman in bed? You know? Oh my God, can you even imagine it? Ugh, I guess that’s all we can do! Imagine.”

I could only stare at Kelsey, unable to speak. My excitement was quickly coming crashing down as my mind shifted into overdrive, trying to figure out what all this meant for Aaron. What if Cara revealed that it hadn’t been her? She’d hear about this eventually and interrogate him about whom it was he’d slept with. Considering her history, I prayed this wouldn’t spark more of her falsified stories, especially since they’d come from anger this time around.

Snapping me out of my anxious state was my phone, which made the seemingly loudest and most grating sound against my dresser as it buzzed with several texts. Grateful for a distraction, I grabbed it, hoping to find a message from Adriana, maybe Em.

But the messages were all from Ben. They didn’t come as a total shock me, but still, my heart sank into my stomach as I read them.

Aaron Samuel Cole

DOB: March 7

Phone: (516) 555 - 1221

Address: 21 Maris Avenue. Woodhill, NY

SSN#: 919-08-1012

Woodhill Senior High Fall Schedule

Period 1-4: Room 108A

Period 5: Room 212B

Period 6: Lunchroom Duty

Period 7-9: Room 108A

CHAPTER 14

She’s asking who I was with. She heard.

Of course Cara had heard the story by now. That her ex had been heard having sex with a woman — a woman everyone assumed to be her. I stared at Aaron’s text as Adriana read over my shoulder. She let out a breath.

“Perfect timing. Looks like the poor guy needed a vacation from Woodhill.”

And from Ben, apparently. But I didn’t tell the girls about Ben’s text for fear of putting a giant damper on their Labor Day weekend. I kept the information to myself, agonizing silently. I’d known that I’d done this — put Aaron on Ben’s insane, vindictive radar — but I’d allowed myself forget about it, to enjoy Aaron and foolishly hope that Ben would simply forget everything. In a way, I still was. For the sake of the next week, I told myself that Ben was sim

ply trying to intimidate me. That the messages meant nothing.

“Nina!” Adriana surprised me, suddenly leaning over and sticking her face in mine. “Are you going to sourpuss all weekend? Because you better not.”

“Is sourpuss a verb?”

“It didn’t have to be.”

“Ouch.” I cracked a grin.

“She smiled!” Linh squealed from the front seat. “Get her to do it again!”

Em glanced at us through the rearview mirror. “Quick, Ade, say more things to make her happy.”

Adriana snapped her fingers as she tried to think. “Puppies. Unicorns. Puppies riding unicorns. Cupcakes. Also, forget Aaron’s crazy ex — she’s probably telling everyone in town that she was the person they heard moaning. She’s got too much pride to admit that he got over her that quickly, especially if she’s been telling everyone that they’re about to get back together.”

I tilted my head and considered it. She had a point about Cara. But that still left Ben to worry about. But for the sake of the girls, I humored their car games and pretended that everything was fine, telling myself I’d be damned if I let Ben ruin my first real vacation in years.

“Wakey, wakey, we’re here!”

I’d fallen asleep at some point but woken up to Adriana’s jubilant singing along with the sight of Em’s Chrysler pulling into the driveway of the beautiful, oversized cottage that we’d be calling home for the next week or so. Parked at the end of the sprawling, manicured lawn were several other cars already, including Harry and the kitchen guys’ gigantic cargo van and Mike and Aaron’s borrowed Jeep.