Oh. Right. I passed on that when she’d asked me the day before.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come? We could swing by and scoop you up in half an hour.”
“I’m really not in the mood for shopping. Go have fun with your mom.”
“Yeah, while I have a PMS-free window,” she said with a giggle. She paused. “Has Trevor said anything to you about the big party Friday night?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Oh.” Hailey looked surprised. “I’m sure he will. Link and I are going and so are
the rest of the guys from the band. I heard that Nathan might be home for the weekend, and Brent is back too.”
Something hot twisted inside my chest. It felt like everything was changing way too fast. Like I was spinning in circles and everything that meant anything to me was disappearing.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said with a tight smile. “Trevor and I aren’t…well, we’re not anything. Like I said earlier, we’re just study buddies.”
Hailey gave me a big hug and whispered, “But you guys would be so good together. I bet he asks you.”
“I’m not exactly Trevor Lewis material.”
Hailey stood back and frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Hailey. He dated Hannah Modar, and we all know she’s been having sex since the eighth grade, and then he moved on to Jade Dearling,”
Hales rolled her eyes and nodded when I mentioned Jade.
“And he just broke up with Bailey. I’m nothing like any of those girls.”
“No, you’re not. You’re just you.”
“Yeah. But why would Trevor be interested in someone like me when he can be with someone like Jess? Or any of those other girls? They’re playing at an entirely different level than me.”
“Who’s Jess?”
“Who’s Jess?” I repeated loudly. “She’s the girl who was all over him at the drive-in.”
“Oh,” Hales replied, dragging out a one-syllable word until it sounded like four.
“Exactly.”
“I still don’t get why you think those girls are somehow above you. That’s just ridiculous.”
“Well, it doesn’t feel that way,” I muttered.
“Is it because they’re having sex and you’re still a virgin?”
“Um, yeah. That’s a pretty big difference between me and them, don’t you think?”
“What I think is that you’re overreacting. Sex is a big deal, and it’s supposed to mess with our heads, but you can’t let it rule your life. Either you’re doing it or not. You just have to be true to yourself. You’ll know when the right time and the right guy comes along.”
“But isn’t that what most boys think about? Like 24/7?”
Hailey made a face. “Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean girls aren’t thinking about it 24/7 either. That’s kind of a sexist comment.”
I shook my head. “Not me.”
She squared her shoulders. “You’re full of crap. You don’t honestly expect me to believe that you’ve been hanging with the very hot and very available Trevor Lewis and not once has sex crossed your mind.”