Spiraling by H. Karhoff Read Free Book Online Page B

was that big of a deal. For hours, I pondered whether or not I should break up with Chad. My friends wouldn’t like it, but if I did, I’d be free to go out with Devon. He obviously liked me. At least, I thought he did.
    When I got to school the next morning, I discovered my mistake. Devon was in the commons area with his friends and there was a dark-haired girl attached to his arm. I stared at him in disbelief. It felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. He hadn’t mentioned anything about having a girlfriend, but it was clear from the way the dark-haired girl acted that they were more than just friends. The sight of the two of them together hurt. As I continued to my locker, I struggled against tears. It wasn’t fair.
    “It really sucks that you can’t go this weekend,” Kennedy said as I dug my books out of my backpack.
    “Yeah.” I sighed, barely paying attention to her.
    “We should do something next weekend. Jason’s been talking about this movie coming out. Maybe you could talk to Chad and we could do like a double-date or something. That’d be fun.”
    “Maybe.”
    “Come on, Tori. I don’t know what’s wrong with you lately, but we need to do something to get you out of this funk.”
    “I’m not in a funk,” I said. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”
    “Like what?”
    “Just a lot of stuff. It doesn’t matter.”
    When Devon walked up to his locker, I pretended not to notice. I didn’t want to think about how ridiculous I’d been. It was foolish for me to assume there was something going on between us. One conversation didn’t make us soulmates.
    “Well, will you at least talk to Chad about it?” Kennedy asked.
    “Sure,” I agreed with as much enthusiasm as I could manage.
    At lunch, I made a mediocre effort to convince my boyfriend to go along with Kennedy’s proposal, but he said he already had plans with one of his friends. He wasn’t specific about what they were and I didn’t care enough to ask. It didn’t matter to me what he did.
    When I told Kennedy, she acted like it was my fault he didn’t want to go. She told all of her new friends that I purposefully tried to sabotage her chances with Jason because I was jealous of her rising popularity. I spent half the day defending myself against unwarranted accusations. By the time the final bell rang, I was more than ready to be done with school for a few days.
    “Can you believe Kennedy?” I asked Joy as we gathered our books after school.
    “Not getting involved,” she answered.
    “I didn’t do anything to her.”
    “Like I said, not getting involved.”
    “I am not jealous of her.”
    Joy exhaled and turned to face me. “I don’t know how many times I can say this. I am not getting involved. This is between you and her. It’s none of my business. I don’t want it to be my business. Every time I let you draw me in when you two are fighting, I wind up being the bad guy. Not this time. I’m staying out of it.”
    “Thanks a lot, Joy,” I grumbled.
    “I’m sorry, Tori. You’re going to have to work it out with her.” She put her bag over her shoulder and closed her locker. “I’ll see you later. I’m going to the mall with some of the girls from the math club.”
    Turning back to my locker, I sighed. For a second, I thought about locking myself inside and escaping my life for a while. I didn’t want to be at school, but being at home was even worse. All I wanted to do was find somewhere to hide from the rest of the world. Tears welled in my eyes as I stared at my pink backpack, wondering if anyone would really miss me if I went home, filled it with some clothes, and left.
    “Math club?” a voice asked beside me.
    My heart jumped into my throat. After Joy left, I hadn’t looked to see if anyone else was still in the hall. Wiping my face to erase any evidence of my emotional instability, I turned to see Devon. He leaned against his locker with a mischievous smirk twisting the corner of his mouth. I