The Apocalypse (35 page)

"In Mollie's guest bedroom upstairs," Libby filled in.

The heads of Hannah, Tisha, and Morgan turned to stare at Libby, who was peeking up at them through her arms. The girls had what seemed to be a staring contest for several moments until one of them decided to break the silence.

It was Morgan. "And how would you know that?"

"Because Alec and I walked in on them." Libby offered a sheepish smile. "Gloria and Scott are very much back together. I have no doubts."

"And I have no doubts that you're a skank," Tisha declared, wrinkling her nose. "Alec? As in Alec Murphy? Are you serious? Come on, Lib! He's gross."

"He's been with every girl minus me, Han, and Tisha," Morgan put in, disgusted. "Ewww, Libby. What happened to your taste?"

Libby shrugged. "I guess it went out when that fourth round of mixed drinks came in."

Trying not to burst out laughing, Hannah forced herself to stare at the floor where Libby wasn't lying. She couldn't wait to tell Jake about this; he'd die laughing with her. She'd heard about Libby's sexual exploits from Jake before, and it was about time that she could add in some information. Or…was that not very friend-like? Hannah grew confused; Jake was a friend—a closer friend, now anyway—so…

"Do you feel awful?" Tisha asked, nudging Hannah and pulling her out of her thoughts. "You look pretty feverish."

"My throat and chest hurt mostly," Hannah answered, shrugging. "I'll live."

Libby sat up, resting her head on her knees in front of her. "So why did you leave last night anyway, Han? We've been taking bets that it was because of Jake," she remarked, looking proud of herself for suggesting it. "That's right, isn't it?"

Shocked and worried that Tisha had shared what Hannah had told her in confidence, Hannah stared. "You think I left because of Jake?"

"More specifically because of the girls crawling all over Jake," Morgan clarified carefully. She sighed softly. "It wasn't very nice of him to ignore you like that."

Hannah stole a glance at Tisha, but the pretty brunette didn't
show
any signs of nervousness or sheepishness. Taking that into consideration, Hannah decided that Tisha hadn't told the girls the reason why she'd left; apparently, it was so obvious to them that Tisha hadn't had to say anything, which kind of pissed Hannah off.

"Jake didn't ignore me," Hannah replied, her shoulders tensing indignantly. "We were talking, and then Mercedes came over, and then everyone else came. But Jake didn't ignore me. The other girls just…stole him from me."

The look that passed between Tisha and Morgan wasn't discreet enough for Hannah to miss it. But instead of making Hannah feel uncomfortable, it almost made her relax, for maybe the girls would say something encouraging about the situation. In truth, Hannah hadn't been able to stay at the party and watch Jake get mauled by all of those girls; it had just been the proof that Jake wasn't Hannah's boyfriend, like she so wished he was.

"Hannah…" Tisha's voice was cautious, which somehow made Hannah feel panicky. What could Tisha ask that Hannah hadn't already given her enough information about? "Do you like Jake?"

"Like…really, really like Jake?" Libby asked; her head was up now, her eyes trained on Hannah's face. All of the girls were looking at Hannah quite intensely. "As in…want him kind of like him?"

"Jake and I are just friends." Hannah curled her legs up under her and looked at each girl seriously, praying she was a good liar. "That's all. I left last night because I was bored. It didn't have anything to do with him."

Libby wasn't ready to drop the subject yet. "So you're not mad at him?"

"Not at all." Hannah hoped her tone was truthful enough. She also hoped that Tisha would keep her mouth shut and not say anything to the girls about how Hannah truly felt. "I have no reason to be mad at him."

Morgan offered a slight smile. "We were just concerned, Han."

"Yeah," Tisha agreed, giving Hannah's arm a subtle pat. Though Hannah didn't know why, that reassured her. "Maybe you should take some more meds, Han. You're not looking too well. Want me to go get you something?"

Hannah smiled at Tisha weakly. "No, thanks, Tish. I'm fine."

"We should probably go," Libby said suddenly. "Isaac said your mom would be home soon, and, uh, I bet she can spot a hangover." Libby cringed. "That would not be a good thing for her to see."

"That'd get us all in trouble," Morgan agreed, frowning.

Tisha hugged Hannah tightly, which further relaxed her. "Feel better soon, Han. We need to hang out before school starts back."

Nodding, Hannah gave her consent as she watched her friends leave. Once they were gone, she gave
a
huge sigh of relief. She wasn't sure why she was taking such great lengths to hide her feelings for Jake from them (with the exception of telling Tisha that she didn't like all those girls around him), but it seemed like something the old Hannah would have wanted, since the only person Hannah had told was…her diary, and that definitely didn't count. For whatever reason, it was meant to be kept a secret, and until Hannah came up with a reason that suggested that should change, she'd keep it that.

Or try to. Those girls were smarter than she'd thought.

A couple sneezes reminded Hannah that she should be taking medicine, so she maneuvered into the kitchen to take another round of drugs. Sitting at the kitchen table was Isaac, who appeared deep in thought with his head in his hands and an incredibly pensive expression on his face. The sight took Hannah aback briefly, but she kept on making her way to the pill bottles.

"Hey," she greeted her brother casually, pouring pills into her hand. She went to the refrigerator and poured herself more orange juice. "What are you up to?"

"Thinking."

She rolled her eyes. "As if that's not obvious enough."

Isaac made a noise that slightly resembled a laugh, but his thoughtful expression didn't change. "There's that sarcasm I so know and hate."

Grinning, Hannah sat down at the table next to him. "Don't be hating."

More pensive, Isaac studied Hannah; she raised her eyebrows back at him and sipped her juice, letting him gander for a few minutes. Finally, he spoke. "Feeling any better?"

"Do I look any better?"

"Eh…"

Hannah wrinkled her nose and finished off her juice. "I'm starving." She sighed and tipped her head at her brother, her strawberry blonde ponytail swishing. "Are you going to tell me what you're thinking so hard about?"

Isaac shrugged. "You probably wouldn't want to talk about it."

"Girls?" Hannah guessed. "Literature? Because you'd be right there. You'd be even more right if you wanted to talk about school. Try me though. What's on your mind?"

"You and Jake."

Taken aback, Hannah stared at her brother and then cringed. "You were totally eavesdropping, weren't you?" she accused, crossing her arms over her chest. He smiled, proving that she was correct. "Isaac! Why would you do that?"

"You never answered me about Jake before," Isaac explained. Then he laughed, almost evilly. "Besides, I always eavesdrop. You should know that by now."

Without stating the obvious—that she couldn't remember that—Hannah let the comment slide. "Okay, whatever. So what are you wondering about us? Because I would be the ideal person to ask about it."

"Pretty much," Isaac allowed. "By the way, he's coming over for dinner. Just in case you're avoiding him or whatever." Isaac looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "He'll probably be getting here soon."

She considered that. "Okay," Hannah answered simply, shrugging. She noted Isaac's expectant expression and shook her head. "No, I'm not avoiding him. I'm not mad at him. But I don't know what to tell you because I don't know what you want to know. So tell me, and then I can tell you, and neither of us will be so frustrated."

"
Do
you like him?"

Hannah blinked. "Oh." She looked away, stricken by the brilliant guise of searching for food. Her location was changed to the pantry quickly. "Do we have any Oreos?" she asked, her mind raging. Should she tell Isaac that she liked Jake? Maybe Isaac could offer some male insight or some information that would encourage her
not
to like Jake.

"I think Mom, Diane, and I finished them off last night," Isaac replied, spinning around in his chair to watch Hannah. "But don't try to change the subject. It's a simple question, Han. Do you or don't you?"

Feeling sly, Hannah met Isaac's eyes. "Does Jake have a thing for me?"

The stare-down began then, with both siblings watching each other intensely. "You tell me first," Isaac challenged. "I asked first, after all."

Hannah scoffed. "That only worked in elementary school." She closed the pantry doors and made a face at her brother. "Besides, I bet you don't know anyway, so if I told you anything, you wouldn't have anything interesting to say back. I'm not stupid."

"You kissed Jake."

Isaac's words nearly made Hannah's blood run cold. There was a definite smirk on Isaac's face. Maybe the kid really did know something, however offensive it was that Jake would tell Hannah's younger brother stuff like that. It almost made her mad at Jake all over again, right after she'd gotten over all of those girls climbing all over him the night before. When had she gotten over that? She didn't know, but it made the new anger sound better, at least to her.

"That means you like him, right?" Isaac prodded carefully. "You wouldn't kiss someone that you weren't interested in. Would you?"

Within seconds, Hannah was at the refrigerator, searching for food and buying herself some time to think of an appropriate response. "How long has this yogurt been in here?"

"You live here, and it's not gone yet, so it must be relatively fresh."

Hannah's back straightened. That was Jake's voice. How much of the conversation with Isaac had he heard? Was it a setup? Had the guys partnered up to make her admit her feelings? Was she just being paranoid?

"Hey, Jake," Isaac greeted, sounding perfectly normal. "What's up?"

Closing the refrigerator door slowly and turning toward the guys cautiously, Hannah risked a glance at Jake. He was looking back at her, having taken the seat at the table where she'd been sitting. Since there was a hint of a smile on Jake's face, Hannah smiled back at him, forcing herself to be friendly despite the awkwardness.

"Nothing much, man," Jake replied to Isaac, picking up Hannah's juice glass. He studied the leftover contents for a second and looked at Hannah with a smirk. "Want to get me a refill, Ayers?"

The usage of her last name made Hannah's brow furrow. She couldn't even process what he was talking about. She hadn't heard him say that before; it was quite weird. "Not particularly," she replied, sounding bemused even to herself. "Want to get it yourself?"

"Don't use her glass," Isaac warned. "Unless you want the plague."

Jake laughed, his green eyes lighting up in that sexy way that Hannah so admired. "Hannah's got the plague?" Jake saying her first name let Hannah relax again, and she meandered over to the table, sitting on the other side of Isaac. "How's that working for you?"

"It's not that great," Hannah replied, sniffling.

Suddenly, Jake looked surprised. "You're really sick?" he demanded. "Like, literally ill?"

Isaac looked amused. "She is indeed. That's why I said not to drink after her."

Hannah was excruciatingly aware of Jake staring at her, but she didn't dare look up at him. Instead, she studied her fingernails, hoping it looked like she was legitimately concerned with her cuticles. It probably didn't, but she was on a roll with pretending, so she could just imagine that it did.