What If... All Your Friends Turned On You (28 page)

There's a time for sisterhood and a time for romance. The hard part is getting the timing right
.

“H
ey, Sasha.” Haley was surprised to see Sasha walking arm in arm through the courtyard with her ex-boyfriend, Johnny Lane. Since they had emphatically broken up only weeks before over the Caribbean bikini-girl photos, Sasha had been one of the most hard-core supporters of Coco's Operation Dump 'Em campaign. But there she was, glowing with happiness, Johnny nuzzling her neck just like old times.

“Hey, Haley.” Sasha didn't quite look her in the
eye. Feeling guilty perhaps, Haley speculated. What would Coco say when she heard that Sasha and Johnny had gotten back together? She'd completely flip, that's what Haley thought.

Later that afternoon, Haley spotted Cecily coming out of the gym with Drew.
That's weird
, Haley thought.
Cecily must have decided he needs another lecture on how much she hates him
.

But it sure didn't look as if she hated him. Drew put his arm around Cecily and gave her a kiss on the cheek. And Cecily didn't push him away; far from it. In fact, she kissed him back.

What's going on?
Haley wondered.
Did I miss something?

Last Haley had heard, Coco was insisting that they keep freezing out their cheating ex-boyfriends. So why did Cecily and Sasha suddenly seem back in boyfriend bliss?

Then, passing through the parking lot on her way home, Haley saw a shiny sports car pull up, driven by Matthew Graham. He honked, and Whitney waved to him and got into the car. So Whitney was hooking up with Matthew Graham now? What next, Coco and Spencer back together?

Well, yes. Walking past Bubbies Bistro that evening, Haley saw Coco at a table in the window—with Spencer. He was spooning chocolate mousse into her mouth.
So
, Haley figured,
the big freeze must
be over—and the big diet too
. But why hadn't she gotten the memo?

“What exactly is going on?” Haley asked Coco at school the next day. “Everybody seems to have given up on Operation Dump 'Em except for me.”

“We haven't given up,” Coco said. “We just revised the doctrine.”

“So that it allows hugging, kissing and feeding each other desserts?”

“Basically,” Coco said. “Look, it was getting old, okay? Lighten up.”

Haley felt betrayed. She had gone along with Coco's doctrine wholeheartedly, following her schemes to the letter. And now it was all over, just like that? Somehow it didn't seem right. The boys had still done them wrong. As far as Haley could tell, they'd barely paid any price for their misdeeds at all. The girls had given in too easily.

Then, after school that day, Reese approached her and asked to talk.

“I'm tired of the silence between us,” he said. “I miss having you to talk to. I miss having you on my side, or in the stands at a game cheering me on.”

“I'm sorry I hurt you,” she said. “But you hurt me first. Do you know how it felt to open up those photos of you?”

“I can only imagine,” Reese said. “But I didn't mean to—I swear. Haley, I'd like to get back
together with you. I'd like to explain what happened if I can.”

Haley's tongue felt paralyzed. She didn't know what to say. She was glad to hear that Reese still liked her. But could all the pain that had passed between them be wiped away so easily? The other girls seemed to have forgotten all about their heartache. But Haley wasn't so sure she could forget about hers.

What should Haley do? Here is Reese on his knees before her, begging to get back together. If he had done that two months earlier, she might have given in right away
.

The other girls seem to have dropped their revenge plots without a second thought. To be honest, Haley's a little disappointed in them. How spineless could they be? More importantly, she's not sure that's the right thing to do. What if she takes Reese back and he turns around and hurts her again? She doesn't think she could survive a second betrayal
.

On the other hand … it's Reese. What if he's the one she was meant to be with? What if there's a good explanation for his antics in Nevis? How can she turn him down? After all, he's taking a big risk right now too, laying it all out there and asking Haley to take him back. He knows she could send him packing, even if all her girlfriends already gave in and are back to canoodling with their guys
.

If you think Haley is still in love with Reese but shouldn't listen to her heart because it might be rebroken, turn to,
LONELY ONE
. If you think Haley should give Reese another chance, set her
PRIORITIES STRAIGHT
.

H
aley crossed her arms and looked Reese straight in the eye. “I'm still listening,” she said. “Tell me more. What exactly went on down there?”

“It was awful,” Reese said. They sat leaning against the lockers in the hallway, settling in for a long talk. “Spencer promised the trip was going to be quiet and sober, just the guys swimming and playing volleyball and relaxing away from any temptations. And I believed him, because his mother set the whole thing up, and I knew how much she wanted
him to stay out of trouble before her big inauguration.”

Haley laughed. “That's a losing proposition. Trouble just seems to follow Spencer, no matter where he goes.”

“Yeah, her plan couldn't have backfired more, could it?” Reese was laughing too. “Those pictures are plastered all over the Internet.”

“Speaking of plastered,” Haley said. “What were you guys on? You looked wasted in a lot of those shots.”

“That was the problem. We get to the resort and there are all these models there for a photo shoot, and Spencer basically says, ‘Screw quiet and sober, let's party!' The other guys were into it but I really wasn't. I talked to a few of those girls and they were vaporheads. All they wanted to know was who had the blow. So I sat by myself on the beach while the other guys whooped it up. Finally one of the girls brought me some papaya juice. That's what she told me it was, anyway. It turned out Spencer had spiked it.”

“Figures,” Haley said.

“Yeah, I should have known. I'm not used to drinking, so I got sloshed pretty quickly. But believe me, I'm not planning on drinking again—it turned me into such a jackass. I hated the way I was acting, but it was like I was outside my body watching someone who looked just like me be a jerk. The next
morning when I woke up, I felt so disgusted and ashamed. I don't believe in treating women like strippers. And I was terrified that you'd find out what happened and misunderstand. And then I found out the pictures were online and all over Hillsdale.”

“Not to mention on my cell phone, before I'd even gotten a Happy New Year message from you.” Haley appreciated Reese telling her the details, and she believed him. Still, if he got drunk and acted like a fool once, he could do it again, no matter what he said.

“I just didn't know what to say to you, Haley.” Reese looked mortified. “You mean so much to me, and I felt like an animal for disrespecting you. I couldn't find the right words to apologize. And then, when I saw you at school and you wouldn't speak to me, well, I just thought I'd blown my only chance.”

Haley thought long and hard about Reese. “I'm willing to give you another shot,” she told him finally. “As a friend. Just for a while. If things seem to be going well, maybe we can work our way back toward what we had before. But I'm warning you, we're a long way from that.”

“That's fair.” Reese laid his hand on top of hers. A gesture of friendship, she supposed, but it felt like more. “That's all I can ask for.”

She smiled at him and he gazed back at her. She was glad to be friends with him again. She could see
in his face what a good person he was. And soon she was drowning in those warm blue eyes.

I'm a goner
, she thought.
We'll be back together in no time
.

But suddenly that didn't seem like such a bad thing.

THE END

“H
aley, listen to me,” Reese pleaded as Haley eyed him skeptically. “Spencer spiked my drink on that island. I didn't know what I was doing. It wasn't my fault, at least not entirely.”

But Haley couldn't get those pictures out of her mind: the shots of Reese with his hands all over some bikini-clad model, umbrellas everywhere, even in the drinks…. Which was the real Reese? The lecherous, drunken two-timer, or the earnest boy pleading his case in front of her right now?

Haley felt she had no way of knowing, that she'd never really know for certain what was going on in Reese's mind—or how he really felt about her. Sure, now that he was back in Hillsdale and there were no bathing suit models around to distract him, he wanted to get back with Haley. But what about the next time temptation reared its head? Or the next time his pal Spencer spiked his drink? Would Reese be strong, or would he succumb?

“Haley? I've got to know your answer,” Reese said. “I can't stand another minute in limbo like this. Do you believe me or not?”

“Nice try,” Haley said. “But I have no interest in wasting my time with a two-timing cheat. The pictures don't lie, Reese. Only boys do. Sorry.”

She felt good as she strode away; she felt strong. She'd stuck to her principles. She'd stuck with the plan.

Coco's plan.

The trouble was, Coco wasn't even sticking to it anymore. And neither was Cecily, Sasha or Whitney.

Everywhere Haley went that week she saw one of them nuzzling with their now-rehabilitated exes. There were Sasha and Johnny, making out by their lockers. There were Coco and Spencer, walking hand in hand through the halls. There were Cecily and Drew, cuddling in the cafeteria. And there were Whitney and Matt Graham, newly hooked up and
huddled together near his car, Matt's eyes glued to Whitney's cleavage.

Spring was in the air, and romance was blossoming for everyone except Haley. She watched Reese from a distance all week, wishing she had someone to hold hands with too.

Maybe I was too rough on him
, she thought.
Maybe I made a mistake, blowing him off that way. After all, he did apologize, and Spencer may really have been the one who got him drunk. It does sound like something Spencer would do…
.

She thought of tossing away her dignity and begging Reese to take her back. Whenever she ran into him at school or in the neighborhood, she found herself staring at him longingly. But he didn't return the stare. He only turned his back on her and walked away.

The message was clear: he was over her now. There was no point in trying to get him back, Haley realized. In her stubbornness in refusing to forgive him, she'd lost Reese for good.

THE END