five

I'd been standing in front of Rhys's car with Stacy for what felt like two hours. In retrospect, it was more than likely only five minutes. In study hall, Stacy had told me I needed to confront Rhys and ask him for details, and advice. I wanted to know more about Tessa, about why Danny had even approached someone else.

Practice had ended for cheer in the gym just half an hour ago, and the guys had finished up on the field around the same time. I had texted Danny that I was hanging around after practice with Stacy to do some project for one of our coaches, and I waited for him to leave the parking lot before staking out for Rhys.

I had brought Stacy along with me, because I needed some sort of emotional support. There was no way I was going to confront this head on without my best friend. She wanted to interrogate Danny as soon as I told her, but I explained to her that I just needed time. Of course, it didn't stop her from wanting to murder Danny, but she knew I would be upset.

"There he is!" Stacy whisper-yelled to get my attention. I looked up from my phone; since un-blocking Tessa, I'd stalked her page every few minutes. Rhys was walking towards his car that we were currently standing in front of, his eyes glued to his calculus book. He didn't look like the kind of person who'd betrayed his best friend's trust just over twenty four hours prior.

"Rhys." I called when he was within earshot, and he met my gaze. I could tell he was curious about Stacy's presence, and watched as he folded the page of his book without looking, to save his spot. "We need to talk."

"How many people have you told?" Rhys asked me without hesitation. He seemed bothered, and looked around the parking lot.

"No one. Well, I mean, just Stacy." I admitted. "I had to, Rhys. She's my best friend."

"If it weren't for her begging me to keep quiet, I'd have dug your friend's grave already." Stacy said with an eye roll. She and Rhys had a slightly rocky past, they'd briefly been an item during freshman year, before he decided to stay single for a while. They'd established a weird friendship since then, but there were times when they were tense. Obviously, this was one of them.

"What do you guys want?" He asked me, brushing Stacy off. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for me to talk. He knew why I wanted to talk.

"I found Tessa's F******k. He had blocked her." I said, and Rhys sighed, shaking his head.

"I figured you would. She wants to talk to you, Abby." He said. I inhaled deeply and nodded my head softly.

"I know." I thought about my options for a moment. "How do I contact her?"

Rhys narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head in disbelief. "You've already got her number."

It dawned on me that she was the unknown number, and I let out a small laugh. "Of course." Stacy pulled my phone out of my pocket, prompting me to call her.

"Okay, I'll call her." I said, and pulled up my texts. The texts from her were buried deep beneath group chats, and my finger hovered over her contact for a moment longer than necessary. Did I really want to do this? It would be so final.

"Do it." Stacy said eagerly.

I sucked in a breath and hit "audio". My heart raced as I heard a dial tone. What would I say? Where would I even start? I didn't get much time to think before I heard her pick up.

"Hello?" She answered, her voice slightly winded and husky, she was definitely busy. I was frozen, unable to speak at the sound of her voice. I didn't know why, but I was terrified to talk to her.

"Abby? Are you there?" She asked again, and I heard her take a drink from a bottle. Without thinking, I hastily hung up. I ran my hands over my hair, and clasped them behind my head.

"I couldn't do it." It was unnecessary to say, they'd heard her pick up.

"We'll do it later, okay?" Stacy smiled softly, and placed her arm over my shoulder.

"Just remember she's hurting, too." Rhys said. "I've got to get home, my dad's taking us out to dinner tonight. Between us, he's just trying to look cooler than my mom for Cian and I." He said the last part a little quieter. His parents had separated early on, and were extremely competitive for their two sons' love.

"Have fun." I said, moving away from his car so he could pull through the parking spot.

"Call her." He looked at me pointedly before disappearing inside of his car.

*

I couldn't focus on my homework to save my life. I was supposed to be studying for a government quiz I had tomorrow, but I couldn't stop thinking about calling Tessa. I was nervous, but I knew I needed to.

I checked my phone, and pulled up Tessa's F******k for the third time that afternoon. She was a very private person it seemed, but I was able to view a few of her photos. I clicked on her profile picture and enlarged it. She was standing in front of a white brick wall, dressed in a black checkered shirt dress and heeled boots, and was laughing at something to her right. I scrolled through a few more, the same ones I'd seen multiple times today. She seemed to have the perfect life, with thousands of friends and plenty of likes on all her photos.

I groaned in frustration, stalking her online persona would do absolutely nothing for me. I swiped back out of her photos and went to exit out of F******k, but did a double take when I realized what the screen said. I panicked, noticing I had sent her a friend request.

"Shit, oh my God. Oh, my God." I tossed my phone onto the end of my bed and bit the inside of my cheek. If I deleted it quickly enough, she wouldn't see it, right? All I had to do was delete it. I reached for my phone, only to find it was buzzing with an incoming call. I grabbed it and sucked in a breath when I read Tessa's number across the screen.

Shit. I answered, and shakily raised my phone to my ear. "Hello?" I asked, hoping my voice came across as though I didn't know who was calling.

"So you won't talk to me, but you're stalking me on F******k?" Tessa said, letting a chuckle breeze through the phone.

I ran a hand down my face, and cursed myself for doing something so stupid. "I didn't mean to do that, you just popped up in my suggested friends." I lied through my teeth.

"Suggested friends? Although, we only have one friend in common, and you just un-blocked me this afternoon?" Tessa asked knowingly, but it was more of a statement. Okay, smartass.

"So you've been stalking my page, too." I pointed out.

"I briefly skimmed. I was curious." She said easily. I could hear a guitar being tuned in the background, before she spoke again. Did she play the guitar? "Anyway, Abby, I wanted to apologize if I was rude to you yesterday at all. I know we bombarded you, I was just so hurt and angry seeing you in person."

"You weren't rude." I lied, remembering how inadequate she'd made me feel in a span of two minutes. "I was just shocked. And pissed. Or both? I still am." I tried to form my words into one complete, coherent sentence, but it wasn't happening.

"I can't even imagine how you feel. I'm so sorry that you had to find out from me, but you needed to know."

"I didn't need to know. Two days ago, I was happy. Why did this have to happen to me?" I knew I sounded angry, but I had every right to. Danny was everything to me. I ran a hand over my face, trying to calm myself down. "I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you. I'm just...mad that I let myself get into this situation."

"But that's the thing, Abby. You didn't let yourself get into this situation." Tessa quickly retorted. "Danny cheated on you. He lied to you, and made you vulnerable. He's the one to blame, not yourself." I heard the guitar again.

"Are you playing the guitar?" I asked, slightly taken aback. We were discussing the guy we'd both fallen in love with, as much as it pained me to say, and she was playing the guitar. Did she even have any idea how insane that was?

She laughed lightly. "Sorry, just tuning it." I could hear a muffled movement, she must have put it down. "I have a show in a few weeks and haven't practiced in a while."

"You're in a band?" Every little thing I learned about her, I hated my boring life more. She seemed to have everything: money, looks, talent, my boyfriend.

"Can I ask you something?" I blurted out, changing the subject. I needed to talk about Danny.

"Anything you want." She answered.

I took a deep breath and thought for a moment. I had an endless amount of questions, hardly any of which seemed to be right. I needed answers, and I needed a lot of them. How did Danny ask her out? Where was their first date? "Have you slept with him?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to shrink into my bed and not come out. I wanted to know, but did it really have to be the first question I asked?

I could hear the squeak of what I assumed to be Tessa's chair as she shifted her position. Was she going to tell me the truth? I could feel a nervous sweat prick my skin, and contemplated hanging up the phone, putting an end to this conversation. I didn't want to know.

"Yes."

I was lightheaded. I closed my eyes and reached for my water bottle on top of my nightstand. I took a slow sip of the ice water, trying to focus on the feeling of it going down instead of my rapidly increasing heart rate. Holy shit. I'd lost my virginity to Danny, he was the only guy I'd ever been with. As far as I had been concerned, he was my first, and would be my only. I brought my knees to my chest and clasped my hands together around them. I knew I was about to cry, the unmistakable taste of pennies in my mouth.

"Okay." Was all I could manage to get out, before I was crying. Of course they'd slept together, what normal person didn't after six months of seeing someone? I was angry I couldn't stop crying, but I was angrier at Danny for making me out to be such a fool. How could he have done this to me?

Tessa didn't speak on the line, I almost wondered if she'd hung up. A quick glance at my phone confirmed she hadn't, and I tried to steady my breathing.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, and wiped at my eyes. I sucked in a breath and shook my head. "I shouldn't have asked."

"Maybe another question would've been better." Tessa tried, and I rolled my eyes.

"No question would've been better." I paused. "Do you know he was getting me a promise ring?" I asked.

"A promise ring?" Tessa asked, seemingly unaware. "Like a pre-engagement ring?" Her tone was snide, of course she'd think something like that was beneath her.

"Yeah." I muttered.

"Seriously? You guys are only seventeen years old." She retorted with a snort.

"So?" I snapped. "I knew I wanted to marry him."

"Abby..." she started, and it was clear she was thinking of what to say. "I don't mean anything negative. I just mean there are things out there that are bigger than Barton. Most people don't end up with their high school sweethearts."

I clenched my jaw and shook my head in disbelief. Who was she to say any of this? "We were endgame."

"I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry." She tried. "I just wish we could hurt him as badly as he's hurt us." Her voice was tired, and I thought about Rhys's words earlier. She's hurting, too.

"Yeah, wouldn't that be something." I let out a small chuckle. Tessa inhaled sharply, and I could hear her getting up from her seat.

"I have an idea. Can we meet tomorrow?"