Everyone Talks

5 - Two Can Keep a Secret

Nellie clapped halfheartedly as the crowd roared around her, wincing at the sheer volume of the student section just to her right.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the game. More like it would be more interesting if the Shadow Creek Direwolves weren't completely obliterating Luther. As it was, the rest of the town was acting like they were playing in the Super Bowl - not an incredibly mismatched opener against the lowest-ranked team in their class.

Still clapping, her eyes dragged down the section, stopping on Kaitlin sitting in the front row with her friends, all of them dancing along with the pom squad stationed right in front of them.

Her chest hurt. Nellie hadn't seen her younger sister smile like that in years. She also hadn't known she was interested in the dance team. She wished that Kaitlin had come to her first. Asked for her help. Did it really have to be Sophia?

Her eyes moved to the girl in question, who was front and center, a polished smile on her face as she moved through the steps with precision and grace, her blonde waves bouncing behind her in a ponytail. Nellie's stomach turned.

If Sophia was bothered by the rumors, she - once again - wasn't letting it show.

"I was 'bout to ask if ya missed dance team, but that look tells me everythin'," Emory said.

Nellie glanced at her best friend, turning her attention back to the group.

"Kinda," she admitted, feeling her cheeks burn.

Nellie knew she had made the right decision to quit, even if there was something inside her that screamed over being a quitter. It was senior year, and she needed to focus on keeping her grades up and the paper.

Plus, she was ready to get away from the backstabbing and constant snipping from Sophia. Three years of that had been almost unbearable. The only reason Nellie hadn't quit freshman year was because she had promised her mother she wouldn't.

"Ya quit and she wins. Besides, I know that dancin' makes ya happy. And it makes me happy seein' ya out there. The look on yer face when ya dance, Nellie... It's beautiful..."

It took a while, but Nellie finally had to admit to herself that the only reason she stayed was because of her mother, and that didn't make a whole lot of sense after she was gone. But she missed the other girls and the closeness they once all had as a team. It had been like a sisterhood before Sophia spread her lies.

And truthfully, Nellie did miss dancing. Even if it wasn't something she was super serious about.

Nellie's eyes moved down the line, catching Chelsea, who had replaced her when she didn't audition last spring. They kept moving until she stopped on the shortest of the bunch at the far right end at the back.

While her smile was bright, it didn't reach her eyes, which were constantly flinting to her left. Her brown hair somehow looked dull, and her movements weren't as sharp as Nellie knew they usually were. There was an unusual pallor to her normally tan skin, like she had spent all summer inside. Nellie turned her head, wondering what Charla Tisdale was watching out for.

Sitting just behind the fence that surrounded the field in two camping chairs were her parents, both of them watching her like a hawk with severe expressions on their faces. While Nellie knew from experience that they weren't exactly sunshine and rainbows, she had never seen them like this before.

"Somethin' seem off with Charla?" she commented, back to watching the sophomore.

"Heard she was in some sorta program this summer," Emory said.