Paper Flowers (Pretty Plastic People) ★

030. Dangerously Close

A/N: It's been forever!  I am SO sorry.  Updates will now be twice a week (at the very least once per week), so get back into the world of Erika Soto :) Hopefully you are all still here and haven't left me!

030. Dangerously Close

At Aquino High, years' worth of trust can be broken with a simple lie.

"Oh, really?" The girl's voice is grating just like I remember, just like I heard at the party. "My tip helped you, then?"

I want to ask her how she knew that Taylor and Spencer were together, how she's slowly infiltrating my friendships and tearing me apart. That's just what she wants, isn't it? To ruin me, slowly and surely and one step at a time?

I flick on my blinker and turn into my subdivision, pressing my cell phone tighter against my shoulder. Something tells me she wants something more than that—I just don't know what.

"If you want to call it 'helping,'" I tell her. "But yes, I overheard Spencer and Taylor talking. Are you happy now that you've ruined my relationship with my boyfriend?"

"You found out, then?" I can practically hear the smile in her voice. "Fantastic. One down, many more to go. Remember your deadline."

And then the line goes dead.

Frustrated, I throw my phone into the passenger seat and drive the rest of the way home, my foot heavy on the pedals and my elbows locked as I brace myself against the wheel. It's been the beginning of another miserable week.

At home, I lug my textbooks and backpack up to my room and spread everything out on my bed to work. I have lots to do—there's a calc and physics test later this week and I have an essay due in English—but I can't sit down to concentrate. Maybe it's senioritis, but I have a feeling it has more to do with the girl's words that are continuing to haunt me. Spencer's betrayal has torn me apart. What are the rest of my friends hiding?

I slam shut my physics textbook mid-calculation and lean back against my headboard, squeezing my eyes shut. Images of Spencer and me flash through my head, snapshots of us happy and normal together. We've shared so much and now it's all broken. I realize that at Aquino High, years' worth of trust can be broken with a simple lie. If I can't trust Spencer and if I have good reason to be wary of all my other friends, then who can I turn to anymore?

I remember the soft dark eyes that studied me in the living room not even an hour ago. Before I can think, I reach for my phone and call Taylor.

He answers on the first ring, but I hurry to speak before he can get a word out. "I need to talk to you," I say, already standing and walking back out into the hallway. "Can I come by again? You aren't busy, are you?"

"No, I'm not busy" He sounds worried. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Everything. "I'll be over in a few."

I grab my purse on my way out and jog down the staircase, my footsteps echoing in my empty house. My heart pounds as I realize what I'm about to do. Over and over I've convinced myself that Taylor is poison, that we need to stay away from each other. But now I literally have no one else to turn to, and what I need more than anything right now is someone to just listen. Taylor's always been good at that.

Before I can second-guess myself again, I get in my car and start driving. As I watch the yellow and white lines on the road streak by, I crank up my radio so that I'm distracted by the music. The bass thrums at my temples and I become absorbed in the songs, trying not to think too much about the lyrics. All that matters right now is getting lost.