Fate's Return (Twisted Fate, Book 2)

Chapter Thirteen

On Tuesday, I woke feeling terrible. By the time I was ready for bed later that night, though, I was up, walking around, laughing with my parents, keeping solid food down, and talking with Suzie on the phone. I did it all without needing my bucket or running to the bathroom, and even texted with Brenan with no one else the wiser.

But when I woke on Wednesday, my stomach had me stumbling back into the bathroom, just as intense as before. It was terrible, but then it was over. Ten minutes later, my teeth were brushed, and I was getting ready for school, the dizziness and nausea once again forgotten.

Was it an aftershock? One last hoorah before letting me move on? Whatever. It didn't stop me from eating my mother's pancakes for breakfast or keep me from driving over to Suzie's early to pick her up for school. I couldn't believe she was ready, already waiting for me on her front porch with two mugs of coffee in hand. There was no way I was pushing it that far, so I hoped she was thirsty.

"You ready for psych?" She climbed in and folded her umbrella.

"Ugh."

I shrugged and looked at her out of the corner of my eye before reversing out of the driveway and starting towards school. Rain meant pants and a jacket, but the moment we entered school, I knew the top layer would be discarded. She always said there was no point in working out unless you can show it off.

"O-kay." Rolling her eyes, she set the umbrella at her feet and buckled her seatbelt. "How are you feeling?"

"Meh." I shrugged, lifting my hand from the steering wheel waved it between us slowly, back and forth.

"Brenan said he talked to you."

"Deryk gave him my phone number, so we've been texting," I said, and shrugged, and a smile curved the corners of my lips up.

"And?" She leaned over, smiling, and batted her eyelashes.

I looked back to the road. "And what?"

"Do you like him yet?"

"He's nice."

"That's not what I mean."

"I know, but that's all I've figured out so far."

A chaperoned date and a few text messages didn't tell me what I needed to know about Brenan. Did he hold open doors for girls? Cuss all the time? Or was he as respectful as he seemed? It's easy to let people think what you want them to after such a short period of time. Longevity and consistency would tell me what I needed because, unfortunately, I wouldn't know any different until he slipped or... didn't. It might be tomorrow or next week or ten years from now. The problem with trusting people was that you just never know.

"At least you're giving him a chance," she said, and shifted to look out the windshield.

"I said I would."

"Mm hmm." She nodded. "I know."

"You didn't believe me?" I looked at her and threw on my blinker to turn into the parking lot.

"Of course, I didn't."

I laughed. Honesty was certainly not something Suzie was in short supply of. It was a good quality, or so I'd been told. If it ever worked in my favour, I'd start to appreciate it a lot more. So far, in my experience, it was a curse. There are times when doing the right thing is wrong.

"So, what are we doing on Saturday?" I asked as I pulled into one of the best parking spaces, even for seniors. A benefit of leaving early. The rest of the parking lot was filled, but seniors hardly ever made it on time, and never arrived early.