His Heart's Desire

26

Alice

"So Gens working on the machine in the robotics lab?" I ask popping a piece of caramel popcorn into my mouth.

"Pretty much. I bet only so she can suck faces with Nelson." Tracy laughs and eats a strawberry. "Besides, just us in a sleepover sounds nice."

It's been a week since the Nick accident. I got $100 from Kathy though and so did Nick. She gave away $200 for a babysitting job! Nick wasn't lying when he said they are loaded.

I just want Nick to trust me. Even since I saw those bruises he's just shut me out. He won't talk or even look at me at school. Does he think those bruises make him look weak? He's the strongest person I know. What does he want to hide?

"Earth to Alice?" I hear Tracy call waving a hand in front of my face.

I jump and lean back. "Hah. Sorry." I laugh awkwardly.

"Ally you've been super zoned out this whole week. What's going on?" Tracy asks seriously.

I shake my head. "Nothing," I mumble and start to fidget with my anklet as my knees tuck themselves into my chest.

"You can talk to me, Alice," Tracy says placing her hand on my knee and something about the motion feels off.

"Alright well... I saw something... I don't think I was supposed to and... my friend, got mad at me." I admit keeping Nicks name a secret.

"I knew Gen would tell you I cheated on your test in Calculus I can't be-" Tracy glares at her hands and my eyes widen.

"What? This isn't about Gen it's about Ni- Er no one. It's about no one." I stammer and bite my lip.

"This is about Nick, isn't it? I knew you two had something going on! I knew it!" Tracy giggles and claps her hands together.

"No! We have nothing going on I've just been feeling guilty." I clarify and reach for another piece of popcorn but it's all gone so I stand up with the bowl.

"How about we go downstairs and make more popcorn?" I say happily changing the subject.

I walk out of the room and Tracy is quick to follow me.

"Oh don't you change the subject, Alice," Tracy says behind me.

"I'm not changing the subject. How about cheese popcorn instead of caramel popcorn? Want some ice cream?" I ask smiling.

"Oh yeah! Cheese popcorn sounds so good right now and ice cream you know I won't say no to f- hey don't trick me like that!" Tracy says then snaps at me when she realizes what I did. I laugh but Tracy doesn't seem to find it funny.

We make it to the kitchen and see Brodie and Jessie talking.

"Hey girls," Jessie says with a smile. We both say hi back and I can see Brodie is glaring at me from the kitchen table. Ever since I confronted Brodie about lying to Gen and Tracy and purposely ruining our friendship he denied it of course. So we haven't been speaking for a week now and honestly. Best week of my life. Brodie is not the type of person to mess with, clearly because he's done bad things before.

Jessie lets out a loud yawn. "I'm gonna hit the hay. Wake me up if there's an emergency." Jessie says kissing Brodie's cheek then walking over to me and doing the same. She smiles at Tracy before leaving the room.

Tracy and I get to work cooking and Brodie shoves past me and goes upstairs.

I hold my shoulder that he just hit and I see Tracy go to lunge for him but luckily I grab her arm and pull her back just in time.