Chapter 17: 15 ☆ With You

Hi! I'm either too busy to pick up, or totally pretending I can't see you calling. Forgive me and drop your message.

Voicemail (0:10)

Hey, Bella. Dad here. You probably didn't take my call because you're having too much fun, but please call me immediately you get this. Love you!

Beau took Bella's hand immediately she agreed to tell him, making it tingle, then lead her out the French door, to the deck. It wasn't a date, but it felt a bit like one. They both sat on a sofa, and he finally let go of her hand.

"I don't know exactly what to say right now," she confessed after a while of sitting there in silence, and he smiled, then busied himself with putting away some beach-themed throw pillows.

"Say anything. I'm listening."

She let out a breath. "Okay. Nice house."

He turned to her and she giggled.

"What? You told me to say anything."

"All right. It's your promise anyway, and I take promises very seriously, just so you know."

"So you're saying you always fulfill your promises?"

He shrugged. "I try."

"And if I just tricked you out here?"

He fixed his gaze on hers. "You didn't."

"How can you tell?"

"I can't. I just know you didn't—it's a gut feeling. And I'm sure you wouldn't sound as confident as you did when tricking someone."

It was like he could read through her eyes as he stared into them. His staring turned somewhat challenging after a while, as if he wanted to see if she'd hold his gaze, or look away. Surprisingly, she didn't look away, and his smile returned.

"Are we going to do this all night?" he asked, and she seemed to snap out of her daze.

"Right. Yeah." She shifted in her seat. "So you want to know what you have to do with Viola and I, right?"

"Right."

"Okay." She awkwardly cleared her throat, and he studied her, his eyes not moving from her profile. "I watched an hour long Teen Stars conference in seventh grade and, since then, I've been obsessing over the program. It got a bit scary when I found out I could actually apply. Viola was the only one I told then. I started working hard, hoping Michelle would notice me, and, after winning Are You a Math Whiz?, I thought it would finally happen..." A look filled her eyes; one he could only identify as hope. It made her look happy, and a small smile made its way to his lips. "...but it didn't.

"That day in the cafeteria, Viola was ignoring me because I didn't reply to her texts, and I was trying to explain that I was grounded and didn't have my phone. Then her phone went off... and I saw it."

"What?"

"The email—from Michelle Henshaw—saying she had been considered for Teen Stars." Bella sighed. "It's not that I'm not happy for her or anything, but she never mentioned being interested, and it hurt to find out she had it in mind." She looked at him, her hand gripping the edge of the throw pillow beside her. The fabric was soft. "She tried convincing me countless times to send my email, or even fill out the form, but I didn't do it. You're the only one that managed to convince me."

"And now you hate me for it?" he asked, a bit playfully, and she smiled.

"No, I don't. I just feel stupid for doing it."

"'Cause she hasn't replied?"

"Yeah. Submissions close tomorrow, so..." She trailed off.

He went silent for a while, before saying, "You know what, I'm not sorry." She lifted an eyebrow, and he nodded, then continued. "You gave it a shot and that's the most important thing. Honestly I think it's her loss, not yours. She's going to miss out on an extra dose of awesomeness."

She looked down at her feet. "You're just saying that."

"I'm not. I meant every word."

"It doesn't feel like she's losing anything to me. I'm the one hurting."

He went silent again, then took her hand in his. Bella looked down at their hands, before looking at him. "Just keep on doing what you love, Bella," he said, "and don't stop trying. When the submissions open again, go for it."

She looked down at their hands again, not wanting the warmth in her chest to leave. He really believed in her abilities, and it warmed her more than that fire from Brownie camp when she was seven. She had a lot of glacé grapes that night, something she'd never try again.

He must have thought she was uncomfortable, because of how long she stared at their hands, and he loosened his grip, but before he could take his hand back, she turned hers, palm up, causing it to kiss his. The invitation was clear and he left his hand where it was.

"Thanks," she said, hating to break the silence.

He smiled. "Not a bad idea telling me, was it?"

She shook her head sheepishly, making his smile widen. It definitely wasn't a bad idea.

"Sooo..." he started, dragging the O and using a dramatic low voice, "do you want us to keep slipping notes into each other's lockers, or do you want us to text twenty-first century style?"

A grin broke out on her face. "Why don't we do both?"

His eyes glinted playfully. "Really?"

"Really."

They traded smiles, before he reached into his pocket for his phone and handed it to her. Unfortunately, their hands had to part so she could type in her phone number. After typing it in, she gave the phone back to him and peered closely at it to see how he would save it.

Belle.

It was an invasion of privacy, she knew, but she deserved to know, and badly wanted to.

He saw her out of the corner of his eye and smiled, then moved the phone closer to her face. "Check it out." His playful tone made her laugh, and he put his phone away and turned to her.

But before he could speak—

"Bella." Jessica stuck her head out of the door, then turned it in their direction, and Bella's head snapped around. On seeing who she was with, excitement filled Jessica's eyes, and she stuttered, "Oh. Um, s-sorry if I'm interrupting, but we're waiting upstairs."

Both Bella and Beau stared at her, Bella a bit wide-eyed because it was Jessica Lupinacci.

"We—we want to give Stephanie a video-call. Jun and Amparo are in the same department, and they suggested it."

That sentence was a bitter reminder of her other problem: Amparo. Suddenly she realized she left her and Viola in Fleur's room—although not alone, but anything could've happened in the minutes she was gone. A feeling of dread coursed through her, and she stood.

"Sorry, I'm... I'll be right there."

Jessica gave her a smile before walking away, and Bella told Beau a quick goodbye, then followed.

Jessica helped her with some bottles—which were now dripping with condensation—still smiling in a way that creeped her out, and she knew the girl couldn't wait to share the news.

When they got back to Fleur's room, Amparo spoke first. "Where have you been?" she huffed, and her eyes went to the drinks in Bella's hands. "You went to just get drinks?"

"I'm sorry," Bella responded, giving each girl a bottle. Amparo didn't take hers immediately. Instead, she was more interested in glaring at her.

That girl had some real issues.

Finally, she pulled the soda bottle out of her grip, then turned to her black bag on Fleur's bubblegum pink beanbag. Surprisingly, Jessica didn't say anything, but her smile remained.

All eight girls noticed, and Frankie was about asking what was up when Jun piped, "Details later. You girls videochat Steph so we can share the dimwitted childhood stuff we did, yeah?"

Amparo pulled a sparkly black-cased tablet out of her bag, then started scrolling through it. Bella noticed Jessica sharing looks with Fleur, and her stomach bubbled. The last thing she wanted was for her to be in everyone's mouths on Monday. It wasn't that she didn't like attention—because she loved it. She just didn't like that kind of attention, especially with those seniors thinking she was a filter girl.

She noticed she wasn't with her phone, but before she could get it, Amparo spoke.

"Hey, Stephanie's on."

Bella almost ran to her, but stopped herself before she could. She had to remind herself Viola was there and she couldn't be too excited. Swallowing the eagerness building in her, she managed to calmly make her way to Amparo.

"Oh my—OMG!" Stephanie exclaimed when she saw them. "Oh my God, am I seeing this? I can't believe I'm seeing this." She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. "I am seeing this. All of you in one place, video-calling me."

Bella couldn't help but laugh. This was the girl she was missing, all right.

"Hi!" Stephanie squeaked.

"Hi!" they chorused, giggling at Stephanie's excitement afterwards.

"I mean, it's so lovely to see you guys. Are you having some kind of get-together?"

"No," Amparo answered, "we're at Fleur's for a sleepover."

"Wow! That's so cool. Can I say hi to her?"

"Sure—hey, girls, Steph wants to say hi."

As Amparo turned her tablet to face Jun, Fleur and Frankie, she lifted her eyebrows at Bella. It made it seem like she knew something no one else did—and she did. The look lasted the whole time Stephanie talked to the girls, and Bella convinced herself Amparo was just manipulative and ignored her. She had had enough of suspicious looks for one evening.

"You guys must be having so much fun," Stephanie continued, after her conversation with the sleepover hosts was done. "Bella, hi! I miss you so much! Honestly there's no one here like you."

"Aw, thank you, Steph. I miss you, too." She, however, couldn't say there was no one there like her back.

Stephanie smiled. "Jessica. How's journalism club?"

"The Parrots are more talkative than ever."

"I hope to see your reviews on the school's gossip blog."

"You can count on me."

"Viola."

Viola jumped at the sound of her name, as if she wasn't expecting Stephanie to notice her, and Amora—who, unlike the others, was sitting this section out—frowned at her, noticing how much she zoned out.

"Steph," Viola managed to say, "hi."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm good, thanks. You?"

"I'm also doing great... and I'm glad to hear you're fine. Bella told me about your 'issue'."

Both Bella and Viola froze, and silence befell the room, making it seem like the others also saw the fault in Stephanie's statement.

"She did?" Viola asked, her voice cracking, and Bella's heart resumed its fast beating.

"Yeah." The way Stephanie replied made it clear she had no clue what the implication of her statement was.

Viola looked at Bella, looking more disappointed than sad. Bella shook her head furiously, wanting her to understand that it wasn't what she thought. She couldn't have possibly told Stephanie her best friend felt overshadowed by her—it was their secret.

The girls watched the exchange without a word, and Viola stared at Bella for a while longer, before nodding and saying, "Excuse me."

She walked to the door, and Bella had no choice but to try and stop her from leaving. "Viola, wait. It's not what you think."

Viola didn't listen; she slammed the door shut behind her.

"Drama," Jun quietly said to Fleur in a singsong voice, and Bella wished she could just vanish.

"Um, wasn't I supposed to say that?" Stephanie asked, her voice lacking the remorse it should have had.

"No, you weren't. Now she's misunderstood the whole thing. Why did you even mention it?" Bella was frustrated.

"Well, I'm sorry. How was I supposed to know you didn't want her to know you told me?"

"I didn't give you the details, Steph. Couldn't you have at least hinted at that?"

"Look," Amparo stepped in, "I didn't do this so we could argue, okay? We'll deal with Viola; I'm sure she'll be fine in no time."

Bella wanted to tackle this girl to the ground and take her nostrils off.

"Let's talk about school and forget about PMSing people, shall we?"

PM... oh, that does it! "Stephanie, hang up," Bella ordered, angry this time.

"What—"

"Hang up before I do it. I don't want to have to."

Amparo gave her an incredulous look, and Stephanie surprisingly did as she said.

Bella looked around her at the girls. They were all looking at her like she just revealed she was crushing on the moon, and she knew Jessica had found a cover story.