Count On Me(73)

I know everything now. Amy told me. I know it was all a game to you, Kayden. You don’t have to act anymore.

“Wait, what?” I question as I read her words over a couple of times. “Amy told you what?”

Before she can type a response, another shadow enters the doorway and looking up; I see it’s her mom. As much as I don’t want to deal with an adult right now, only wanting Isabelle to tell me what happened, I realize that she might be the only person that can get me the answers.

“Isabelle, go inside, Tristan wants you.”

She nods her head and just like that, she’s gone and I’m completely alone. It’s something I haven’t felt since the day my mom left. I hate that there’s anything with Isabelle that I can compare to that woman. They’re nothing alike, but there’s no denying that the minute she vanished, I felt empty, just the way I did then.

“What happened?” I manage to choke out. “Everything was fine before the game.”

“I think deep down you know what happened tonight, Kayden. People happened.”

“What does she mean by ‘I know it was all a game’?”

“Tristan told me that a couple of the girls said some things to her about you.”

She doesn’t need to say anything else. I know exactly what girls said things and the minute I get back to the school I’d handle it. Amy and Charlotte have pissed me off for the last time. First though, I need to make sure that everyone here knows the truth. I can’t stand them believing that I was lying or playing them. It wasn’t like that at all.

“It’s not true.”

“Well honey, I know that and deep down I think Isabelle might know it too, but you have to realize how hearing those kinds of things is for her. She might not be able to say the words, Kayden, but my daughter cares very deeply for you.”

Shit. Now I feel even worse. I could easily tell that she liked me, her smile told me that, but the way her mom sounds now, it’s something more. Something that I thought I was the only one feeling.

“Tell me how to fix this.”

“I’m not sure that you can right now. Isabelle needs time. I believe that you’re sincere, but when the majority of the people she comes across are not that way, it’s hard for her to see it the same way I do. I can talk with her and do my best to get her to go to the dance, but for now, I think you need to do as she asked of you.”

“You want me to leave?” I ask, already knowing it’s the last thing I want to do.

“For now, I think it would be best if you did. Go to the dance, Kayden.”

“I’m not sure I want to leave her when she’s like this, especially since it’s about me.”

“I know, but it’s something that she needs. Like I said, I’ll talk to her and do my best to get her there. You can handle it from there, but if you continue standing here now, I’m afraid that nothing I say will get through.”

I have to do what she’s asking because the last thing I want is to make anything harder for Isabelle, but I don’t like it. Leaving her seems so wrong and I’m tired of doing everything wrong. I should never have let her go when we were kids. I should have kept her close to me so that this pain didn’t exist now.

It really is my fault. Amy and Charlotte did this because of me.

“Okay…I’ll go, but, Mrs. R?”

“Yes?”

I know what I’m about to say, but before I can form the words, I stop myself. No, I can’t say this as a message passed along. It needs to come from me.

“Just tell her I’ll see her there.”

As she says goodnight and shuts the door behind me, I don’t make a move to turn and go. I know that I need to do what I’ve been told, but I still can’t shake the feeling that me leaving right now is only going to make it worse. I need to talk to her and explain that those girls are full of shit. I need to tell her that they couldn’t be more wrong.

Most of all, I need to tell her what I should have told her days ago.

I love her.





Chapter Twenty-One



Belle



I can’t believe I’m doing this.

The last thing I wanted to do after what happened at the game is come to this stupid dance, but as always, my mom said all the right things and well, here I am.

There was this moment when I saw Kayden walking up the driveway that I wanted to open the door, run to him, have him hold me and never let go. I thought that being in his arms could erase everything that Amy and Charlotte said. That everything could just go back to the way it was before I agreed to go.

It can’t though.

When I opened the door before he had the chance to knock, I told him to leave. It’s better this way, not only for me, but for him too. There’s a part of me that knows Amy was lying to me about him, but it doesn’t change how wrong we are for each other. We might make each other happy, but that’s bound to wear off sometime and its better we stop now instead of waiting until both of us are in too deep.