Hallie Hath No Fury . . . (8 page)

She practically wilted with relief. It was hardly surprising—Gemma was conflict-averse enough that she had eaten at vegan restaurants she hated for the last two years rather than say anything to Teddy about it. Of course she'd pretend to be someone else rather than have a difficult conversation with me. “It's nice to meet you, too,” she said.

It was all the permission I needed. If Gemma was going to do this ridiculous thing, she'd just allowed me to change my plan—but in a way that might actually work
better
. She was clearly going to pretend we didn't know each other, we'd never met, and we had no history together. And anyone who was going to be that much of a coward deserved whatever she got.

I said some pleasant, happy things, about how we should all hang out, trying not to enjoy the slightly panicked look on Gemma's face too much. I offered her a ride just as a sports car sputtered into the parking lot. I saw in an instant that Paul was behind the wheel, and I quickly let my hair swing forward so that it covered my face. The last thing I needed was Gemma's dad recognizing me and ending this whole charade before I could figure out the best way to use it to my advantage.

Gemma was looking from me to her dad, clearly worried about the same thing, and so Josh and I said our good-byes, while Gemma waved with a slightly panicked look on her face. I pretended not to see it as Josh and I walked to my car, making sure not to look back as we loaded up his duffel bag and I sped out of the parking lot.

“Doesn't Sophie seem great?” Josh asked, turning to face me as I turned down the road that would take us home. We paused at a stop sign, and I glanced at my brother.

What I saw made my heart sink. He had the dreamy, unfocused expression he got whenever he was about to fall hard for the wrong girl. And if anyone was the wrong girl, it was Gemma. Not only was she the girl who had hurt me when I was younger (something I knew Josh wouldn't be able to forgive), but she was lying to him, pretending to be someone she wasn't. To say nothing of the fact that she'd just gotten out of a two-year relationship that had taken over her life. She was the definition of
on the rebound
, and I could not think of a worse person for my still-heartbroken brother at the moment.

“Yeah,” I replied, hesitation in my voice. “Sure. But maybe … I mean, like you said in your e-mail. Maybe it would be best to just take a break from girls for a while?”

Josh nodded a few too many times. “Right,” he finally said. “Yeah. Totally.” But his expression, as he looked down at his phone, was still one of slightly unfocused happiness, and I felt my hands tighten around the steering wheel.

Whatever I would do with this—I hadn't gotten so far as what, yet—I had to make sure my brother wouldn't get hurt. If I wasn't going to tell him I knew who she was, I had to protect him. The last thing I wanted was for Josh's heart to get broken once again.

But despite that worry, I couldn't help but feel a little giddy. I never would have been able to have planned this, but I had a feeling it was going to work to my advantage beautifully. Did Gemma have any idea of the gift she'd just handed me? She'd made it possible for me to craft the ultimate revenge this summer. She'd practically handed me the instructions for her own undoing.

As I thought about this, all these possibilities unfurling, I felt myself smile as I drove through the falling darkness toward home.

CHAPTER 9

The Fourth of July

I pushed the door open and stepped inside the house.

Just outside, down the beach, I could still hear the sounds of the party going strong, but it seemed that the couple of people who'd been hanging out in the kitchen before the party got started had left, and I was glad of it. I needed just a minute alone to try and get my bearings. I hadn't let myself look back out to the water. If Gemma was still standing there, I didn't want to know about it.
It's okay
, I tried to tell myself firmly.
It's over
.

“Hi, Hallie,” my mom said as she walked into the kitchen. She'd taken off the blue-and-white striped dress she'd been wearing earlier, and had changed into her writing outfit—sweatpants and a T-shirt. Her glasses were pushed up on top of her head, and even though it was the Fourth of July, I had a feeling she'd be working for a few more hours tonight.

“Hey,” I said as I crossed to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of sparkling water. If anything of what I'd just gone through with Gemma was still visible in my expression, I didn't want her to see it. “Did you have fun tonight?”

“I did,” my mother said, glancing out toward the beach. “It was nice to get to meet all the neighbors. You?”

“Yeah,” I said as I looked down at my bottle and eased open the top. If you weren't careful with these, or shook them even the slightest bit, they were likely to blow up in your face. “I liked the fireworks.”

“I think they're still going on for another ten minutes or so,” my mother said as she crossed toward her study. She paused in the doorway and looked back at me, concern furrowing her brow. “Hallie, do you know what's happening with your brother?”

I looked back down at my water bottle, wiping away the condensation from the side. “What do you mean?”

“I don't know,” my mother said as she glanced upward to the second floor, where all our bedrooms were. “He practically ran up to his room—it looked like something was really bothering him, but he wouldn't tell me what.…”

I bit my lip. I knew exactly what was bothering my brother—finding out that “Sophie” was actually Hallie. I'd been waiting for Gemma to come clean all summer, but true to form, she'd just lied and lied. I had to admit that it had been fun to watch herself get tangled up, tripping over her stories and trying to keep things straight. But at some point, I'd decided enough was enough, and had sent my brother her Friendverse profile page—the one that, as one of her friends, I still had access to. The last thing I had wanted was for Josh to get hurt, and I tried to tell myself that I'd done what I could to stop it. I'd told Josh not to date Gemma, I'd told Gemma, with increasing directness, not to date Josh, and they'd gone ahead anyway. But I still could feel guilt gnawing at me.
In war, there are casualties
. I could practically still see this written in my old notebook, but I had never thought that my brother would be one of them.

“I don't know,” I said to my mother finally, when I realized she was still waiting for my answer. “I'll try and talk to him tomorrow.”

“Good,” my mom said. She placed her glasses back down on her nose. “See you in the morning, sweetheart.”

“Night, Mom,” I called after her as she headed out of the room. When I was sure she was gone, I let my shoulders slump and rubbed a hand across my eyes. I tried to get back to the feeling I'd had on the beach with Gemma, when I'd pulled off my plan. I wanted to get that feeling of victory back, instead of this vague, nagging worry and guilt about Josh. Because I'd won. And I needed to remember that.

“Hey, you.” I looked up and saw Teddy standing across from me, still wearing his outfit from the party, but barefoot. I felt something in me melt when I looked at him, and I realized that I had won, after all. I had Teddy. And it made everything else worth it.

“Hey,” I said as I smiled at him. I walked around the counter and stretched up to give him a quick kiss. I leaned back at looked at him. “Want to catch the end of the fireworks?”

He nodded, but I could tell there was something on his mind as we walked out to the deck that looked out on the water. “So, um,” he said as he held the door open for me. “You knew Gemma?”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug, trying to keep my voice light, like this was just no big deal. “I mean, a little. We hung out here the summer we were twelve. How do you know her?”

“That's, uh,” Teddy said, sticking his hands in his pockets, then taking them out again. “My ex-girlfriend. You know, the one I was dating when we…”

I widened my eyes. “
That
Gemma?” I asked, hoping my “stunned” voice was believable. “Really?” Teddy nodded, and I shook my head. “Wow. Small world, huh?” I turned to face the water, hoping that this subject could now be closed, and we wouldn't have to mention Gemma Tucker ever again. Teddy must have felt the same way, because he didn't try to continue the conversation, and as the silence stretched on, I could feel him relax beside me.

He slid an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him. The fireworks were coming faster now, with barely any pauses between them, and I knew we were approaching the finale. Teddy's arm tightened around my shoulders, and I let myself feel just how happy I was in that moment, and held on to that feeling as tightly as I could.

I felt Teddy kiss the top of my head, and I smiled as I leaned my head against his chest. “Happy Fourth, Hallie,” he said as he rested his chin on top of my head. “I'm so glad I met you.”

“Me too,” I said with a smile. “I—” Whatever I was about to say died on my lips as a terrible realization came over me.

Gemma knew the truth—she knew that Teddy and I hadn't met by accident. I suddenly realized that if Teddy ever found out about my true history with Gemma—or if he ever found out our meeting had just been a means to an end—it would all be over.

And the one person who had the power to tell him that was the one person whose life I'd just wrecked.

Maybe she wouldn't say anything. Hopefully she'd just realize she was beaten and go home to Connecticut. But I no longer had any control over that, and the realization scared me.

“You okay?” Teddy asked, smoothing my hair back.

“Fine,” I said, making myself smile at him. “Just fine.” But I felt myself shiver as I leaned into Teddy, as above me, the fireworks reached the finale, taking over the sky.

F
EIWEL AND
F
RIENDS

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

Copyright © 2015 by Katie Finn

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