“Yes. He walked me on the field and then just left to catch a flight for LA.”
I don’t tell him about Tiny. Probably because I really don’t want them to know.
“Tell Mom I love her and kiss the girls for me.”
“You got it.”
Saturday, October 8th
A rich history.
11am.
At the Women’s Tea, Peyton and I are bored to tears, so we start contemplating our escape.
“Let’s go find the boys at the golf tournament,” I suggest.
Whitney walks up to me. She had been sitting at a table with her mother and sister, along with Rachel’s family. “Keatyn, may I speak to you for a moment?”
“Um, sure, what's up?”
“Jake is throwing a bit of a fit. He wants to spend part of Homecoming with his friends. Rachel is going to the dance with Bryce and the other girls have respectable dates, but he’s insisting that he wants to be with Dawson. They've gone to every Homecoming together.”
“Yeah, they told me that.”
She gives me a cool smile. “He also says that I should give you a chance.”
“Jake seems to take friendship seriously.”
“He does. So I'm compromising. It's obviously going to be a bit awkward, since Dawson and I have such a rich history. I'm sure that must bother you.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Not really. We have a very different relationship than what you had."
“How would you even know what we had?” she snarls. Her true bitchy self coming back out.
“Because he told me about it. Before we dated, we were friends. We were both hurting from breakups and that’s sort of how we bonded, I guess.”
“And what makes him different now?” She doesn’t have the bitchy look anymore and I can tell that she sincerely wants to know how Dawson has changed.
“Probably his time spent trying to make you mad. He’s more experienced now, in lots of ways.”
There’s a little wrinkle between her eyes. She quickly puts on a happy face and says, “Well, I’d like you and Dawson to sit with us at dinner.”
“Oh. That we can’t do. But Dawson got us a limo. We’re going to the hotel to change and then to the after-party. Jake thought it would be fun if we went together. Partied a little.”
“Will there be champagne?”
“I’d say that's a given.”
She shakes her head. “I think I’ll need it.”
I can tell she can’t believe she’s agreeing to it. I’m not sure if she’s doing it because she actually likes Jake or if she’s afraid he’ll dump her if she doesn’t.
I give her a big smile. “Who knows, Whitney, we might actually have fun.”
Peyton tells her mom that we have to head out to take care of some last minute details for Social Committee.
She takes me to a golf cart that all of the Senior Prefects have for the weekend to ferry people around. We hop in and ride down to the school’s nine-hole golf course.
On the way, I ask about Aiden. “So who’s your brother taking to the dance?”
“He doesn’t have a date.”
“Really, why not?”
She shrugs. “I’m not sure. He always has a date. I asked him about it and got some vague response. He and Logan are going stag. But lots of girls are going stag too, so they’ll have plenty of fun.”
“Uh, yeah. I’m sure they will.”
We pull up to the golf shack and find Camden with his arm wrapped around a leggy brunette.
“Ugh,” Peyton says. “That’s Samantha. She’s why Cam and I broke up in the first place. I hate Homecoming week. I can’t wait to get the hell out of here and go to college.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“My parents want us both to go to Yale, but I’m hoping to get into Stanford.”
“Really? I’d love to go the either Stanford or Pepperdine. But I like it here too. I think Yale would be cool. Dawson wants to go to Columbia.”
“So he can party with Cam?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Have you two talked about that? Like, what you’ll do if you’re still together then?”
I shake my head. “No. We’ve only been together for a week. College is the last thing on my mind.” Really, I’m just praying I stay alive long enough to be able to choose a college.
“Watch this,” she says as she hops off the cart.
She walks straight up to Camden and slides her arms around his waist. Clearly staking out her territory.
“S’up, girls?” Cam says and gives Peyton a kiss.
Score one for Peyton.
The Samantha chick says, “Cam, you didn’t tell me you were here with Peyton.”
Cam fires back, “You didn’t ask.”
“Who are you here with?” Peyton asks her politely.
“Oh, um, just my parents.”
“Cool,” she says with a smirk. Then she tugs cutely on Cam’s shirt, sliding her hands underneath it. “Come have some beer with me and Keatyn.”
He eyes me. “That’s actually a good idea. Keatyn, you and I need to talk.”
“Oh, do we?” I say.
“See ya, Sam,” he calls out as he puts one arm around me and the other around Peyton and leads us to the beer garden.
“I can’t be seen drinking a beer here!” Peyton tells Cam.
“Oh, live a little. Fine. I’ll get you a soda. Then we’ll spike it. What about you, missy?” he asks me.
“I’ll have a beer.” Peyton gives me a little scowl. “What? I’m not a Prefect.” As Cam sets a red cup in front of me, I ask, “Where’s Dawson?”
“Out golfing with Dad and Braxton. Riley left to sneak Ariela out of the tea.”
I grin. “They are so cute together.”
Cam rolls his eyes.
“What?” Peyton asks. “You don’t think they’re cute together?”
“He’s stranded on second base.”
“Yeah, and he’s happy there. So don’t give him any shit about it.”
“What’s your deal?”
“My deal?”
“Yeah, you come here a nobody and now you’re Miss Popularity.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not Miss Popularity at all.”
“So why Dawson then?”
“First off, I’m not like Whitney. Dawson and I ended up together because we had something in common and we got to be friends.”
“Really?” Peyton says.
“Yeah. I hated him when I first met him. He was a jerk to Riley. Slung his arm around me and said Riley was a cheap imitation of the real thing.”
Cam busts out in laughter. “Oh, that’s classic. What a great line.”
“No! It’s a horrible line. I thought he was a jerk. Then he gave me the worst kiss ever.”
“My brother gave a bad kiss? Damn, he’s going to ruin our reputation.”
“Yeah, well, he’s made up for it.”
“So I hear,” Cam says.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry. He won’t tell me anything. But he’s too freaking happy for it not to be amazing. So, I guess I’ll let you stay.”
I laugh. “Gee, thanks. I’m so honored.”
He clinks my glass and looks at me seriously. “You should be.”
After a couple beers, Dawson, Braxton, and “Daddy” Johnson come off the course. Peyton told me that all the girls call Mr. Johnson “Daddy Johnson” because he’s really good looking.
I will admit the four of them all together do make a pretty nice picture. All dark hair, dark eyes, muscles, and cocky attitudes.
Braxton rushes over to us, clearly trying to win some kind of race. He sits on my lap and says, “Baby, we need to talk.”
I can’t help but laugh at him. “And what do we need to talk about? The fact that you’re small enough to sit on my lap?”
Camden says with a snort, “If Riley was the cheap imitation of the real thing, then Brax is the pocket-sized version.”
Braxton hops off my lap and says proudly, “Ain’t nothing about a Johnson that’s small.”
Camden high-fives him just as Dawson and Mr. Johnson join us.
“Is he bragging about winning already?” Mr. Johnson asks. “Because you should know he’s a cheater.”
“I didn’t make up the silly scramble rules. And Dawson has obviously been spending too much time with this one.” He tilts his head in my direction. “And not enough time on the course.”