Which is what jitters do to most voices and another reason I was glad I'd already sung in front of crowds.
Samantha let out a sigh. "I wish we could be up there with you."
" I 'm almost glad we're not," Aubrie said. "I'd be so nervous." She immediately looked like she wanted to take back the words. "Not that you should be nervous, because you'll do great."
"Thanks." I leaned in closer and lowered my voice. "I can't believe you guys let out the air of Rick's tires."
Samantha's head tilted. "What? We didn't do that."
I thought she was joking. "You really shouldn't have," I whispered. "You could have gotten in a lot of trouble if you'd been caught."
Rachel shook her head. "We didn't do it."
My gaze went back and forth between my friends, waiting for a smirk that would let me know they were lying. But they didn't smirk. "Then who did?"
Rachel shrugged. "Either an enemy of his or a fan of good music. They're both large categories."
Aubrie looked past Rachel and down the hallway. "Well, whoever did it, it didn't stop Rick for long. There he is."
"That doesn't matter," Samantha said. "All that matters now is what you can do on stage. And Chelsea, you can do it."
This statement was followed by several others along the same lines. They said they'd all come visit me in L.A. once I became a big star. Rachel made me promise that I'd introduce her to Orlando Bloom.
She might have requested a few other invitations as well, but Samantha glanced down the hallway and said, "There's Tanner."
Rachel's gaze flickered over to him. "Do you want us to stay or do you want time alone with him?"
Samantha didn't give me time to answer. "We're going. Trust me, when Tanner is around, you don't want to try and keep track of the verbal camouflage Chelsea throws around."
They wished me good luck again, and left.
Even before Tanner reached me, I could see the seriousness in his expression. It wasn't just in his eyes. It was in his walk, his posture. His gaze met mine, but he didn't smile.
I knew the look. I'd seen it before. It was the look of condolence people wear before they deal you a blow.
At first I didn't understand. I thought, well, he's going to give me some sort of talk where he officially says we shouldn't see each other anymore. Not much of a surprise, so it shouldn't hurt.
It shouldn't, but it still did. Each footstep he took down the hall bruised me.
And then I saw the open cell phone in his hand. It wasn't about us, I realized, it was about Adrian, and it wasn't good news. Even before he spoke, my heart stopped. Something horrible had happened.
Chapter 19
He held the phone out to me, hesitating. He didn't want to do this. It's a car crash, I thought with panic, just don't let her be dead.
"Adrian wants to talk to you," he said.
Good. She was alive. I took the phone from his hand but my hand shook. "Adrian, where are you?"
Her voice came across the line, ragged with emotion. "I'm in Spokane."
Which was way better than being in a hospital, but still, Spokane was an hour-and-a-half drive away—not a place a person with a learner's permit should go by herself. "What are you doing in Spokane?" I asked.
"I have a flight out at 1:00. I'm going to live with Dad."
Several seconds went by before I could speak then I sputtered out, "What? You can't do that." The worry pumped through me harder, because I knew she could. She shouldn't. But she could. He had joint custody.
I stepped away from Tanner to give myself privacy, to think.
"Dad said I could come anytime, and I think it would be best—" Her voice broke off.
"You don't think that," I said, because she couldn't. She knew what Dad was like as well as I did. I pressed the phone to my cheek, willing Adrian to be logical. "Turn around and come home. If you're leaving because you think I'm interested in Rick, you've got it all wrong. I went out with Tanner a couple of times. That's why his car showed up at our house. That's why Rick was talking to me at my locker."
She cut me off as though she hadn't heard me. "I know what I saw. Guys start out liking me but end up liking you. I'm just not enough for anybody. They all want to move on to Chelsea, the deluxe model."
I shut my eyes, trying to make all of this undo itself. "I promise you there is absolutely nothing between us."
"Maybe you believe that. Maybe you don't think about things until after they've 'just happened.' "
"Or maybe I'm telling you the truth."
"You're only making me feel worse for what I did." Her voice broke again. She didn't finish.
"What did you do?" I asked but I'd already guessed. She'd let the air out of Rick's tires. He'd forgive her easily enough, though. After all, he'd been asking for her. He wanted her here. My mind was already sprinting into the future, already bringing Adrian home. I turned so that I faced down the hallway toward where Rick sat. In a moment I'd walk over and hand hini the phone so that he could assure her that none of it mattered.
"I put the beer into your duffel bags."
The future skidded to a halt and I was suddenly back in the present. "You what?"
"It wasn't fair, Chelsea. You always get what you want." Her voice was not accusing now, just sinking, and asking me to understand. "It doesn't matter for most things, but music is all that Rick ever wanted. He's worked his whole life to succeed at it. I couldn't let you just waltz in and take that away from him on a whim. I'm sorry I got you and your friends suspended. I'll call the principal on Monday and confess."
It only vaguely registered in my mind that she didn't know I wasn't suspended. I gripped the phone, shocked. It had been my own sister. Tanner had told me that Rick wouldn't sink that low, but Adrian had. My thoughts spun around the betrayal; dark, black, and swirling with anger. It was an unforgivable act, worse than anything I did to her with Travis.
But my fury died as quickly as it flared up. It's hard to stay mad at a person when moments earlier your heart stopped beating in fear of her death.
And besides, my amazement seemed bigger, more solid than the anger. She'd done this for Rick. They weren't even going out anymore. She had thought he'd betrayed her in the ultimate way—by liking me—and yet she still cared enough about him to want to hand him his dream.
She had told me, but I hadn't believed her. She really did love him.
"Chelsea, are you still there?"
"Yeah, and I still want you to come home."
I heard her take a ragged breath. "I can't. I've ruined everything with you, and with Rick, and I just need to go away for a while."
"No, you don't—"
" I 'm sorry." Then silence. I checked the cell phone, but even before I saw the "call ended" sign, I knew she'd hung up.
I stared at the phone, my thoughts racing.
Tanner walked up. "Is she coming back home?"
I shook my head.
"Can you get a hold of your mother?"
I punched in her number, and waited, but she didn't answer. "I don't know what she could do anyway," I said as the phone rang. "She's in Arizona."
Mom's answering message came on. Her voice sounded so happy in it. It could, because she didn't realize she'd just lost one of her daughters. I told her to call me right away. Before I'd even hung up the phone, I walked over to Rick. Tanner followed me.