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Chapter 13: Skype Call

When I opened my eyes, the sun was just barely visible through Ivory's livingroom windows. After our chat in her backyard, we had ended up back where we had started: passed out on her couch watching a chick flick. This time it had been Clueless, one of my all-time favourites. I think it was a little too mainstream for Ivory, but she pretended to like it, for my sake.

I shifted from my uncomfortable position sprawled on the couch to a slighly more comfortable sitting position. Ivory was snoring softly in the recliner a few paces to my right. The TV was still on. I fumbled for the remote under the couch cushions and finally managed to locate it and turn the TV off.

I hated waking up first at sleepovers because I never knew what to do. If I was back at one of my sleepovers with Aubrey and the rest of that crew, I probably would have just shaken the person nearest me and woken them up. But Ivory was different, and it didn't seem right to disrupt her.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before Ivory's eyes blinked open and she turned to face me.

"Good morning," she yawned and stretched her arms to the sky.

"Same to you, Sleeping Beauty." I smirked.

Ivory rolled her eyes and sat up. "We're still on for Halloween tomorrow, right? Like, we're gonna hang out?"

"Yeah, of course," I replied immediately. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Just making sure. Last night was fun."

"Ugh." I groaned, thinking back onto my breakdown over Aubrey's audacious behaviour. I had honestly thought I would be okay, but all at once I had broken down. As much as I tried to deny it, Aubrey had really got to me. What made it worse was that I knew that was exactly what she had set out to do.

"Since we were spilling secrets last night..." I continued. "I guess I should cement our friendship by telling you a secret about me that nobody else knows."

"Ooo, secret insider information on THE Kennedy Brown! What a lucky day for me," Ivory teased.

"Shut up, this is serious." I giggled. "This is going to sound so stupid but... I'm a closet nerd."

I waited for Ivory to gasp dramtically, pass out, scream, do something! But she had zero reaction. Nothing. Zip.

"Of course you are," she replied calmly, as if this was common knowledge. (It wasn't).

"No, like I hide books and notebooks under my bed and sometimes at sleepovers with Aubrey and them I would stay up when everyone else went to sleep to do my homework and... wait, what do you mean of course I am?"

Ivory rolled her eyes. "Kennedy, honey, you picked up on all those references I made last night, remember? And the first time we met, in the staircase that one morning, you were seperate from your croonies because you wanted to get to class on time. I can put two and two together. I might not be a straight A student like you, but I'm smarter than I look."

I considered what she said for a moment, then nodded. "Well, it still feels like a weight off my shoulders now that I finally told someone. Do you know what it's like living a double life for over three years?"

"Can't say I do." Ivory shrugged, tying her dark hair into a messy ponytail. "I never bother putting up a fake personality."

"It wasn't my choice."

Ivory sent a pointed look my way.

"Okay, maybe it was orignally my choice. But come on, don't tell me you wouldn't have wanted to be a part of Aubrey's clique if you were in my position. It looks like a lot of fun from the outside."

"But it's not so much fun on the inside."

"Exactly." I nodded. "Then I was just scared I would be all on my own if I left them. But I was wrong!" I sighed happily.

Just then, Ivory's phone buzzed with a FaceTime request. "Who's J?" I asked, reading the contact name from my position on the couch.

"Oh, he's a friend," Ivory replied cooly, slipping her phone into her sweatshirt pocket.

"Of the male variety?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Last time I checked, yes."

"So he's a boyfriend," I concluded.

Ivory shook her head adamantly. "More like boy. friend. As in two seperate words."

"Seperation just leads to further denial." I winked.

"Whatever."

I laughed and checked the time on my own cellular device. It was pretty early: just after 8, but I figured I should be getting home soon. My mom was slightly over-protective, although to say she was glad I was hanging out with a friend who wasn't Aubrey, Hailee or Sacha would be an understatement.

"Are you leaving soon?" Ivory asked, and she sounded genuinely disappointed. I was glad that she had as much fun as I had.

"Yeah, I just texted my mom."

Ivory nodded, and a comfortable silence passed over us. It was broken a few minutes later by Ivory: "Are you close with your mom?"

I thought about Ivory and her mom, and the strain that was present on their relationship due to her mother's condition. Then I thought about my mom and me in comparison: distant by choice, simply because it was easier to be civil to one another than actually care. "Right now, not so much. But I have a feeling we are going to get a lot closer."

"That's good."

"Yup. Well, I should go. See you tomorrow?"

She nodded. I gathered my stuff up and headed out the door to my mom's car.

......................................................................................................................................

The day passed by painfully slowly. There wasn't much to do up in my room by myself. My homework waited on my desk, but I didn't really feel like doing it. So I pulled out my laptop and logged onto Skype, hoping that Ivory might be online.

Instead of calling Ivory, I recieved a request from someone else. To say I was shocked to see that Hailee wanted to Skype me was an understatement. Throughout this whole weird process, Hailee had been the one that had always kept her distance from me. Nonetheless, I couldn't forget that she had been the one who was brave enough to stand up to Aubrey originally. So I decided to accept her request.

Within a few seconds, Hailee popped up onto my screen. Her whitish-blondish hair was pulled into a Rapunzel-style braid and she was wearing a tank top that just barely managed to cover her boobs and sweatpants. She sat cross-legged on her bed. "Hey," she mumbled.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, curious to figure out her reason for calling.

"Well..." She pulled her braid over her shoulder and began to sub-conciously chew on the ends of her hair, a weird nervous habit of hers. "You know that Halloween party Sacha and Aubrey are throwing tomorrow?"

"Yeah..."

She sighed. "Look, I know you were invited. And I know you saw Aubrey give that guy you like, Pat, an invitation. I'm not supposed to tell you this... but he's coming. To the party. So you should go too."

My temper flared as I thought back to the moment Aubrey had performed her biggest act of betrayel against me. When she had handed Ricky those invitations and kissed him, she had crossed the line. She had done more than crossed it; she flew right over the line! But still, I had plans with Ivory tomorrow. "Thanks, Hailee, but I wasn't planning on going."

"But you have to!" She protested loudly, and I jumped in surprised. "Look," she continued quieter. "Aubrey's going to be there, right? And you know she's gonna be wearing some outrageous costume and be flirting with him just to get to you. Really, she'll just be playing with his heart, so you should go just to like, protect him. It's for his own good."

The more I thought about it, the more right Hailee seemed. I couldn't let Aubrey break Ricky's heart that way. He deserved someone like me, someone who would really love him.

Someone who wasn't all about popularity.