Like Bees to Honey | gxg

30. Breakdown of Diplomacy

Sabina couldn't have said, later, what happened after Mel accepted the award. All she could hear was a rushing in her ears as she realized how stupid she'd been.

Obviously, Mel had never planned to follow through on their deal. Worse, she hadn't even told Sabina that her dad was coming today to take her home. Every bit of intimacy Sabina had thought she'd felt, when they'd kissed in the lake or when Mel helped her build the exhibit hives or just this morning, in the orchard - to Mel it had all been meaningless. A distraction for a girl who had nothing better to do.

She'd been played.

Then Mr. Chibana clambered down off the stage, swallowing a fistful of antihistamines as he went, and Otis lifted the trophy above his head like it was the Stanley Cup, and Mel turned to her, and she realized it was over.

"What was that?" Sabina burst out. "I thought we had a deal!"

"Listen, it's not like I planned for it to happen like this." Mel put her hands in her pockets. "Anyway, you didn't exactly do anything for your part of the deal, you know?"

The yellow flowers from the orchard were still in Mel's hair, curled in on themselves to escape the unrelenting heat. If someone were to crack Sabina's chest open, that's exactly what her heart would look like: withered. She wanted to tear those flowers out of Mel's hair and stomp them flat.

Instead, she clenched her fists. "Why did you even suggest the deal in the first place? Did you think it would be funny to rip everything away from me at the last second?"

"It wasn't about you!" Mel let out a laugh, short and sharp. "God, Sabina, not everything is about you and your stupid plan, okay?"

Humiliatingly, she felt hot tears spring to her eyes.

Mel stepped back, those lips that had been so soft when she'd kissed them now pressed flat. "Oh, please. Don't tell me you're actually crying over this dumb award."

It would have been less embarrassing if it was just about the award. But what hurt the most was that look Mel's face, like she regretted everything. Like this whole time that Sabina had been pre-emptively mourning the end of the summer, afraid of the feelings that she'd been trying so hard to pretend she wasn't feeling, Mel had been desperate for it to end so she could go back to her life and forget all about her exile in High Valley. Forget all about Sabina.

"Hey." Riley slung a protective arm around Sabina's shoulders and gave Mel a hard look. "Is everything okay?"

"No, it's not." Sabina scrubbed her palms over her hot face. "I should've known better than to trust a Verger."

"That's right." Otis had turned around, holding the trophy out in front of him as though there was any chance anyone would forget he was holding it. "You should've been more afraid of us. Today the Vergers have proven once and for all that we are the superior family."

Even though she had invoked the spectre of the feud, the last thing Sabina wanted to do right now was more of this petty posturing. But it was too late. Cousin Wyatt had stepped up beside her, fierce wrinkles creasing his brow. Everyone watched in surprise as he jabbed a finger at Otis.

"Yeah, no, this is some bullshit. What did you pull?"

Otis smirked like the slimy little jerk that he was. "All I did was win, sweetheart."

"You didn't win. Not fairly, anyway. I know you pulled some kind of shenanigans."

"Takes a scammer to know a scammer. But this is real life, and I'm not buying your Buzzcoins."

Cousin Wyatt's mouth dropped open. "Buzzcoins! That's great. Why didn't I think of that?"

Mel pushed out an enormous sigh.