Seabrook, Hadley

What's Wrong

The group filed in when I opened the door, all of them a little surprised to see Luke, but none of them commenting on his presence.

"How you doing, Hadley?" Zoe asked.

"I've been better," I said. The headache was going down and I was pretty sure I would be going to school the next day.

"Hello, gang! I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything," Sarah said as she walked in. Everyone gave her a thank-you before we headed upstairs.

"Do you need help up?" Elliot said, offering his hand as we walked up the stairs. I smiled.

"No, I'm alright," I said, looking back at Luke, who looked at Elliot angrily. It was the same look as he'd been giving him throughout my entire stay in Seabrook.

We all went into my room and sat down on my bed. Luke sat down next to me, causing me to worry if everyone else was seeing it. I didn't know if we were going public quite yet.

"Hadley, you missed so much!" Payton said, looking at me with wide eyes.

"I honestly hate the Hudson family," Bree said, flipping through a magazine I had on my coffee table.

"What did they do this time?" I asked, smiling.

"Everything." She shot me a glare and I rolled my eyes.

"Emily didn't do anything. Sara beat Bree again in the tryouts for the pyramid," Zane explained. Bree shot him a glare.

"Sara didn't beat me."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, she cheated," Zane said, sarcastically.

"I swear to you, Zane Taylor, there is no way that a human could jump that high."

"Its true, she seemed particularly impressive on Friday," Payton said.

"Maybe, oh, God forbid, she practiced. When was the last time you practiced on your own, Bree?" Luke asked, smirking.

"This morning, smart ass," Bree retorted.

"This is why I don't cheer. You guys are stupid," Waverley said.

"Yeah, but you dance. Same concept."

"Not same concept, Payton, there's no pyramid. Everyone's synchronized and doing everything together, and if you practice, you get a solo. Easy as that."

"I play football. You sack a guy and then get praised for it," Elliot said, and Zane laughed and high five'd him.

"Luke, when's your track meet?" Bree asked.

"This Saturday. Can I count on you guys to be there?"

I communal "of course" came up from the crowd. I smiled at him.

"I'll be there," I said quietly. He smiled and winked at me. How did a wink, a flutter of not two, but one eyelid, cause me so many butterflies?

~*~

The next morning, I got up for school. My headache had wound down so that I could still feel it, but it wasn't making my brain want to ooze out of my ears.

I put on a gray crop top and a floral skirt along with some white converse, and put my hair in a ponytail with a fishtail braid. I ran downstairs and had breakfast with Sarah before Luke came to pick me up. I had been working on make up work so I was all caught up.

"Hey," I said, sliding into the passenger seat.

"Hey," he said, smiling at me.