Cloverfield

17: In the open

The next morning, Alison passed the ball to Spencer in practice. Spencer gave it back aggressively--she would have hit Ali's face if it wasn't for her blocking skills. "Okay. I'm tired," Alison stated, throwing her stick to the field dramatically. "Why are you mad at me?"

Spencer started walking to a bench, gesturing Alison to follow her. They sat together and she looked at her friend.

"Magnificent job, Kirsten!" Ian chimed somewhere in the background. Ali suppressed her gag reflex.

"You've lying to us," Spencer said with confidence.

Alison composed her outside features as on the inside, they were trembling. What did she mean? Was she talking about Emily? "Huh?"

"Hilton Head," Spencer explained. "You said you had no signal, but Melissa was posting pictures on Facebook all the time. And after the sleepover, I never heard your mom's car leave."

"Oh..." Ali mumbled. That. There was no point in lying, she'd been caught. But the truth might hit her hard. "You really want to know?"

"Please."

Alison sighed. "Okay." She started telling her about how Ian had harassed her. It wasn't as emotional as when she had told Emily, in fact, this time was easier.

Spencer just stated at her, not being able to move. It was reasonable, Ian was her sister's boyfriend and also Spencer's crush. Ali thought she'd be in denial, but it had been as if Spencer was connecting the dots with every word Ali spoke. "Uh," Spencer said in a croaky tone. "We should proceed with practice." She stood up and then saw Ian with different eyes. She felt disgusted and looked back at her friend. "I'm sorry."

"I'm okay now. I have my best friends by my side."

Spencer stared at her for a moment, as if not being able to understand. But Ali had just picked her stick and grabbed a ball.

x-x-x

After practice, Alison found Em on her way to the cafeteria. She grabbed her arm and dragged her to the side, earning a cute little gasp from her best friend. "Not to hold you back... literally, but I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to sleepover at my house tomorrow."

"Are the girls coming?" Emily asked in a small voice.

"That's why only you and me are here and not there." Ali motioned her head towards the cafeteria.

"I'll have to ask my mom, but I'm sure it'd be fine since it's the weekend." Emily rubbed the back of her neck nervously, Alison noticed her strong arms. "Why just us?"

"Because I have plans for us two." Ali smiled genuinely at her. "So, see you.... hopefully."

"You're not coming?"

Alison shrugged. "The food's lame."

Emily watched Ali walk away after she waved her goodbye. The brunette continued with her original plan: grab something to eat. Now that Ali mentioned it, the food was lame. Something told her Ali realized that thanks to Noel, Mr. Richboy. But whatever.

Emily took a tray and selected today's lunch. Then she turned around, looking for her friends. She spotted Spencer sitting alone. She immediately approached her. "And the others...?"

"Late." Spencer chewed her salad. "So, how are you doing?"

"Why you ask?"

"Why so defensive?" Spencer chuckled. "But, well, I guess I really meant: How are you feeling about the rumor? I mean, we both know Ali made it up."

"It sucks. I feel I have everyone's attention and... I don't like it. Boys give me hungry looks, girls give me dirty looks.... I can't stand it. But what's done, it's done."

"You did call her out on it, right? You know, you don't always have to let things like that go."

"I don't like being upset because of Ali."

"I don't think anyone is... especially after Ian-" Spencer covered her mouth, but then sighed in relief. "Nevermind, you probably know already."

"What do you mean?"

"Ali tells you everything. She obviously told you about Ian."

"Uh, yeah. But it took a lot of convincing. How are you feeling?" Emily sensed that Spencer had had a real crush on him. Not a fake one like Hanna, who just loved gushing about cute boys, even the older ones.

"I'll be fine. It was silly in the first place. But I'm thinking wether or not to tell Melissa."

"You should... it's the right thing."

The corners of Spencer's mouth raised a little, but then went down again. "Melissa would probably not believe."

"Well... I think..."--Emily often had trouble about voicing her opinions in situations that really didn't concern her, but this did concern her, right? Spencer was her friend--"...Melissa should trust her sister more than her boyfriend. And if she doesn't, maybe she's been gaslighted. She can always ask someone from practice... or Ali herself."

"Yeah, you're right." Spencer's smile returned. She was really smart, but when it came to emotional stuff, her brain tangled her thoughts. "Though she hates Ali." She laughed at that.

"Never understood why." Of course, to Emily, Ali was perfect. But perhaps Melissa had seen Ali's broken side?

"Me neither, really. But it's fun whenever those two are in a room together."

Emily tried remembering the last time that was: Melissa and Ian on the Hastings' dining room. That hadn't been fun at all for Ali. But before summer, Melissa and Ali would share sassy banters about whatever you could think of: field hockey players, the weather, Justin Timberlake, chaos theory, etc. Emily felt Ali loved the thrill. If only she could know if she loved her back...