third time's a charm

"i would have never guessed"

chapter twenty-two: i would have never guessed

Wednesday, December 20. 8:58 pm.

"Come on, Elle." Will tugged on my arm as he stood up from his seat. I groaned quietly due to my nerves, but got up anyway. We all walked down to the court, where everyone was standing; either for their friends or kids to come out from the locker room.

It took no time at all for Graysie to find me.

"Ellie!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around my waist as she hugged me tight. My heart rate increased, but I tried not to let my nerves show.

"Hi, princess," I said before wrapping my arms around her as best as I could. "What did you think of the game?"

"That bully tried to hurt Jams," Graysie made a mean face as she spoke about Vales, and I had to keep back a laugh. "Jams could easily hurt him."

"But he wouldn't," I said, wanting her to know that violence was not the answer. She nodded, knowing I was right.

"Hey, Ellie!" Jamie's dad smiled as he and Layla finally caught up to Graysie, and I sent him a smile in return. Layla made her way over to me and hugged me. "What a game, huh?"

"It was crazy," I said, shaking my head gently.

"It was a good game, though," Layla said, and we all agreed. "Do you have any friends on South's team?"

"It's actually sort of funny that you ask that—"

A loud uproar of hollering cut me off. I looked over my shoulder to see that Vales had walked out, and everyone was clapping for him. He walked over to us and my breath got hitched in my throat. Will and Rowan wrapped their arms around him, and I excused myself for a second to do the same. Vales hadn't seemed to notice that I was talking to anyone, so I slid out while he was oblivious.

"Oh," Layla said, connecting the dots.

"Does Jamie know that?" I looked at Henry and nodded.

"I don't think I ever told you this, or Jamie did, but... my last name is—"

"Bosley," Layla looked over my head and I looked over my shoulder to see my parents making their way to Vales. Layla looked down at me with a sense of shock and I sent her a sweet smile. "Oh my god... you're Dana's daughter?"

"Wait, what?" Henry tried to catch up, clearly seeming confused.

"She's one of the twins. Dana and Elliot are her parents."

"Shit, really?" Graysie smacked her dad's leg as he swore, and he apologized to her, but she didn't seem satisfied.

"Do you think we could go talk to them?" Layla asked me and I nodded eagerly. "C'mon, Gray, I want you to meet someone." We all walked over to my parents, and as my mom's eyes met Layla's, she smiled widely. They hurried to hug each other and I couldn't help but smile at the scene. Henry made his way over to my dad and they hugged as well, seeming excited to see each other. They immediately started talking. Vales seemed confused, and I realized that Will and Rowan were looking at me, waiting.

I grabbed Vales's hand and he furrowed his eyebrows at me. I pulled on his arm and he followed me as I stepped to the side.

"I need to tell you something," I told him, my heart basically beating out of my chest. "You're not going to like what I have to say, but I need you to know you shouldn't take it personally."

"Elle... what is it?" Vales asked, seeming just a nervous as me.

"When I went to that party... at Jamison Burnside's house..." I gulped before I continued. "He was the boy. He is the boy. He's Galileo, if that rings a bell. We really hit it off and I really, really like him. I lied about a few things. I've been seeing him since, and we've been keeping it from you because I didn't know how you'd react. I didn't want you to be furious and try to kill him during the game or something, I don't know. I've been to his house a few times, and those are his parents... they used to be best friends with Mom and Dad, back in high school." Vales looked at me blankly as I unloaded all the information I had to give him. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jamie walking out of the locker room and I saw him stop as he saw us.