The Unconditional Pledge

6 Hannah

"Hannah?"

I turn my head to see my mom peering at me through the crack in my door. "Why are you still awake?"

"Um, couldn't sleep," I say, quickly turning off my phone. I sit up and face her. "Did you just get home?"

"Yeah." She takes off her glasses and runs a hand through her graying hair, the lines around her eyes more prominent than ever. Even in a polished business suit that she's in 24/7, I can barely recognize her. "Sleep soon, okay?"

She doesn't wait for me to answer before retreating down the hall again. I exhale and lie back down. My bed is so warm and comfortable that if I close my eyes, I'd be asleep in no time.

But I can't. I have research to do.

My phone buzzes with an Instagram notification. Courtney Palmer tagged you in a post.

I close my eyes and breathe out calmly. By the time I open them again, the photos have loaded. Even though each photo is of Courtney, the first has Juliby in the background, her shirt over her head while she dances. Another photo has Ashton chugging beer through a funnel as bodies around him pump their fists. The last photo is of Jay and Nick attempting to play limbo with Mr. Mathers's prized pool stick, a lacy black bra covering the upper half of Jay's face.

I run my tongue over my teeth and check again for any photos of me. I'm in the background of one of Courtney's selfies — she takes them between dancing for every party she goes to — in the corner chugging down a red cup. In another, I'm slung over somebody's shoulder. I squint, leaning closer. Is that somebody ... Nick?

I recognize the dark hair, the taut shoulders under that signature Polo tee. Yes, it's definitely Nick. I swallow down something sour. What was I, Hannah Greene, doing literally on top of Nick Sawyer?

A second notification pops up, and I brace myself for another montage of Courtney's photos. Instead, it reads, Jay Kaden commented on a photo you're tagged in. In the photo with me drinking from the red cup, he's commented, wow greene — can you handle your liquor tho?

The bright phone screen is starting to hurt my eyes in the dark. I read the comment again and set my phone down. Jay and I aren't exactly what'd you call pals, meaning that we'd talked a few times before and maybe even hung out briefly during the period he'd dated Courtney. But he always made fun of me in a way that I hated — little comments snaking their way to me here and there. I'm sure he doesn't mean for it to affect me that much, but the fact that he knows more about me than most people is enough to piss me off already. For one, he's one of the few people who knows that in my high-achieving family, I'm the only one scoring C's and D's and my parents are usually too busy to notice. He only knows this because his mom is friends with mine, and I don't think he's ever told anybody, but it's still embarrassing.

But I don't get why Jay targets me to make fun of. Ava isn't exactly a perfect Fieldbrook girl either, but Jay treats her just fine. Maybe it's because he senses something about me. Something different that just makes me an easy target. Or maybe he just secretly hates me.

Which would make my pledge all the more difficult. Seduce Jay Kaden.

I feel my stomach turn at the thought. Seduce? As in, hook up with? Sleep with? The pledge isn't exactly specific, but then again, specificity isn't necessary for the person assigning the pledge. Maybe, I think hopefully, I can use this to my advantage. It could be worse — with a more specific pledge, means a tighter set of restrictions. And, I think, daring to feel more hopeful, what if Jay's bi, like Josh?

I know I need help, but who to contact doesn't exactly jump to mind. Finally I imagine Courtney next to me, pointing out what to do. "Go to his profile," I imagine her instructing. "Learn all there is to know about him."

Obediently I pull up his account. 1078 followers. His most recent post is of him and his cat, Nugget, asleep on his bed. Creds to Nick, the caption reads. 543 likes. I wonder how many likes I'd get for a photo of a cat.

Further down is a photo of the Fieldbrook Heights soccer team — a year ago, that is. I almost don't recognize the lanky boy next to Josh in the picture. His blonde hair is long and floppy, his smile crooked. The uniform fits him perfectly, covering his sinewy shoulders. He fits right in between Josh and the other guys. He is another beautiful Fieldbrook boy.

I scroll past a few more photos and find one from summer, when his family had traveled to France. Jay is sitting in a high end restaurant, elbows on the table and expression sullen. Even unsmiling, he looks handsome. The caption reads, just tried escargot for the first time. I do not recommend.

I smile in the dark. I keep scrolling to look for anything that could be helpful, but nothing comes up. Finally, I set my phone down on my nightstand and let myself relax. I'm dead to the world within seconds.

"What are we even doing here?"

"I told you, it's just something about my pledge," I mutter back to Ava. "I can't tell you any more."

We're parked across a big, Victorian house on Azure Street, where there are perfectly kept lawns and tall willowy trees just like the rest of Fieldbrook. The curtains on the second floor window shift and a figure slips past. I duck, scared, before carefully raising the binoculars back up to my eyes.

Ava asks in disbelief, "Are you spying on Jay Kaden?"

I set them down, passing another pair from my bag to her. "No, but I need to find out everything about him. All the dirt on him."

"I am now thoroughly alarmed."

I clear my throat, thinking about last night's stalking session. "You should be."

The shades on the upstairs room whip open. I shamefully adjust the zooming qualities of my glasses, leaning until I'm almost pressed against the window. From here we can watch as Jay takes off his shirt and sifts through a drawer behind him. Ava and I both gasp at the same time. It's clear that even though he stopped acting like one long ago, Jay Kaden still has the body of a Fieldbrook boy.

"Wow," Ava whispers next to me. I set the binoculars down and look at her, waiting for her to continue. She immediately feigns surprise and says, "Who said that?"

I laugh loudly, and she clamps a hand to my mouth. Jay whips around in his room, turning to look out the window. He can't possibly hear us from up there, but my paranoia isn't helping. We duck and hold our breath until he turns back. In the white button down that's underneath all the blazers of the boys' uniforms, he looks almost really good. I turn back to watch as he pulls out his phone. We wait patiently as he dials into his cell and brings it to his ear, sitting down on his bed.

Within seconds, my phone rings.

Ava and I exchange horrified looks. I yank out my phone and hesitate before pressing it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Greene," a low voice replies. "Liking the view from over there?"

Nothing but a mortified squeak can escape my mouth. I peek out the window to see Jay wave. Ava slams her head to the seat so fast it almost gives me whiplash.

"Don't worry, I know you're not just here to enjoy the show." He chuckles, and I watch him pull his curtains closed. "It's got something to do with your pledge, right?"

"Um," is the only thing I manage to say. Heat is quickly rushing to my cheeks.

"I won't tell." A beat of amused silence. "Next time, just be more discreet, okay?"

He hangs up. I turn to face Ava. "He knows," I say.

"Shit."

I take a deep breath and start the car again. It's pretty widely known that you should not let your pledge victims know your intention, however fake it might be. And since my victim, who also happens to be the master of the game, now suspects, it definitely isn't going to make it any easier for me.

We speed out of the street. When I glance back in the rear view mirror, Jay's window is back open again. He waves, this time with a satisfied smirk on his face.

I hate it here.