The League > jariana (COMPLETED)

fourteen

Nora tossed a kernel of popcorn into the air. It missed her mouth, ricocheted off the headboard, and bounced into her purse, which lay open on the floor. A piece of paper, folded in thirds, peeked out of her wallet.

"You got a D!" Zoe gasped at the visible mark.

"You sound like I robbed a bank or something," Nora said.

Zoe fanned her face as if she were feeling faint. "You mean Ms. Valedictorian blew a test?"

"I can't keep up with hours of homework and have a social life, too. Those two don't go together, okay?"

I stared at her. "Aren't you worried what your parents will say?"

"I'm over that. Besides, I heard from Stanford a while ago. Early admission. There's no point in killing myself any longer."

"Stanford!" I cried. "I can't believe you didn't say anything. That's major."

"I accepted, but I haven't decided yet."

"Decided?" I said. "What do you mean?"

"There are other things to do besides college."

"Are you crazy?" Zoe asked.

What could be more important than going to Stanford? Nora had said there were 34,000 applicants last year for 2,400 spaces, and she was thinking of turning them down?

"Some of us can barely afford Community," Zoe added, resentment brewing under the surface.

"Maybe I want to travel," Nora said. "Become a professional poker player. Get a black belt in taekwondo. Be a screenwriter. Whatever. Live life." She stretched out a leg, kicking the purse under the bed. "Justin says you should find your own path and stop trying to be perfect by other people's standards."

"Yeah, right. Like he's an expert on perfection," Zoe grumbled.

"He seems to know a lot about life," I said.

"You should know. You've been hanging on to his every word," Nora said.

I looked at her, confused. Why was she angry with me when I was agreeing with her?

Zoe patted both of us on the thigh. "Okay, okay, break it up. Who wants to play Truth or Dare? Or better yet, Truth or Truth."

"Huh?" I said.

"We're seniors," Nora said. "Not twelve-year-olds."

Zoe smirked. "Admit it. Neither of you has done anything worth confessing."

I swallowed hard. That would have been true a few weeks ago, but now I'd done more.

If you tell, it will change things, Justin had said. In a million different ways.

I reached for the DVD. "Want to watch the movie?"

Nora took it from me and chucked it back onto the night-stand. "You go first, Ariana. I'll spill if you'll spill."

"I'll make this easy for you both. The answer is nothing and nothing," Zoe said.

The details of my love life were roiling inside me, on the verge of boiling over. This conversation wasn't helping.

"I'll bet my vintage army boots that Ariana hasn't even frenched a guy," Zoe added.

"Not only have I kissed someone before, but it was recently," I blurted out.

Zoe shrieked with glee, then yanked off her right boot and tossed it at me. I wrinkled my nose like it smelled bad before pitching it to Nora, who made no effort to catch it.

"How long ago is 'recently'?" she said coolly.

I dug my toe into the shag carpet. "Well, um, I'm kind of seeing someone now."

Zoe's smile faded. Behind Nora's back, she shook her head.

Had Justin told Zoe the news already? If so, I didn't see any reason why I couldn't share my personal life with my friends. "It's Justin," I announced.

Nora stared at me, stunned.

"Well, we didn't want to tell anyone," I explained. "I mean, it's new to us, too."

The words "we" and "us" sounded weird. It had been "I" and "me" forever.

"How did it happen?" she asked.

"When Dave Harper was in the hospital, I went to Justin's apartment." I heard defensiveness seep into my voice. "I had to talk to someone about ... everything that happened."

"And one thing led to another," Nora said.

I felt like a balloon with a slow leak. "Well, I spent the night there."

"You slept with him?"

"No!" I backtracked. "I mean, I literally slept there. We fell asleep. I got home right before my alarm clock went off."

The conversation was like a game I used to play called Perfection. Thirty seconds to fit the puzzle pieces into their slots before the whole thing popped in your face.

"Just because Justin and I are together doesn't mean things have to change," I added, offering a feeble smile.

Nora's arm shot out and the bowl tumbled across the floor, scattering popcorn everywhere. She darted out of the room.

"Excellent work, Grande," Zoe said.

"If she was my friend, she'd be happy for me," I insisted.

"If you weren't so busy falling all over Justin, you might've noticed Nora's got a thing for him, too."

"He's not her type," I said.

"He pays attention to her. Believe me, that's her type."

What, was I supposed to hand over Justin because Nora's parents could only acknowledge her perfect report cards?

I held back my tears as we searched the house for her. I couldn't believe we were fighting over a guy like a lame teenage cliché.

"Did Justin tell you about us?" I asked Zoe.

"No. Your bug-eyed, lovesick stare did."

Crap. I'd jumped the gun, and now I'd breached Justin's secrecy rule. He was right; telling the truth had messed things up. What if they all voted me out of the League? You'll be in the same boat as before, with no friends ... came a reasonable voice in my head. But that old boat had a crack in the bottom and was taking on water. My friends were keeping me afloat.

The backyard screen door slammed shut, rattling on its hinges. I leaped over a dirty litter pan and swung the door open. Nora was slumped on the bottom step, her face buried in her hands.

I moved closer. "I'm sorry ... I didn't mean ..."

I looked back to Zoe for help. She stood by the door, plucking dried leaves off a potted plant.

Nora leveled me with an icy stare. "What happens to our group if you and Justin break up?"

I didn't have an answer. For once in my life I'd been trying to live in the moment—I hadn't thought about the future. I didn't even know what I was going to do after graduation, now that I'd decided against Barrymore.

Nora stood up. "Just one thing. You should keep your eyes open. You might not know Justin Bieber as well as you think." She disappeared into the house.

"What the hell does she mean by that?" I asked.

"She's jealous," Zoe said. "She'll get over it."

She followed Nora inside. I stayed on the splintered, peeling porch and shivered in the cool night air.

A/N:

nora wants some of that bieber booty too hmm girl bye

so, Ari got that blonde ombre lol it's my fave color on her in real life so

haha, thanks for reading, loves! xo