They Say Love Hides Behind Every Corner. I Must Be Walking in Circles

Chapter 13

“What?” she asked and I could tell she was seriously confused.

I sighed, and once again regretted coming here. “Can I come in?”

She nodded absentmindedly, and I walked in. I went straight towards her room.

“Wait, how did you know where my room was?”

“I told you,” I said. “I’m not really Serena, but Shay.”

“Yeah, and I’m the new Tooth Fairy,” she retorted. “The Rock couldn’t handle it, so I’m taking over.”

I sighed. Maddie wasn’t my best friend for nothing. She was just like me. Her bullshit detector must have been off the charts. I know mine would’ve been.

“How can I prove to you that I’m telling the truth?” I asked.

“By letting me drive you to the Insane Asylum,” she responded.

I rolled my eyes. “Any other way?” I asked, and then added, “How about if I were to tell you that you’ve got a better chance with Paul now that you go to Ridgeway, too?”

“I’d say that anyone with eyes could see that I’m crazy for Paul,” she replied.

“But what about the fact that I know that Westley nearly murdered Forrest at our Sweet Sixteen party, because I let Forrest and Paul stay, so you could mingle with Paul?” I continued.

I knew I was breaking her. But still, she said, “I’d say that anyone who attended that party could have noticed.”

“How about the fact that you were the one who invited him, you went over for God knows what reason, and ended up leaving with two missing invitations,” I insisted. “Or when Jasmine and I got pissed at each other, you went to go get Forrest, of all people, to help us work things out. And what about the time we nearly went to Juvy for causing a fight between two security guards way back? Do you remember when we used to get up at six in the morning to go to Free Donut Saturday when we were nine? Does any of that ring a bell?”

Maddie’s eyes glistened. “Oh, God, of course I remember all of that. But I thought you were missing, or dead, or something!”

I reached out and we hugged.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Maddie admitted.

“God, I hope not,” I muttered.

She pulled away. “But what the hell are you doing in Serena’s body?”

“I have no idea!” I sighed. “I just remember passing out in the bathroom, and waking up as Serena. I’ve been in lockdown for trying to escape.”

“You don’t remember anything else?”

I shook my head.

“So what are you gonna do now?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I have no clue. But I don’t think we can tell Jasmine.”

“Why not?” Maddie demanded.

“I really wanna be able to tell her,” I said with a sigh. “But you know Jazz. She loves gossip, and could accidentally blurt something out for gossip points, or mention something without realizing.”

Maddie frowned. “You’re right. But how am I supposed to look her in the eye when she’s sad about you being supposedly missing and just lie?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But that’s what I’ve had to do for the past week.”

“I just can’t believe you’re here!” she squealed. “Even if it’s not in your real body, you know what? As long as you’re still the same old Shay, I don’t care!”

I grinned. At least I still had a piece of my old life to get by on.

&&&

I was really glad Serena’s circle of friends had accepted Maddie. It made things so much easier, so that people wouldn’t be on our backs for “suddenly” becoming the best of friends.

“Hey, Serena,” Finn said.

“Oh, hey,” I said with a small grin.

I had sort of avoided him for the past two days. Now I felt sort of bad.

“This is Maddie,” I said, presenting her. Maddie grabbed his hand and shook it. I had to laugh at that.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, looking just a little creeped out.

“She’s new here,” I added, and he nodded.

Finn decided to sit at our table today. So it was Beth, Maddie, Callie, Finn and I.

Across the cafeteria, Maddie and I sucked in a deep breath simultaneously. Forrest and Paul had just walked in, laughing at something Bryce, whom I met in Science yesterday, had said.

“Oh, God,” Maddie whispered.

They had skipped two days of school. I wasn’t exactly surprised. That was why we hadn’t worried about this until now.

“Take deep breaths,” I whispered.

“Omigosh,” Callie squealed. “Are you crushing on one of those guys?”

Maddie turned beet red. “Kinda.”

“Those guys are said to be so cool they aren’t even cool,” Beth added.

“Say what?” I asked. “What the hell are you talking about?” I was now comfortable enough around them to be myself, screwing Serena’s old personality aside. I wasn’t about to try to live life as someone I knew nothing about.

“I mean, they’re so cool, they broke the cool scale,” Beth tried to explain. “They’re too cool for the popular people, like us, I guess.”

I nodded. It sort of made sense in a weird, twisted way. But it was better to act like I comprehended it fully than to make her keep trying to explain, to no avail.

“So who is it?” Callie pressed eagerly.

Maddie sighed. “Paul.”

“Oh, he’s cute,” Beth said, deeming her approval.

“Oh, my God, can you guys not be such girls when I’m sitting right here?” Finn said suddenly. We turned to look at him. We had completely forgotten he was sitting there for a second.

“Sorry,” Maddie said with a laugh, and we all burst out laughing.

Forrest and Paul turned to look at our table, and Forrest’s eyes met mine. I was sort of frozen, but managed to look away inconspicuously.

What was wrong with me? Seriously? If I had thought I didn’t have a chance with him back then, I sure as hell didn’t have one now.

I tried to ignore him for the rest of the day, but his presence still lurked in the corner of my mind. I knew he was there, and it was proving extremely difficult to act otherwise.

At the end of the day, I was at practice when I noticed Jasmine and Maddie outside. I, of course, nosy as hell, went to eavesdrop.

“Dude, three days at this crap school and already you’ve completely forgotten about me?” Jasmine said.

“Jazz, you know that’s not true,” Maddie responded.

“Well, how about the fact that suddenly you’re best friends with Serena Magnus?” Jasmine continued.

“That isn’t what you think,” Maddie replied.

“Then what is it?” Jasmine demanded. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to lose both of my best friends in the course of like, a week.”

“You haven’t lost us.”

“Oh, c’mon, get real,” Jasmine said with a snort. “You’ve found your new best friend, while Shay is God knows where, with God knows who.”

I impulsively stepped out at that moment, and they turned to look at me. I nodded at Maddie.

“I happen to know where Shay is, actually,” Maddie told her.

“Oh, really?” Jasmine asked incredulously.

“Yeah, she’s right here,” Maddie said, pointing to me.

“Is this some sort of joke?” Jasmine demanded. “Cause it sure as hell ain’t funny!”

“No, it isn’t a joke,” I said. “We’re serious.”

“Well, I don’t see any puffy brown hair or a goofy smile,” Jasmine retorted. “I just see blond hair and an annoyingly white smile.”

Jasmine walked out before we could say anything else. I saw Maddie wordlessly follow suit.

Well.

This sucks.