Comeback by Jessica Burkhart Page A

crouched beside me, her blond hair wavy and her braid messy from
     sleep.
    â€œWhat?” I asked. Everyone else was still sleeping, and gentle
     sunlight filtered through Clare’s shades.
    Khloe looked over her shoulder at Lexa, who turned over in her sleeping
     bag, breathing deeply. Then she looked up at Clare, who had a purple mask over her
     eyes.
    â€œCome on,” Khloe whispered.
    I started to ask, but the look on Khloe’s face stopped me. Something
     was wrong. Khloe was never the first one awake, and she looked
     like she’d been up for a while. Thereweren’t any signs
     of sleepiness on her face—instead her mouth was pressed together, and she was
     clenching and unclenching her fingers.
    Without a word, I crawled out of my warm sleeping bag, then grabbed
     slippers and my blue robe to throw over my white shorts and lace eyelet tank top.
    Khloe eased open the door, made sure it was unlocked, and motioned me to
     go in front of her. We stepped into the silent hallway, and I slid into my slippers and
     pulled on my robe.
    â€œOkay. You’re scaring me. What’s going on?” I
     asked her.
    Khloe rubbed her forehead. “We’ve got a Riley
     problem.”
    We walked a few steps away from Clare’s door, and Khloe plopped onto
     the floor, patting the carpet next to her.
    I was still sleepy. “What do you mean? Riley’s not even
     here.”
    Khloe held out her phone and handed me mine. “I grabbed
     yours,” she explained. “You updated your Chatter status last
     night.”
    â€œYeah . . . ,” I said, dragging out the word. “So? I
     don’t understand.”
    â€œYou wrote that we were staying at Clare’s.” Khloerubbed her forehead. “It’s so dumb that it’s an
     issue, but Clare didn’t tell Riley that Lexa, you, and I were sleeping over. Riley
     would have said no way and been really ticked at Clare for asking.”
    Suddenly, I got it. “And you said Clare didn’t even talk to
     Riley about it. So she probably wasn’t going to even tell Riley that we slept
     over,” I said, drawing my knees up to my chest.
    Khloe picked at the fresh polish on her thumb. “She definitely
     wasn’t going to say a word. Clare’s going to get ripped from Riley for
     having us over.”
    â€œOh, no. Oh, Khlo. I didn’t even think last night. I should
     have. But wait, it’s early in the morning. I posted that really late last night. What if Riley didn’t even see it? I can delete
     it right now and Riley will never know.”
    Khloe gave me a small smile. “If only Riley wasn’t a Chatter
     addict who checks it every two seconds. She already saw it. Check your phone.”
    I turned on my BlackBerry and there were Chatter notifications. I went
     straight to the replies.
    OfficiallyRiley: Wow! Seems like my bestie,
     @CutieClare, doesn’t miss me at all. She already filled our room w new
     roomies—@Lexaaa, @DramaRama, & @LaurBell.
    That was posted hours after I’d written my message.
    There were individual messages from Riley to each of
     us, all written minutes apart this morning.
    OfficiallyRiley: @CutieClare: I’m coming back
     tmrw, Clare. Hope that doesn’t disappoint u 2 much.
    â€œAre you kidding me?” I asked. “This is so
     immature!” I felt sick that I’d caused trouble between Clare and Riley.
     Poor, sleeping Clare had no idea yet about what she was going to wake up to. All because
     I’d been missing half my brain last night.
    Khloe shook her head. “I wish this was a joke. Keep
     reading.”
    OfficiallyRiley: @Lexaaa: Did u have fun sleeping in my
     dorm room, Lex? R @CutieClare & I invited 2 ur room next? We’d def want
     Jill’s OK first, tho.
    The girl was transparent. She was broadcasting what read like some kind of
     ultimate betrayal on Chatter and painting Clare like a girl who