Promise to Keep by Jessica Wood Page B

who had made fun of the cigarette burns my mom had accidentally made on my overalls on my first day of school in first grade after I’d moved in with Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom. She had then pretended to be nice to me and invited me to eat lunch with her and her friends, but then had called me dirty and made fun of my clothes. She was the girl who had gotten the entire cafeteria to laugh at me that day. And ever since that very first day we’d met, she’d never been nice to me. Sometimes she’d pretend to be, like when Jackson was around, but I knew she was faking it. I think she’d always blamed me for the way Jackson had treated her that day in front of the entire school when he’d come to my rescue after I fell on the cafeteria floor.
    “Hi, Chloe.” Amber flashed me a bright smile, showing off her perfect pearly whites.
    I snapped out of my thoughts in time to force myself to return a polite smile. “Hey, Amber.”
    “Congrats on graduating. I never thought we’d all make it to this day, did you?” she asked with a giggle. There was a smirk on her face as she eyed me up and down.
    I felt my blood start to boil at what I knew she was trying to imply with her words. Since we were in first grade, she had always thought she was better than me and was never shy about voicing that opinion to me in her subtle, condescending way.
    I wanted to respond and put her in her place, but Jackson stopped me and spoke up first. “Congrats on also getting into Harvard, Amber. I had no idea you had applied or that they accepted applications after the first of January.” I could tell from the tone in his voice that he was mocking her.
    “They don’t, actually. I missed the deadline by a few months. But it was the least Harvard could do, seeing as my dad’s an alumnus and was one of their top financial donors last year.” Amber shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.
    I smiled to myself just then. I knew immediately why Jackson had made his comment. In his own way, he had been defending me against Amber’s comments by forcing Amber to admit to her own failures. But his attempt was lost on Amber as she seemed to freely and unabashedly admit to not getting into Harvard on her merits alone.
    Then she turned to me and frowned. “Too bad you can’t also join us at Harvard, Chloe. That would have been so much fun!”
    The sheer lack of sincerity in her voice grated against my patience. But before I could say anything, Jackson stopped me again.
    “Hey, Clo. There’re my parents waving us down. Let’s go say hi.” He grabbed my hand in a rush and pulled me away from Amber. “See ya later, Amber,” he said quickly with a wave.
    “See you at Harvard, Jackson,” she called after us in a singsong voice. Even with my back turned to her as Jackson ushered me away, I could picture the smug smirk across Amber’s face as she watched us leave.
    “Why did you keep interrupting me, Jax?” I felt annoyed that I didn’t get a chance to vent my anger out on that bitch.
    “Clo, I could tell you were getting upset, and really, it’s not worth it.”
    “It sure feels worth it to me,” I retorted in disagreement as I imagined how much better I’d feel if I’d said something mean to Amber. Maybe if she came back with more of her bitchiness, I would have even punched her in the face.
    “Come on, Clo. It’s our graduation. It’s not worth causing a scene in front of everyone or wasting your time on her. We’re both about to move away for college. Let’s make the best of our free time before we start school.”
    I huffed out a sigh of frustration. I always hated when Jackson was right, especially when I wanted so badly for him to be wrong.
    “Besides,” he continued, “Amber’s harmless. I know she rubs you the wrong way. She definitely has a strong personality. But really she’s not all that bad. I think you two just got off on the wrong foot from the very beginning. She’s not as bad as she used to be.”
    I rolled my eyes,