A Season for Hope (Sarra Cannon) by Sarra Cannon

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    I hate to admit it, but she’s right. It’s crazy how quickly it can happen. In just one short week, I went from barely able to get out of bed to a racing heart every time the phone rings.
    About two seconds later, that’s exactly what happens. I jump at the sound, then race toward where I left my phone sitting on the counter. I take one look at the caller ID and my face breaks out in a huge smile.
    Monica laughs. “Told ya.”
    Chapter Eighteen
     
    I stick my tongue out at my roommate, then pick up the phone and walk back toward my bedroom.
    “Hey,” I say, a warm feeling spreading through my body.
    “Hey, what are you up to tonight?” he asks.
    We hadn’t made any specific plans to be together tonight , but I had been hoping he would call.
    “Nothing in particular,” I say. “You?”
    “Can you be ready around six?” he asks.
    “Ready for what?”
    “I want to take you out to meet some of my friends,” he says, like it’s the most casual thing in the universe.
    My entire body tenses. I wasn’t expecting to meet his friends so soon. I have no idea what to wear or how to act around them.
    “What were you guys planning to do?” I ask, trying not to sound like I’m about to throw up.
    “We were going to head to my buddy Brian’s house and play some games,” he says. “He’s having a little get-together for Christmas. It’s pretty casual, but I’d like to go.”
    I hesitate. Breathe in and out. I’m not sure I’m ready for this. Meeting the friends is a huge deal. What if they don’t like me? What if I don’t fit in with them? It took me years to learn how to fit in with the rich kids at Fairhope High. Even up until the point Preston and I broke up, I never really felt like I could be one-hundred-percent myself around them. And since we broke up? Not one of my so-called friends has bothered to come by and check on me or ask me to hang out.
    It didn’t take long for me to see the true loyalties there.
    I was never one of them, and maybe that was part of the reason Preston and I never really fit.
    “I don’t know,” I say. “It seems like a big step.”
    “Wait, are you saying no?” he asks. He sounds surprised. Worried. “Look, it’s not a big deal if you really don’t want to come, but it’s not like I’m asking you to marry me or anything. It’s just a party.”
    He says it with a laugh, but for some reason, his words cut me to the core. It’s like he’s making fun of me for taking this seriously.
    “Well, I don’t want to go, okay?” I snap. I sit down on my bed and pull my legs up tight against my chest. “I really should stay home. I have a lot of studying to do tonight. My first final is coming up in a few days, and I’m not ready for it.”
    “Bailey,” he says. “Let’s talk about this.”
    “I have to go.”
    I hang up, tears welling up in my eyes for the first time all week. I have no idea why I just snapped at him like that, but now he probably thinks I’m a jerk. Or a total mental case.
    I jump when the phone rings again. It’s Judd calling back, but I don’t think I can face him right now. I’m embarrassed and upset and scared. I send the call to voicemail and silence the ringer. Just to be extra safe, I stuff the phone under my pillow and disappear into the bathroom, letting the tears fall until I calm myself down enough to head back into the living room to face Monica. It’s the first time I’ve cried all week.
    “What happened?” she asks, a huge smile on her face. Then she sees my red eyes and frowns. “Whoa, seriously, what happened?”
    I shrug. “I don’t even know,” I say, half-laughing. “He asked me to go hang out tonight with his friends, and I completely freaked out for no reason.”
    She bites her lip. “You don’t want to meet his friends?”
    “I don’t to be judged by his friends,” I say. “It’s been so nice being able to just be myself around him, you know? There are no games between us. No crazy drama or lies