Home Sweet Drama by Jessica Burkhart

wrong and he was sorry, but they couldn’t be together.”
    It was almost too much. My brain couldn’t process what Heather was saying.
    â€œWhat did she say?” I managed to ask.
    â€œCallie was crying,” Alison said, her voice soft. “She wanted to work things out so they could stay together, but Jacob insisted they had to break up.”
    I looked at Heather and her eyes met mine.
    â€œCallie and Jacob are over,” she said.

14
    HIDE OUT
    FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON I HID IN the library. On the top floor. In one of the locked study rooms. Without telling anyone where I was.
    Every five seconds my emotions changed. At first all I could think about was looking for Callie and comforting her. Jacob was her first boyfriend and she had to be a wreck. I knew she was in pain and it killed me not to be able to be there for her as she went through her first breakup.
    After I thought about Callie, my mind went to Jacob. His claims about school, parents, and sports were probably all true, but it wasn’t the reason he’d broken up with Callie. I knew it. And it made me feel so guilty. But when that melted away, just for a second, I wondered whatwould happen if we
ever
tried again. I knew we couldn’t—not after everything we’d gone through to protect Callie from the truth the night of my party.
    I sat in the library until just before dusk. My phone buzzed and I opened it to see a text from Paige.
    Where r u? need 2 get ready 4 bonfire!
    Oh, my God. I rubbed my eyes. I’d completely forgotten about that. Callie, Jacob, Eric, and I along with the other nominees were all forced to go to the bonfire since we were junior royal court nominees. Headmistress Drake would be there so there was
no
way I could back out.
    B rite there,
I texted Paige.
    I left the library and walked back to Winchester. I had to tell Paige what was going on before we got to the bonfire. I had no clue how she’d react to the news. I knew she’d be upset for Callie, but I wondered if that would raise more questions from her about what really happened between Jacob and me at my party.
    I opened the door to our room, barely realizing that I’d even walked down the Winchester hallway, and stepped inside. Paige turned around from her spot in front of our mirror and looked at me.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she asked. “Something happened—I can see it in your face.”
    I sat at the edge of my bed and pulled off my riding boots.
    Paige sat on her desk chair and swiveled it to look at me. “You can tell me—whatever it is.”
    â€œI know,” I said. “It’s just hard to talk about.” I paused, taking a breath. “I was at the stable and just before my lesson, Heather told me she needed to tell me something.”
    â€œUh-oh.”
    â€œI know. I had to go through the entire lesson just waiting for her to tell me and I thought I was going to die. Then when it was finally over and I asked her, she told me to meet her at the hayloft with Julia and Alison in half an hour.”
    Paige shook her head. “So typical Heather. Dangling something in front of you and then saying wait. Again.”
    â€œAgreed. So after half an hour I met them. They said they’d overheard Callie and Jacob in the tack room.”
    I watched Paige’s face, but her expression gave away nothing. She sat still—waiting for me to finish.
    â€œJacob told Callie that his parents were on him about his grades and he was feeling tons of pressure with sports. He knew he wasn’t being a good boyfriend and he apologized to her.”
    Paige leaned back into her chair. “She must feel better now, right? I mean, if he had all of that going on, she musthave sensed that things were off and he was going through something.”
    I wrung my hands together. “I doubt she feels better. Jacob broke up with her.” I whispered the last sentence.
    â€œOh, no!”