Next Summer by Hailey Abbott Page A

clarity: She’d been sitting there in the pouring rain, waiting for him. The rain had pounded down against the metal of the car, cocooning Kelsi inside the din. Then, finally, he’d appeared, walking through the rain as if he didn’t notice it, walking with that particular rolling gait of his that Kelsi had loved. And clinging to his hand was a girl, a girl with blonde hair flattened to her head and her own way of walking—a way of walking Kelsi had decided not to recognize, she now realized. A way of walking she couldn’t let herself recognize.
    Kelsi felt sick to her stomach. Then when she looked up, Ella was standing in the doorway wrapped in a towel and smiling, and Kelsi hated her so much and so intensely that it made her eyes fill with tears.
    “Tell me all about your hot date,” Ella said cheerfully, rubbing her head with another towel.
    “First, why don’t you tell me all about Peter,” Kelsi said through clenched teeth. “I think I got most of the story from the text messages, but I might be missing a few crucial pieces of information.” Her voice sounded terrible, Kelsi thought. Hoarse, like she’d been yelling.
    Ella’s eyes went wide and then darker, and Kelsi’s heart broke completely then, because it was true.
    “So fill me in,” Kelsi continued. It was like she couldn’t stop herself. “Maybe you can show me how it works. How you decide to hook up with your sister’s boyfriend.”
    “You don’t understand,” Ella began, and she sounded different, too, like someone else. Someone younger, less sure of herself. Someone shaky and panicked.
    “Then explain it to me,” Kelsi suggested, her voice beyond harsh this time. She was so angry and hurt that she thought her body might shut down completely. “Explain to me how my younger sister screwed my boyfriend fifteen minutes after we broke up.”
    Ella flinched and then her eyes filled with tears. Kelsi felt queasy, because she hadn’t really thought about that part—what Ella had actually done with Peter. She’d just thrown that out there to hurt Ella. But now she knew.
    “You had sex with him?” she asked, and hated herself for sounding so hurt. She wished she could sound strong. Righteously indignant. But Kelsi’s voice was doing just as it pleased.
    “I…” The tears began to roll down Ella’s cheeks. “I never would have done anything with him—I totally gave up when I saw how into him you were, but then there was this one night in the car and he was the one who started it, I swear—”
    “You’re pathetic,” Kelsi spat at her, but she had to whisper because she was afraid she was going to start sobbing. “You hated the fact that he chose me, didn’t you? You couldn’t stand it. You had to be the pretty one, the popular one, the one all the boys wanted. You couldn’t believe someone could like me instead of you.” Kelsi understood; she was supposed to be in the shadows while Ella stood in the spotlight. It had been that way their whole lives.
    “It wasn’t like that!” Ella sobbed. Her face was twisted, and she looked almost ugly. Kelsi felt like she was seeing her sister for the first time. “I’m so sorry, Kelsi. I never meant to hurt you,” Ella added.
    “So you were nice to me afterward, what? To make up for it?” Kelsi wiped angrily at her face, where the tears had started to stain. “It was all just part of this? What you did?”
    “No!” Ella’s eyes searched the room wildly, and then came back to focus on Kelsi. “I just wished I could take it back!”
    “You’re not my sister anymore.” Kelsi could hear the cold anger in her voice. It was making her shake. “You betrayed me. You lied to me. You’re a selfish, vapid little bitch. Stay the hell away from me.”
    She took the phone and threw it, making Ella jump, although it went nowhere near her. Ella was clutching hertowel with one hand, and she gave a small whimper when the phone case broke open as it hit the wall and spilled to the