The Apocalypse (17 page)

Tisha hopped up quickly and grabbed Libby's forearm. "Let's go throw our stuff away. I'm finished eating too."

Without any hesitation, Tisha tugged Libby toward the trashcans, presumably to avoid a confrontation between her and Hannah, but there was obviously friction building, as Libby gave Hannah a dirty look over her shoulder and appeared to be complaining to Tisha, judging by the way her mouth was running. Scoffing, Hannah took a noisy drink from her smoothie and looked over to see Morgan looking at her solemnly.

Hannah set her cup down. "What?"

"Nothing," Morgan replied, sounding careful. She shrugged and tucked a strand of her straight blonde hair behind her ear. "You just seem…a little touchy today, I guess. Is something wrong?"

Mentally, Hannah cursed herself. She probably shouldn't have snapped at Libby that way, but the girl was just so darn irritating! "I didn't sleep very well," Hannah lied. "I'm just tired and cranky."

Morgan smiled. "Whatever you do, don't apologize. Libby's getting on my nerves too, and it would feed her ego way too much if you took what you said back. Let her sulk for awhile—she'll get over it within twenty minutes."

Curious, Hannah wrinkled her forehead. "Is that a regular thing for us?"

Finishing her smoothie, Morgan just kept smiling. "It's not irregular. But…usually you argue with a little more love in the mix. Just don't ask me to explain that." Vibrations came from her nearby purse, and Morgan fished her phone out to read a text message. "Are you about done?"

Hannah finished her own smoothie with one more slurp and nodded, and then both girls went to join Tisha and Libby, who were lingering near the trashcans. As they walked, Morgan replied to
a
text message, so both girls were silent. When they caught up with Tisha and Libby, Libby looked away, but Tisha smiled happily.

"So where to next, girlies?" Tisha asked brightly.

Morgan glanced at Hannah. "We've dragged you around all day. It's your turn to pick."

Thoughtful, Hannah glanced at the bags in her hands. She'd bought some random video game that was 'constantly' out of stock, according to the man who'd sold it to her, in hopes that Isaac didn't already have it. She'd also thrown in a best-selling book that she'd heard him talk about, just in case. Hannah's friends had told her that they always dumped scraps of paper with their names on them into a cup, so that they could each draw out the name of a girl to buy a present for; apparently, Hannah had drawn out Tisha's name, and Libby promised Hannah that the gift had already been bought and had been stashed at Libby's house. While Hannah wasn't sure if she believed that, she chose to for the time being. For her dad, Hannah had bought an Ohio State University sweatshirt, which Tisha swore was her dad's favorite team, so she only had her mom left to shop for. Well, her mom and Jake, but Hannah wasn't sure where she could find a muzzle yet.

"I still have Mom's present to buy," Hannah finally answered, taking a glance around. "I'm drawing a blank. Did I happen to say what I wanted to get her?"

"Yeah, actually," Tisha replied, linking her arm through Hannah's and starting off in a direction only she knew. Libby and Morgan, as expected, fell in behind them. "You told me that you were buying her perfume."

As they walked, Tisha launched into the big story of how Patricia's favorite perfume was Elizabeth Arden's Mediterranean and how she'd been running out since Thanksgiving, but, apparently, the perfume had been out of stock when they went shopping on Black Friday. So, according to what Hannah had told Tisha, Patricia hadn't had time to check back since then, and that had made pre-accident Hannah want to buy her mom perfume for Christmas. It was a likely story, and Hannah liked it and decided that it was a good gift idea regardless.

As soon as the girls entered Macy's department store, Morgan blurted, "Tish, you and Hannah go do that perfume thing. There's something I need to check, and I'm taking Lib with me."

Libby's mouth twisted unhappily. "What?"

Ignoring Libby, Tisha nodded her head eagerly, earning her a skeptical look from Hannah, who had no choice but to follow as Tisha took off to the fragrance department. In less than five minutes, Tisha had located the Mediterranean perfume, and Hannah had purchased it. Since Morgan and Libby hadn't returned yet, Tisha and Hannah roamed around, sniffing different fragrances.

"Oh my God, smell this one." Tisha extended her arm and held a sample of perfume to Hannah's nose. "It's incredible."

Hannah smiled politely, unable to ignore the sickening feeling in her stomach. Something seemed off, although it wasn't due to the scent. "Mm…" Then she smiled and held up a rectangular bottle. "This one's my favorite."

A slow smile lit up Tisha's pretty face. "No way!" she squealed, snatching the bottle of Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue from Hannah's hands. "You've always been in love with this one!"

Laughing a little, Hannah shook her head, not knowing what to say, and leaned back against the glass casing. Tisha was still beaming as she placed the bottle back on the counter and then removed her vibrating cell phone from her purse. Hannah watched as Tisha responded to a text message, personally believing that cell phones were of the devil. They were constantly going off.

"So, um, not to bring up a touchy subject or anything, but are you and Ethan going to Formal together?" Tisha asked suddenly, nervously fidgeting with a perfume bottle that read Burberry Weekend, as though she expected Hannah to bite off her head. "Have you decided?"

Hannah shrugged and haphazardly sniffed the perfumes. "I don't know. Probably not. It's too short notice, and…Greg and I broke up because I didn't want to go. It wouldn't really be fair to him if I went with Ethan."

Tisha didn't answer, so Hannah risked a glance at her, only to see Tisha's mouth gaping open. But then, only
a
nanosecond later, she was scowling. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Taken aback by Tisha's anger, Hannah tried to think of what she said that could have upset her. Nothing came to mind. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't want to go to Formal?" Tisha demanded, her voice dangerously angry. She crossed her slender arms over her chest, and her blue-green eyes narrowed. "That's crazy! We had gushed about going since Homecoming, Hannah! You even bought these gorgeous heels to wear, even though they were a half-size too small because they were so freaking pretty!"

Hannah blinked in surprise. What? The Formal had been Greg's excuse for their breakup, but if that wasn't the truth, why had they broken up? Had they even broken up? Maybe Greg just didn't want to date an invalid. After all, he hadn't called her after the accident—that she knew of anyway. The questions whirled through Hannah's mind, making her feel confused and hurt and furious at once. How was she supposed to get her life back if nobody told her the truth?

Tisha opened her mouth to respond, but Morgan and Libby appeared, both of them grinning broadly. "Hannah, here it is!" Libby exclaimed excitedly. Apparently Morgan had known what she was talking about, as it seemed like the previous argument was forgotten. "Come on!"

Without delay, Hannah felt her arm being tugged on, and she was taking fast steps to keep up with her dark haired friend. Beside her, Morgan was grinning. "You're going to love it. It's even better than I remembered!"

Thoroughly confused, Hannah didn't answer while Libby pushed her way to the fitting rooms and shoved Hannah into the first stall, closing the door from the outside. "Put that baby on, and let us see it, Han!"

Hannah glanced over and saw a gray dress coverer, and, on a tag, her name was clearly printed. Interested, Hannah unzipped the coverer to reveal an evening gown, and there was no doubt in her mind what it had been purchased for. She removed the dress carefully and held it up to herself.

"Hurry, Hannah!" Libby's voice sang out bossily. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to see you in that? I had totally forgotten that the alterations were done until Tisha mentioned it."

"There's no way I could have forgotten," Tisha responded. "Hannah was counting down the days for it to be ready."

There was a definite edge to Tisha's voice that Hannah couldn't miss, and she knew it was added to prove that Hannah
had
wanted to go to Formal. She thought about that as she undressed and tried the dress on, but Hannah still was not sure what to think about Greg's obvious lie. Maybe she'd changed her mind at the last minute, and Greg hadn't
lied
. Or maybe not. Either way, Hannah was glad that Tisha hadn't broadcasted the news to the other girls, since Hannah wanted to think about it for herself before they started advising her.

"Are you done yet?" Morgan asked impatiently.

Hannah opened the door, and Libby tugged her out of the stall and to the bigger mirror that offered a peek at multiple angles. It was the most beautiful dress that Hannah could even imagine. She glanced into the huge mirror and fell in love with the way that the deep blue dress fell off her shoulders and hugged her slender body, flowing out at the waist and eventually hitting near her ankles in pretty, sparkly waves. As she circled to get a better view, Hannah's mouth moved into a slow smile.

"Oh my God, it's gorgeous!" Tisha gushed, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly. "You look beautiful!"

Morgan grinned. "Simply irresistible."

"Ethan is going to be all over you," Libby declared triumphantly. She looked genuinely happy, with no sign of her argumentative nature. "That boy will be even more in love with you than before when he sees you in that dress, Han."

"I'm so jealous!" Tisha moved behind Hannah, swept up her hair, and began fashioning it into an intricate up-do. "I so can't wait till Formal. It's going to be such a blast!"

Still smiling, Hannah used the mirror to see her friends' faces. She was very impressed with Libby's happiness, and it almost made her want to apologize about snapping at her. But then she recalled Morgan's warning and viewed her grin; the girl knew what she was talking about. And Tisha's excitement was so infectious that Hannah began to giggle and couldn't stop.

She supposed that she was indeed going to Formal. How could she not with a dress like that? Plus, Hannah had a date, and she'd show up with Ethan in that beautiful dress no matter what. She hoped that Greg would be there—preferably with some bimbo girl—just so that she could confront him about his breakup excuse. And…she hoped Jake would be there to see her too.

"The band is awesome!" Mercedes Jensen declared, taking a sip of the fruit punch Jake had supplied her with. Miraculously, Winter Formal had been underway for nearly an hour, and the punch was not yet spiked. That had to be a new record. "I had forgotten how great Eric's group is."

Jake smiled. "And you wanted Natalia and Stacia to play instead," he scoffed good-naturedly. "It's a good thing you have me around to prevent bad decisions like that."

"You're the one who wanted to see them wear short skirts," Mercedes reminded him, wrinkling her nose. "I had no problem with hearing Eric's band."

"Wait, what did you just say?" Jake asked, cupping his hand around his ear playfully. "Did I just hear you bring up me talking about other girls? And did I just hear you sounding—no way—
jealous
about it?"

Mercedes laughed a sparking laugh and smiled with her glossy, full lips. "You just wish I was jealous." She brushed her fingertips against Jake's forearm teasingly. "You're forgetting that
I
broke up with
you
."

"And you're forgetting how broken my heart was, or else you wouldn't have mentioned that." Jake held up his hand before Mercedes could answer and corrected himself. "Actually, you never even acknowledged my broken heart."

"That's not fair!" Mercedes cried, laughing again. "You avoided me! How was I supposed to know?"