The Lie, S. Syed, G. Klein [ebook reader online TXT] 📗

Leanna took a deep breath as she approached Jenny, who was standing in front of her locker and staring down at her phone. She had no idea what she wanted to say, but she also didn’t know what she wanted to hear. If Jenny acted like nothing had happened and asked about the movie, it would mean that somehow Leanna had traveled back in time to the week before tryouts. But it also wouldn’t be good if Jenny was still mad at her. Fighting with her friend was bad enough, but that would also mean something was seriously wrong with her mom, who seemed to think it was last week.

“Hey,” Jenny said, glancing up as Leanna reached her. Before Leanna could respond, she said, “Are you excited to hit the town tonight?”

So time travel it is, then. Leanna tried not to panic as a million questions raced through her mind: Am I dreaming? How did this happen? Will I be stuck in this reality forever?

Realizing she wasn’t going to get answers anytime soon—if ever—she decided to just go with it. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “Uh, um, yeah!” she stammered. “Sorry I was just thinking about . . . math class.” Leanna felt stupid for using the same lie with both her mother and her best friend.

“Sure you were,” Jenny said, cracking a small smile. “Come on, Leanna, you know you don’t have to lie to me.”

Leanna felt the color drain for her cheeks. Does Jenny somehow know?

“I’m not lying, Jen,” she said. “I’ve been having trouble with the proofs we’re working on. Geometry is hard enough, and Mr. Kurr is so boring I can hardly stay awake during class so my notes are awful.”

“Oh please, Leanna, I’ve seen your notes—they’re perfect. I know what’s really bothering you,” Jenny said.

Leanna’s mind raced as she tried to come up with a response that wouldn’t make her sound crazy. She knew that she had somehow traveled through time, and it was definitely bothering her, but how on earth could Jenny know?

“What?” That was all Leanna managed to come up with.

“It’s the whole reason we’re going to the mall instead of Tetterman’s tonight—you told me what your mom said, remember? I know she puts a lot of pressure on you about the tennis thing because of her being a big deal on the college team, but you can’t let it get to you,” Jenny said.

Relief washed over her and she let out a forced laugh. “Yeah, you’re right, Jenny. This whole tennis thing with my mom really has been bothering me. But we can talk about it later,” Leanna said, before adding hurriedly, “or not. Totally up to you. If you just want to hang out at the mall and not even think about tennis, we can do that too.” It’s not like it won’t come up anyway, she thought.

Jenny frowned for just a moment before she managed a tight smile. “Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll see how I’m feeling when we get there. In the meantime, try and think about what movie you want to see.”

“Sure thing!” Leanna said, rushing off to math class. “I’ll see you later!”

Well, she thought, at least I have one thing going for me—I did all of today’s lessons last week, so I can devote my full attention to figuring out how to stop Jenny from trying out. And how to make her think it’s her idea. 

Leanna and Jenny met up outside the mall, just like they had the first time. And just like before, when they got their meals, Jenny went for the breadsticks and Leanna went for the salad. Leanna had spent all day trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation, but she realized that when it came down to it, she’d just have to wing it. She knew how things went last time, but she didn’t know how Jenny would react if she did things differently and let her talk herself out of trying out. Despite not having a plan, she had decided to just bring it up and see what happened—she wasn’t going to waste this perfect opportunity. If she didn’t force the tennis issue tonight, it was bound to come up sooner rather than later, and after missing her chance that morning, she wanted to tackle the issue now.

“So I know we weren’t going to talk about tennis . . .” Leanna started before either them even sat down.

“Yeah, and maybe that was a good idea,” Jenny said, sliding into the plastic chair across from Leanna and grabbing a breadstick. “I mean, if it’s really bugging you, we can talk about it, but can we figure out what movie to see first?”

Leanna had already seen this play out before, so she decided to try and get ahead of it. “Okay, let’s see College Party.” If she could throw Jenny off right away, it might be easier to have an honest conversation about tryouts, which was what they really needed right now. Well, mostly honest anyway. I don’t think I need to mention the time travel piece—she’ll just think I’m crazy.

Jenny stared back at her blankly for a moment before responding, “That’s . . . surprising. I was actually going to suggest the same thing, but I figured you wouldn’t want to risk sneaking in to see a movie we’re not even interested in.”

“See, that’s it right there, Jen. Why would we go through all that trouble just to see a movie neither of us actually wants to see?” Leanna said.

“What?” Jenny asked, setting down the breadstick as if she was preparing to have a deep conversation. “So hold on, you don’t want to see the movie that you just suggested that we go see?”

“Do you?” Leanna asked.

Jenny tilted her head to the side thoughtfully before narrowing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh. “I mean, not really I guess, but—”

“So then why were you going to suggest it?” Leanna asked, cutting her off before she could finish her thought.

“I guess,” Jenny started, then paused, trying to figure out the right words. “I guess it’s kind of about the tennis thing. I know that tennis is our thing and why we’re friends to begin with, but I feel like lately it’s starting to come between us, which is weird. I really don’t like that something we used to love doing together is turning into this weird problem. I guess I’m just not used to you being this super athlete girl.”

It was Leanna’s turn take a moment to come up with a response. “But we literally met on a tennis court. We’ve probably spent more time playing tennis with each other than doing pretty much anything else, other than going to the same school.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Jenny said, looking down at her plate. “But it’s a game, you know? Like, we always play to win against the other kids at Tetterman’s, but it’s not like anybody is really keeping track of who’s better than who.”

Jenny sighed and cautiously looked up at Leanna. “Truthfully, this whole ‘making the team’ thing kind of takes all the fun out of it for me. I know you’re going to do great, but if I don’t make JV and you do, it’s going to be really embarrassing. Plus you’re going to start hanging out with all the girls on JV while I’m playing on the C-squad trying to be competitive in a game I don’t really care about being all that competitive in. It sucks.”

Things were going better than Leanna had hoped they would. Maybe Jenny will talk herself out of trying out for the team all on her own, Leanna thought. If I give her a delicate push in the right direction, I can play on the JV team and save our friendship.

“So what does College Party have to do with any of that?” Leanna asked, urging Jenny to continue.

Jenny bit into her pizza slice and chewed on it thoughtfully. “I guess I just figured that since this whole tennis team thing is kind of outside of my comfort zone, you’d understand how I felt a little more if I pushed you outside of yours. You know, it might show you—”

“But that’s the problem, Jen. Why do you have to show me? Why couldn’t you just tell me how you’re feeling? I’m your best friend.” While what she said was all true, Leanna suddenly felt bad about manipulating Jenny, even if she was just trying to save Jenny from embarrassing herself at tryouts. But this will be for the best, she reminded herself.

“You’re right, it was stupid. I figured we’d end up going to see Teen Witch 3 anyway. It’s just hard for me to talk about this kind of stuff sometimes, you know? And think about what it’s like for me—I keep feeling like I’ve been holding you back. I mean, that’s even what your mom thinks,” Jenny said.

Perfect, she thought, barely containing her relief. Jenny’s giving me an easy shot, and now all I have to do is put it away.

Leanna wiped the pizza grease from her hands. “Well, I’m glad we’re able to talk this out, Jen. So I guess you don’t have to worry about trying out for the team anymore then.”

Jenny’s jaw dropped. “What are you talking about?”

 Leanna immediately began to panic. Clearly she had misread the situation—or maybe they weren’t quite as good at being honest with each other as she thought. Jenny’s face was still frozen in a horrified mask, mouth open.

Leanna scrambled to come up with something to say. Take a deep breath, she thought to herself. So the plan hit a bit of a snag. I can still recover. I shouldn’t have expected something this delicate to go perfectly. She decided to keep up the pressure, just like when she attacked the net as soon as an opponent started to struggle. She already knew how things turned out if she kept things to herself.

“Isn’t that what you were saying?” she asked. “I mean, you were just telling me you felt like you were holding me back and that you didn’t really want to play competitive tennis, so I just thought—”

Jenny’s mouth snapped shut, her lips settling into a thin line that matched the creases forming on her forehead. “You thought what? That you wouldn’t have to worry about me embarrassing