Chapter 3: In the Valley
As she always did when nervous, impatient, or hoping hard for something, Sydni twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "I really hope this works out."
Nikki, being an expert at bailing her friends out of tricky bullshit, remained collected. "Trust me, it will. Even if it doesn't, it's not the end of the world."
After their brief conversation, Lindsay and Beth walked into the Khaki Barn, looking forward to buying the "must-have items of the summer," according to Teen Pulse Magazine. Once they found the clothes that they wanted, Lindsay strutted to the cash register while Beth scuffled her way there. Nikki and Sydni looked at each other, then at the girls, seeing the perfect opportunity to reverse the rumors.
"Did you ever find out who that letter's from?" Beth asked Lindsay, lisping in the process.
"Not yet." Giggling, she said, "Maybe it's from that majorly cute guy, Tiger."
"But Lindsay, that's Tyler—you're already dating him, remember?"
"Oh, yeah! So then who's the letter for?"
In a mocking valley-girl voice, Nikki entered the conversation. "Um, I'm guessing you guys haven't heard and stuff, but the letter's really for my friend Wyatt."
The girls' interest peaked, they asked, "Really?"
Nikki scoffed, "Like totally. I heard Wyatt has one of the hottest seniors from our rival school crushing on him. She wants to like totally meet up with him."
"Which school?" Lindsay asked.
"Lakehurst High," Sydni said, following Nikki's white-girl-from-Beverly-Hills charade. Even if Lindsay would have completely bought a fake school name, she was grateful she'd looked at a list of high schools around Toronto. "But the only thing you cannot do at all costs is tell anybody. It's supposed to be a majorly huge secret."
"Oh my gosh! I won't tell anybody—I promise!" Lindsay exclaimed before grabbing her shopping bag and leaving with Beth. When she thought they were out of view, however, she took out her cell phone, calling and texting almost everyone she knew about Wyatt's admirer. "You'll never guess what I heard!" she told someone on the other line as she walked off with Beth.
Back in the Khaki barn, Nikki and Sydni gave each other high fives.
Nikki laughed and, in her valley-girl voice, said, "Wyatt so owes us for this."
"Totally!"
Having already played her part in the love-letter damage control, Jen took it easy—as easy as she could take it until Nick showed up. He walked into the Penalty Box, minus his vertical-striped jersey because he was supposed to have the day off.
Sprinting in his direction, she asked, "Nick, what are you doing here? Aren't you off today?"
"Yeah, but I left something here. Plus, I get an excuse to see you." He proceeded to take her hand.
Jen grinned before a thought occurred. Didn't he just say he left something? Is it— No, it couldn't be. Even though she knew the letter she found wasn't from him nor for her, she still wanted to hold faith that he had something for her. "Did you leave anything special behind? Like a letter or something?"
"Are you talking about that letter going around the mall? It's pretty crazy, isn't it?"
She avoided his eyes, staring at her shoes as her words trailed off. "Yeah… Totally crazy."
"Is everything okay with you, Jen? You seem down about something."
"I'm fine. Well, not really." She looked to his cool green eyes for comfort as her lips blurted the truth. "I found that letter yesterday after work and I thought it was from you, but I found out it's really for my friend Wyatt. I only thought it was you because you're just so poetic and sweet and I thought you were gonna ask me to be your girlfriend, but I never would have said anything about it if I had know you—"
Nick laughed, much to her confusion. While finding her rambling quite dorky but completely cute, he too wanted to get something off his chest. "I know it's not as romantic as telling you in a letter, but I do want you to be my girlfriend."
Though she suffered a drought of words on the outside, on the inside all she could shout was, He wants me to be his girlfriend! She impulsively pulled him into a hug. If this moment could last all day, it would be perfect.
"MASTERSON!"
At least, it was perfect while it lasted.
Jen let go of Nick. Turning around, she found a red-faced Coach Halder. A rush of guilt coursing through her veins, she asked, "Weren't you supposed to be showing up later, Coach?"
"Yes, but then I decided that I didn't want to dilly-dally in my Penalty Box duties." His eyebrows furrowed. "Now I see that I made the right decision." He then yelled, "Fifteen minutes in the box, both of you!"
Jen slumped her shoulders, sighing, "Yes, Coach."
She made her way to the penalty box and slumped into her seat. Just another day of being yelled at by her stubborn, hot-headed boss who lacked an inside voice. In the midst of her grumbling, she felt someone take her hand and she blushed. Realizing that Nick was in there with her made her mood instantly lighten. She looked at him and smiled, with him doing the same in return.
The moment still lasted, and it was perfectly imperfect.
When Sydni came back to the Lemon, having finished her work day, she found Caitlin glued to her phone.
"Hey, Caitlin. How's the counter-rumor going for you?"
Her eyes didn't move from the screen. "It's going great. The best part is that I don't even have to do that much!"
"How so?" Before Caitlin reply, Sydni's phone vibrated. Pulling it out of her pocket, she noticed a text from Caitlin herself. "Mass text?"
Caitlin nodded. "Totally."
"Smart," Sydni said before remembering what she wanted to truly discuss with her. "So I kinda have something to ask you."
"Sure, what is it?" she asked, putting her phone away.
"I really want to know what to do with my hair. I want to change my look a bit, so I asked Nikki what should I do, but she said to come to you."
Caitlin fell silent while rummaging through suggestions. A lightbulb practically appeared over her head when she said, "You can come with me to my fave salon! I was gonna get my hair done later anyways, so you can join me!" she suggested, her voice full of zest.
"I've got nothing going on later, so that'd be great," Sydni said, offering a grateful smile. Finally, an opportunity for much-needed change.
Since finding him after leaving the Crappy Barn, Nikki and Jonesy came to the food court hand-in-hand. Taking their seats—and making eyes at each other—they waited for the rest of their group with Caitlin and Sydni, since they all had agreed to hear how Operation: Let's See If This Crap Works went.
Jude and Jen came before Wyatt, who was on pins and needles. If things didn't go well, then the gang—as well as the whole mall—would not only find out who he had been sneaking off for lately, but they would also lose trust in him. He couldn't bear that happening.
Wyatt's expression begged the question, "How did things go?"
Nikki was the first to answer. "Sydni and I were able to stop things at the Crappy Barn."
"I got a mass text out," Caitlin said.
"I was able to get the new rumor out there... and I'm Nick's girlfriend now!" Jen squealed causing Caitlin to do the same.
She ran out of the Lemon to hug her friend, saying, "Yay, Jen! That's so great!"
"Awesome," Jude said.
Wyatt commended her, too. "Nice one, Jen."
Leaning back in his chair, Jonesy said, "We did good today, guys. We were able to save Wyatt's ass and Jen was lucky enough to bag a guy in the process."
Nikki corrected, "I believe it's 'we did well today,' Jonesy."
He shrugged. "Eh, whatever."
"Whatever, my ass," she said as she pushed him out his seat, quickly getting out of hers and running away afterwards. Jonesy got up and chased after her, leaving them chasing each other like children around the food court, the gang no doubt laughing at them.
The five of them heard Jonesy exclaim, "I'm gonna get you, Nikki!"
She teased, "Not if you can't catch me first!"
Getting back to serious matters, however, Wyatt said, "Thanks for saving my butt, guys. I really appreciate it."
"No problem. That's what friends are for, bro," Jude said.
That's what friends were for—helping him get away with the little white lies he'd been telling.
A/N: Just thought I'd give a subtle nod to Degrassi with the Lakehurst reference.