For it to work out? “What do you mean?”
Arthur gives me an exasperated look, like it’s obvious and I should be able to put the pieces together myself. “Kalani told me what to do for you to like me. She gave me tips.”
Kalani gave Arthur tips, and the datestillwent as poorly as it did? I get that Kalani’s trying to help me, and this news just reinforces what I thought about Kalani really wanting the dates to succeed, but what could she have possibly told him? How could he have misinterpreted her advice so badly?
“What tips did Kalani give you?”
His anger dissolves a bit, giving way to embarrassment. “You know . . . she said to wear a proper suit, to invite my mom so you could meet her, to buy you a nice necklace as a gift, to let you know I was looking for marriage . . . stuff to get you to like me more.”
But . . . that doesn’t make any sense. Everything he listed are things that drove me away—there were countless others, but those were the big ones. Kalani would’ve known I’dhatethat. Why would she give him those instructions to help? And afterward, when I told her every disastrous thing he did on the date, she acted surprised. But she knew full well why the date sucked because shetold himto do everything.
Arthur and I stare at each other as I fully process his words and what they mean, what my friends have done. The betrayal is a punch to the gut.
“Arthur, did Emi give you those tips too?” I ask, not really wanting to hear the answer but needing to know anyway.
“Emi? Who’s that? Is that your friend with the purple hair?”
I’m suddenly dizzy. “Sorry, Arthur. I gotta go.”
I don’t give him time to protest, instead darting to the restrooms at the back of the library. No one else is in here, so I splash my face with some cold water and try to make sense of everything.
Kalani practically forced me on these dates, but she’s setting them up to fail then berating mebecausethey failed. I can’t wrap my mind around it, around what this means. I don’t want to accept it—there must be another reasonable explanation. But as I grip the counter and stare at myself in the mirror, water dripping down my face, the front pieces of my hair soaked and plastered to my face, I know there is only one thing that makes sense.
Kalani’s setting me up on bad dates on purpose.
It makes complete sense. She picked Jay knowing I hated him, picked Arthur knowing he’s clingy and gave him tips to be even more clingy, and picked Chad knowing he’s a rude drug dealer and that I’d hate him. She wanted me to be miserable despite being the one pushing me on the dates.
But why?
Emi can’t know about any of this, especially since she keeps fighting Kalani’s date picks, and Arthur had no idea who she was.
There’s a ping from my phone. Kalani.
So I guess Chad’s date sucked. Sorry about that. But I just set you up with another date for next week! You have to make this work because prom’s in exactly three weeks and you still don’t have a date. The future prom queen can’t be running around all night making sure you’re not lonely.
I squeeze my phone, wishing I was strong enough to crush it and maybe relieve some of this pent-up frustration. What is she playing at? She keeps picking dates for me, guilting me and using prom as an excuse, telling me the dates have to go well; meanwhile, she wants me to fail so she can blame me for not trying, knowing full well the dates were going to suck because she’s setting them up that way.
What a complete waste of everyone’s time. Not only mine but those guys as well. Poor Arthur really wanted the date to work out, and she completely set him up for failure without considering his feelings. What is shethinking?
Does she know about Emmett? Is this her way of telling me to back off? But back offwhat? I’ve never made any moves on him, never tried to get in between their relationship. If she knew about my crush on Emmett, wouldn’t she confront me instead of pulling this elaborate scheme to make me miserable? And wouldn’t she want the dates to succeed to keep me away from him? Plus, she wouldn’t still be friends with me. No. Something else has to be going on here.
I get another text, this time from Emi.
Where are you? We grabbed a table but don’t see you. I’m almost finished my iced capp and your untouched frozen lemonade is looking mighty tasty . . .
Shaking the tension from my arms and rolling my neck, I try to compartmentalize this new revelation about Kalani for now. I don’t want to bring anything up to Emi, but there’s absolutely no way I’m going on any more dates, especially with whatever disaster Kalani is waiting to ambush me with and pretend she had no idea about. As I dry my hair as best I can with a paper towel, I realize what I should do.
If Kalani wants these dates to suck just to make me feel bad, then I’m going to do something about it. I promised myself to call it at three dates, and I’ve reached that threshold already, but I’m pissed, and I’m hurt. Kalani’s my best friend, but she’s playing some twisted game to send me on bad dates and guilt me into feeling miserable. I don’t know what Kalani’s playing at, but I need to know what she’s up to.
Hands off my lemonade! I’m coming.
I text Emi then take a breath to compose myself and exit the bathroom, walking through the aisles until I spot two girls leaning close to each other, one with natural red hair and one bright purple.
“Hey.” I drop my bag on the table in front of them.
Emi’s arm is slung over Daphne’s shoulders, and she leans back in her chair, balancing on the back legs only. “Where have you been? Your drink is melting.” Emi slides the drink and straw across the table to me, and I rip the straw from the wrapper and take a refreshing sip as I sit down. The cold helps me focus.
“It’s perfect. Thanks,” I say, setting it down and gathering my confidence. “Hey. You think you can set me up with Wyatt this Friday?”