Harlee

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I had my mom drive Rachel home after she got off from work that day.

Now that I knew about her financial situation, I was going to make it my mission to be as helpful as I could. I even considered using my birthday money I knew I'd be getting to help them with car repairs. But then, I thought about how Rachel probably didn't want to be pitied and how her parents would likely never even accept such a gift.

If things were normal, I'd enlist James to help me create an elaborate plan to try and solve this.

But of course, that wasn't happening now.

Mom and I had just dropped Rachel off and were pulling into the garage when I saw a message from Farrah pop up on my phone.

Everyone is at the beach! We're going for a bike ride! Have your parents drop you off! she'd texted.

I bit my lip and studied the phone screen for a second.

I wondered if "everyone" included James as well.

At first, I was tempted to ignore the text because I was still a little miffed at Farrah after what Rachel had told me earlier. Then I decided since I hadn't yet heard Farrah's side of the story, I shouldn't be too quick to judge her for it. Unlike some people (James Whitmire), I wasn't just going to stop being friends with someone out of the blue.

The sun was still shining brightly in the sky, so with my dad's help, I packed my bicycle into the trunk of the car. Then we drove over to the beach. Once we were in the beach parking lot, I opened the passenger seat of the car and told Dad a quick thanks. He got my bicycle out of the trunk and told me he'd be there to pick me up before curfew.

I bid him goodbye then went to find Farrah and everyone else. It didn't take long to figure out where they were. Farrah must have spotted and recognized my dad's car because I could hear her calling my name from wherever she was standing.

I spotted her in the middle of the beach surrounded by Amy, Jasper, Evan, Hyland, Mike, and, unfortunately, for me, James.

I let out a frustrated sigh before making my way over on my bike.

I'd just have to ignore him.

"Harlee Darling! There you are girly; we've been waiting forever for you!" Farrah said as I reached them.

"Sorry, I was hanging out with a friend," I said, stepping off my bike to greet everyone.

"What friend?" Farrah asked, seeming genuinely confused.

I didn't want to bring up the Rachel situation to her in front of everyone, so I changed the subject.

"So, where are we riding bikes to?" I asked.

Farrah lost her interest in my mystery friend and started talking again.

"Oh yes! We're going to have an awesome race!  Everyone is paired with a teammate, then we take the bike trail that leads out to the main roads, and we race to the Dairy Jester in Town Centre. Losers pay for everyone's ice cream there," she said, smiling with all confidence like she had this in the bag.

I looked down at her brand-name sneakers and raised my eyebrows.

I hadn't even known the girl owned a bike.

"What do the winners get?" Mike asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ice cream. I just said that," Farrah replied.

"Yeah, but what if there's a tie?" Jasper folded his arms.

"Or what if someone has a teammate that's slower than them?" Hyland asked, twirling her light brown hair.

All eyes looked to Farrah for an answer.

She tapped her chin and pondered for a moment.

"Alright, well, if your partner wins, you're automatically a winner too. And all of the first-place winners get triple scoops of ice cream, okay?" Farrah declared.

"Sounds lame," Jasper remarked.

"If it sounds lame, then don't play," she shot back. "It isn't like I invited you or anything. Mike did. And he's only here because he was bored."

I couldn't help but smile at my friend's feisty attitude.

As frustrating as she could be, she was still a lot of fun.

"One more thing, your partner can't be the same gender as you," she said, adding in a last-minute rule.

No one seemed to like the sound of this.

"That's dumb," Amy said.

"What? Why not?" Jasper asked.

"Because everyone knows you boys will just beat us girls. The only girl that stands a chance against you boys is Harlee. So, you have to pick a teammate of the opposite sex," she explained.

Her reasoning was valid.

There was no way she, Amy, or Hyland were beating any of the guys in a race, especially not in the attire the three of them had on.

I was okay with not racing boys against girls.

But then, I saw Hyland eyeing James and worried she'd pick him as a teammate. The idea of them being partners made me feel jealous and left out. I just didn't want James and Hyland to spend time alone together. Not even if they were only riding bikes.

He was my former best friend, not hers.

So I quickly claimed him as my own partner before anyone else had the chance to.

"I pick James," I declared.

Everyone looked at me in confusion, but I acted like I didn't notice any of them staring. I knew none of them could understand why I would choose him as a partner after what had happened that weekend, but I didn't owe them an explanation. I was the one that deserved an explanation and an apology too, for that matter. And I hoped James would at least have the decency to give those to me during the bike ride.

"Uh, okay. I guess I'm with Harlee then," James complied and walked over to me.

I was surprised he was so agreeable about it then figured he probably felt guilty about Saturday night.

Good, he should feel guilty about it, I thought to myself.

Farrah shook her head at me disapprovingly.

I knew she probably thought I was dumb for not taking her advice about letting James go, but I didn't care. Maybe she could just get over Rachel being out of her life, but I wasn't like that.

I couldn't just get over my best friend.

"Okay, Amy, Hyland, Mike, Jasper, pick your partners then," Farrah instructed as she looked away from me.

I noticed she didn't tell Evan to pick a partner.

She's probably already mentally claimed him, I assumed.

"I'm riding with Jasper; He's the tallest, so I assume he'd be the fastest," Amy said, glaring at Jasper the entire time she spoke. "You better not make us lose."

"I'm not a loser, Amy. I never lose at anything," Jasper said back defensively as he walked over to her.

I shook my head at the fact those two were so similar, yet they couldn't get along.

"Both mean, controlling, and argumentative. They'd make such a happy couple," I whispered to myself sarcastically.

But someone heard me.

James snickered behind me and whispered, "Yeah, OTP of the century."

I didn't respond to him but had to hold back a grin.

It felt so natural to be joking together like we used to.

Hyland chose Mike as a teammate, probably to leave Evan for her friend.

Because right after Mike walked over to Hyland, Farrah hurried over to Evan and proclaimed, "That leaves you with me!"

"Yayyyy for me," Evan mumbled, his voice dripping with sarcasm and reluctance.

She giggled and wrapped an arm around him.

He tried to shrug her off, but she wouldn't budge.

I heard James snickering from behind me.

I bit my lip again, trying not to laugh.

"Alright, that's everybody!" Farrah called out. "To the bike trail!"