Kylee stared her down. “I’m sick of watching you pine after some other random guy while stringing David along, that’s all.”
Rae frowned. Things had been kind of tense and awkward between her and Kylee ever since the day she saw Kylee talking to David after school, but neither of them had brought it up. Rae had been trying to act like nothing had happened. Like nothing had changed.
“I’m not pining after some random guy.”
“Oh, really?” Kylee crossed her arms. “Then why are you always watching that kid with the black hair? Morgan, or whatever his name is. Why do you always talk to him at lunch?”
Rae didn’t want to rat Morgan out. Didn’t want to tell Kylee that he went to Community Hope to avoid his mom’s boyfriend or that she’d been there when he got run out of his own house. She’d promised him she wouldn’t say anything.
This time she slammed the locker shut. “He’s just a friend. Am I not allowed to be friends with boys? You’re the one who always makes fun of me for not talking to them.”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure you’re just”—out came the air quotes—“friends.” Kylee leaned closer and lowered her voice. “And meanwhile, David’s still waiting for you like a love-sick puppy.”
“That’s not true.”
“It’s not fair to him.”
Rae narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t had the guts to confront Kylee about talking to David that one day or about saying she would go out with him. Hadn’t thought it would be worth it after she talked with David, and they’d reached an understanding. But now she found herself wondering again what Kylee had said.
Rae wasn’t leading David on because she’d asked him to wait, was she? It wasn’t like they needed to dive right into a serious relationship. They were only high schoolers.
Kylee’s eyes flashed. “Go ahead and say it.”
“Say what?”
“Whatever it is that’s got you looking like there’s a scorpion in your mouth.”
“Fine.” Rae slid her arms into her backpack and squared her shoulders. “What did you say to David after school a couple of weeks ago? After you said you would go out with him if he asked?”
Kylee looked away. “Nothing.”
“Didn’t look like nothing. I saw you through the glass doors.”
“Is that why you’ve been acting so weird?”
Rae threw up her hands. “You’re the one who’s been acting weird. And you’re avoiding the question.”
Kylee huffed. “I said it was nothing. And that has nothing to do with the way you’re treating David now.”
Rae checked the time. She needed to get to class, but her feet remained rooted in place. She and Kylee had never been at odds like this before. Despite their many differences, they tended to get each other. But Kylee wasn’t making any sense.
A flicker of anger sparked in Rae’s chest. “Why do you care about me and David? Are you hoping I’ll screw it up so he’ll run to you? Is that what you were talking to him about?”
She shouldn’t have said it. She knew it as soon as the words came out. But Kylee always did know how to push people’s buttons.
Kylee took a step back, hurt streaking across her face like paint on canvas. “I told him he’d be an idiot not to give you another chance.”
Rae’s heart sank. “What?”
Kylee opened her mouth as if to speak, then spun on her heels and walked away. Rae watched her friend go, her words drum-drum-drumming in her head. Give you another chance. Give you another chance.
Oh no. What had she done?
RAE WANDERED ROOM F aimlessly, unsure what to do with Taylor absent. Taylor’s homeroom teacher had told Mark that Taylor was sick today. Rae had spent a few minutes here and a few minutes there with other students, helping them solve math problems or practice spelling words or organize their backpacks, but she missed Taylor. What would happen to her young friend when Taylor moved away? What if all the work they’d done the past couple of months, all that Taylor had accomplished, was for nothing?
Her heart twinged as if she were alone in a dark alley. Even David’s smiling face across the room couldn’t cheer her up. Not having Taylor to focus on left her with too much freedom to think about her own problems. Her parents. The Plan. And what had just happened with Kylee.
“Having a hard day?” Mark appeared beside her, his beard newly trimmed.
She chewed her top lip. “You look different. Got a hot date or something?”
He touched his face and laughed. “My mother strongly suggested I clean myself up a little. Apparently some of the ladies in her canasta club have been talking.”
“Oh.” Rae nodded. “Moms.”
“Yep. But you didn’t answer my question.”
She didn’t want to. At least not with the truth. Mark didn’t need to know about her problems with her best friend or her ongoing worries about whether she could keep her family from falling apart. But he might be able to help with the other issue bothering her.
“Do you ever wonder if it’s worth it?”
He scrunched his face, obviously confused.
“All of this.” She swept her arm out, indicating the whole room. “Are we making any difference here?”
A smile slowly spread across his face. Not a silly smile or even a happy one, really. A smile filled with peace and confidence.
“Yes.” He looked around the room. “It’s worth it.”
She narrowed her eyes. How could he be so sure? Did he not see that half the students here only came for the food?
“But what about Taylor? I’ll probably never see her again, and what if no one cares about her after she moves? What if I helped her pass seventh grade only to have her fail eighth?”
Mark bobbed his head, his self-assurance undeterred. “So what? That wouldn’t mean—”
“Wouldn’t it prove I wasted my time here?”
Maybe Mom had been right about volunteering. It was great for college applications and everything, but it wasn’t “real work.”
Mark’s expression turned pensive. “Have you ever read the Bible, Rae?”
She looked at the floor. “No.”
“There’s
