Page 4 of Barron's Second Chance
Barron was friendly with them, being that he was an athlete, but he assured her they weren't his type of people.
“They’re too shallow and vapid,” he had told her.
Eden could agree with that. Unfortunately, Lissa, the head cheerleader, had not grown out of her mean-girl persona. She still constantly flirted with Barron, ramping up her efforts since the night of Brad’s birthday party. She seemed to view their relationship as a personal affront to her and made it clear that she thought she was a better match for Barron than Eden.
But her boyfriend never made her feel insecure. He always assured Eden that Lissa had nothing on her, that he only saw her, no one else.
So why was Barron now hanging out with them? Something was very wrong.
When she finally managed to get a hold of him to question why he wasn't around, he shocked her with his response.
“I don’t always have to hang out with the same group if I don’t want to, Eden,” he had snapped.
The call ended in an argument, and Eden in a flood of tears. But later that night, Barron texted, apologizing and explaining that Simon knew Brad from a football camp they had attended a few years prior. He hadn't wanted to abandon his cousin and felt he had to tag along.
Feeling buoyed by that explanation, Eden chose to enjoy the last few weeks of her vacation, safe in the knowledge that Barron was just caught up with his cousin, someone she knew he was close with and looked up to.
That was, until the last week of her vacation, when her whole world bottomed out.
She had been lying in bed, scrolling through Instagram, waiting for Barron to reply to the text she had sent him two hours ago. Eden jerked when her phone rang in her hand and scrambled to answer it. She swallowed back the bitter taste of disappointment when she saw Sofia's name. She missed Barron. Where was he?
"Hey, you!" She breathed, trying to put some excitement in her voice.
"Um, hey, Eden." Sofia's voice was missing its usual boisterous infliction. Her best friend was usually teeming with energy.
"Whoa, who died?" Eden joked. "Shit, unless someone actually did, then I'm sorry!" She rushed out.
"Uh, no," Sofia replied, almost hesitantly. "Um, I don't know how to say this."
Eden sat up, grabbing her pillow and grasping it to her chest. Something was seriously wrong.
"What is it?"
"It's about Barron."
Eden's heart leaped. But not in a good way. Her gut - the gut that had been telling her for weeks that something was off with Barron - clenched in fear.
"Just tell me," she whispered.
Sofia took a deep breath before tearing Eden's soul in two.
"I was riding my bike past Frend Close," she started. Frend Close was a popular park by their school where kids usually hung out, mainly after dark, to drink and chill.
"And I saw Barron there with his cousin, Maria, Brad…and Lissa." Another deep breath by Sofia before the words rushed out.
"Lissa was sitting on Barron's lap."
The air rushed out of her lungs in a strangled cry. "What?" She stammered out. "A-are you s-sure?"
"Yeah, E." Sofia quietly said. "I am. He was sitting down, and she was sitting in front of him, her back to him." She paused. "Between his legs."
Eden closed her eyes, tears rapidly falling as her hand squeezed her phone tightly.
"Maybe she had just sat there, and he didn't want to be rude -"
"Her back was up against his chest, and his arms were around her waist, cuddling her." Sofia quickly got out.
No. No, no, no, no, no!
