Free Little White Lies by Jessica Burkhart Page A

fence and walked up to Phoenix. She held his reins under his chin, stroking his neck.
    â€œExcuse you!” Jas said. “Let go of my horse.”
    But Callie ignored her and kept petting Phoenix.
    â€œI feel sorry for you, honestly,” Callie said. “You have no friends and you don’t know what it’s like to support someone else. I’m not going to argue with you about what you said because you
truly
don’t know better.”
    Callie let go of Phoenix and I dismounted. Together, we walked Charm out of the arena.
    Callie sighed. “You know not to pay attention to that girl, right?” she asked.
    â€œI know,” I said. “She’s ridic. Whatever. She’s just trying to break us up and make me miserable. I worried about her before, but I’m over it.”
    I could feel Callie nodding behind me. “Good. You can’t even waste your time on Jas.”
    Back at the stable, Callie and I walked Charm up and down the aisle to cool him out. We crosstied him and Callie grabbed his tack box while I stayed with him. We were the best grooming team ever. Whenever Callie wasn’t looking, I watched her. She was truly happy even though she wasn’t on the YENT and one mistake—one mix-up with a lie would ruin that. The on-and-off anxiety I felt about keeping the secrets was worth it. Otherwise, we’d never have moments like these again.
    â€œWant to go to the Sweet Shoppe?” she asked. “I think we need a treat after this crazy week.”
    â€œDefinitely,” I said. “If you want to put Charm in his stall, I’ll go drop off his tack.”
    Callie unclipped Charm and I gathered his saddle, bridle, and pad into my arms. I put away his tack, vowing to clean it tomorrow. My phone buzzed and I opened it to see a text.
    From Jacob.
    Sry I freaked u out @ lunch b4. Txt me back so I know ur not mad?
    I deleted the message without replying and turned off my phone. I tried to take calming breaths. Part of me wanted to text him back because I didn’t want him to think I was mad, but I couldn’t keep responding to him.
    Callie met me in the aisle. “You okay?”
    â€œTotally,” I lied. “I just remembered that I have a quiz in English tomorrow and I have to study when we’re done.”
    â€œWhat’s it on?” Callie asked. “Maybe I already read the book.”
    â€œUh …” I was the worst liar ever! “Um, it’s on
The Secret Garden
.”
    At least we were actually reading that book in class.
    Callie shook her head. “Sorry. Haven’t read it. But you’ll do fine. And no stressing about it while we eat.”
    â€œDeal.” We linked arms and walked down the sidewalk. For the next hour, I wasn’t going to worry. I was ready to have fun with my BFF.

10
ENTER JACOB, STAGE RIGHT
    BY THE TIME I SLID INTO MY SEAT FOR MY FIRST health class on Friday, I was exhausted. I
never
thought I’d say it, but I actually wished I could go home for the weekend just to get away from everything.
    Paige and I walked into the class together and sat beside each other.
    â€œThis is going to be
interesting
,” Paige said. “Because … you know.”
    â€œBecause of our teacher?”
    Julia walked into the classroom, looking for an empty desk. She sat a couple of seats away from Paige and me.
    â€œ
Any
class with Ms.—”
    But I didn’t finish my sentence. Jacob had just walkedinto the classroom. He saw Paige and me and walked over, taking a desk in the next aisle, next to me.
    Of course.
    Ms. Utz walked into the room with a massive stack of papers in her hands. She tossed them onto her desk with a thump and gave us a crooked smile, baring giant square teeth. She’d paired black dress pants with a collared white shirt—fine so far—and then … she’d gone for the purple Crocs. I shuddered.
    â€œWelcome to your weekly health class,” Ms. Utz