Letting Chloe spend the night at Elle’s the next day was her parents’ way of making it up to her after what had happened. Plus, the girls really did have to finish their project if they didn’t want a big fat F.

Her mother driving her to Elle’s house consisted of straight complaints since it wasn’t in “the suburbs” and was too far out for her “taste.” Chloe had just kept her mouth shut and was thankful when they reached their destination.

Walking up to the house, Chloe felt embarrassed to see Elle again after what had happened. She just hoped they could pretend yesterday hadn’t happened. That’s what I’m going to do, at least.

Before getting to the door, she could see Elle peeking her head out the front window of the house, and then she was gone.

“Hi!” Elle opened the door wide for her.

Cracking a small smile was the best she could do with her nerves. She was still not used to showing her face, and she wasn’t sure how Elle’s parents would react to her scars.

As soon as she came through the door, she was pretty much in the living room, and the first thing she noticed was a cute, little boy playing on the floor with his cars. Her eyes then went to the wheelchair that held a man who was watching his son play beside him. Chloe had known what to expect, but seeing it was different.

Finally, when he looked up, she expected his face to turn to shock, if even for a moment, but it didn’t.

“This is my dad and my little brother Josh, and this is Chloe Masters,” Elle made the introductions quickly, pointing to the person the name correlated to.

Josh didn’t look up from his toys.

Chloe only nodded her head, not wanting to stutter out a hello first to her dad. Another shocking thing happened when he just nodded his head and went back to watching his son play.

She saw it right before his eyes left hers—an understanding. The understanding was one of loss, and she could feel he wasn’t any used to his new body than she was.

From what Chloe knew—thanks to big mouth—was that he had suffered a forklift accident and lost the use of his legs, which had happened during the beginning of the school year. He had gained a huge promotion at the factory before the accident and had pulled Elle from public to private school. So, Elle being new at school this year had made the perfect target for Cassandra. Hence, why they were all here at this moment.

“Hello!” A sweet and very pretty woman wearing an apron came from the kitchen.

Elle smiled. “And this is my mom, of course.”

“I would give you a hug, but Elle already warned me you’re not a hugger like me.”

Chloe looked over at Elle, even more nervous now.

“Yeah, I told them you were a germaphobe. You know, touching creeps you out because of germs.” Elle gave her a look, wanting her to play along.

Genius.

She began nodding her head. “Y-Yep. Sorry about t-that.”

“That’s okay, sweetie; no need to be sorry. I’m just glad one of Elle’s friends was finally able to come over. I keep telling her she can have a big sleepover with all her little girlfriends at school.”

Excuse me?

“Oh, Mom, you know I will one day.”

Say what?

“Are you on the soccer team with Elle?”

No thought came to her. Blinking and trying to figure out if this conversation was real was the only thing she could do.

Her mother laughed. “Sorry. I forgot—germaphobe.”

“Yeah, Mom, she doesn’t like getting dirty. Okay, well, we’ve got a bunch of work to do.” Elle headed toward a hall. “Come on, Chloe.”

Realizing this was very real, she quickly went after Elle, not saying another word. Frankly, she had no clue how on earth to respond.

Once they were in her bedroom, Elle went straight to her backpack on her bed, pulling out their project materials.

“Um, Elle …?”

“Yeah?”

“You really are a good liar.”

The strawberry-blonde flashed a smile. “It’s a gift.”

Chloe blinked a few more times, looking at this side of her she hadn’t known existed. “I can’t tell if I’m scared of you or if … You just became my new BFF.”

Elle laughed. “BFF, for sure. Of course, you want to be best friends with the most popular girl in school. Uh … duh!”

“Just as long as you tell all of your friends that I’m your best friend.” She began laughing with her.

Their relationship had just changed for the better. Within a matter of minutes, she felt extremely comfortable around Elle. It just felt right.

“Deal!”

They laughed so hard they started to cry.

“How come you haven’t invited your best friend to any of your soccer games?”

Elle wiped away a tear. “I hear the stands are really germy.”

“Where on earth did you get germaphobe from?”

“Web MD.”

The two laughed until their faces and stomachs began to hurt, and then finally, they were able to stop their laughing fit.

Elle wiped away the final tear. “It also says we might have cancer.”