Chapter 31

The next day, everyone hopped on the bus, Madeleine on the guys’ bus instead of the dancers’. Everyone found something to occupy themselves in the first fifteen minutes. Nick and AJ were involved in a video game tournament. Kevin was reading a book. Howie had already fallen asleep on the couch watching Nick and AJ. Madeleine was curled up in her bunk reading a romance novel. Brian was sitting up front, near the driver, trying to decide how to approach his sister.

Just as Madeleine hit a good part of the book, the door to the bunk area opened. She looked up to see a not too happy looking Brian. “Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“I talked to Mom and Dad yesterday,” he stated, sitting down on the bed across from hers.

Despite the fact that her heart skipped about ten beats, she kept her voice level and nonchalant. “Oh? What did they have to say?”

“They certainly expressed a lot of surprise when I mentioned you and Nick dating.”

She opened her mouth with the intent of spitting out some excuse, but nothing came to mind. “I…I…I screwed up, didn’t I?”

“Damn right you did! You lied to me!”

“I did not!”

“I said something about being glad that Mom and Dad knew, and you didn’t say anything to let me know you hadn’t told them. You are damn lucky I covered for you, Madeleine.”

“Uh…thank you?”

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Nick. I’m not mad at him.”

“Brian, you can’t be mad at me. You know how Mom and Dad would have reacted if I would have told them. They would have flipped and made me catch a plane home right away.”

“I do know how Mom and Dad would have reacted because I had to deal with it! They were pissed off. You better be pretty grateful,” he muttered.

Chapter 32
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