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“So.” Hammond twirled his keys once and caught them, a big-ass grin on his face. “Ready to roll?”
Guys. I just could not figure them out.
february
Who do you think would win in a fight, Will Halloran or Jake Graydon?
Oh, please. Jake, no contest.
I don’t know. Will’s on the football team.
He’s always slamming into people and getting back up again.
True, but Jake’s just bigger. Plus he’s Jake Graydon.
So? What does that mean?
He’s, like, the golden boy around here. Can you even imagine him losing anything?
But Will’s a Norm. He’s probably been in a ton of fights. Jake’s never been in any.
True. Experience has gotta count for something.
jake
“I can’t believe we’re out of here in, like, four months,” Trevor said. He was bouncing up and down on his toes, trying to stay warm. Why we were not allowed inside in the morning until the bell rang was a mystery to me. Only special cases were allowed past security. Like if you had a meeting with a teacher or needed to see the nurse or had before-school detention. But if your nuts were freezing off in subzero weather? Sorry. Grin and bear it, my friend.
“Four months and then we’re basically adults,” Todd added, slurping on his hot chocolate. It dribbled down his chin and seeped into his light blue scarf, but he didn’t notice.
“Yeah. Adults,” Hammond said. “And then we won’t have to take shit from anyone.”
I rubbed my knees together, my hands shoved so far down in the pockets of my varsity jacket, I think I was shrinking. Four months and we would be graduates. And I had no idea if I had even the smallest shot at going to college. This was not the way it was supposed to be. By now I was supposed to have five offers for soccer scholarships and be making my own damn choices. Instead I was waiting to be approved by someone—anyone—like every other mediocre zero in my class.
God, I fucking hated Chloe.
“Dude. Check this out.” Co
She had just opened the door when someone on the other side of the steps let out a “Moooooo!” Chloe froze. Then Hammond made this elephant noise that was so on-the-money perfect, the rest of us cracked up laughing. Chloe ducked her head and rushed inside. Someone slammed me in the back of the shoulder and I whipped around. Weirdly, it was Ally.
“Hey,” I said, my breath making a steam cloud in her face. “What?”
“What the hell was that?” she demanded, backhanding Hammond in the chest.
He just laughed.
“What’s the matter with you guys?” she hissed. “Are you in kindergarten or something?”
“Actually, we’re almost adults,” Todd said proudly, gri
“Then start freaking acting like it!”
“God. Calm down. It was just a joke,” I said, embarrassed. I didn’t like my girlfriend getting mom-ly in front of my friends. What was up her ass anyway? Since when had she named herself Chloe’s personal protector? “She brought it on herself anyway,” I said, rubbing my bare hands together. “You’re go
“Truth,” Co
“Oh my God! You’re such a hypocrite!” Ally said, almost laughing. “Are you forgetting that you slept around too? You could have just as easily been the father.”
“Yeah, but I’m not,” I snapped. “At least I’m smart enough to use protection, unlike that stupid Norm.”
“Good thing, too,” Co
“You guys make me sick,” Ally said. “That girl is your friend. She’s your ex-girlfriend!” she said to Hammond.
“Thank God for the ‘ex,’” Hammond said with a cackle.
Ally was so pissed, she looked about to cry. Suddenly I sobered up and started to feel just the tiniest bit guilty. But for what? Didn’t Chloe deserve to have people talking about her? Look at what she’d done to me. To Will, even. To her parents and Hammond and Ally. She’d spent half the last year lying and cheating and ruining lives.
“What?” Ally said to me. “What are you thinking right now?”
The guys stared at me. My face stung from the cold. I looked down at her and blew out a breath. “Nothing you want to hear.”
She groaned and stormed away as I turned my back on her. My insides felt twisted and torn, knowing she was mad at me again, but I tried to ignore it. I was mad at her, too. She was my girlfriend. She was supposed to be on my side. Why couldn’t she figure that out?
ally
This was déjà vu–ish. Walking into Chloe’s house with Sha
“I don’t know about this, you guys,” Faith whispered as we reached the bottom of the wide, carpeted staircase. Her hair was back in a ponytail and she wore a pink hoodie, gray fleece sweats, and Puma sneakers, like a comfy little fashion plate. “She’s been so depressed lately. What if she’s up there crying?”
The three of us looked up warily. Over our heads, the thousand-pound crystal chandelier tossed its light against the cream walls. When I was a kid, I’d always been terrified that thing was going to come crashing down and crush me, but Chloe had just laughed and said, “At least you’d have a sparkly death!” Girl had always been positive to a fault.
I pushed my hesitation aside. “That’s why we’re here, remember? To cheer her up.”
I’d come up with the idea after witnessing the guys’ immature antics before school earlier this week. It had been bad enough when random people were discreetly whispering about her, but now the people who were supposed to be her friends had gotten in on the action, and it was like they’d made it okay for the whole school to be as vocal as possible. Every day the teasing seemed to be getting worse, and I wasn’t proud of the fact that my boyfriend was one of the ringleaders. Organizing a night of pampering for the girl was the least I could do to make up for his ass-ish-ness.
“We can’t wuss out now,” Sha
I followed Sha
“Girls! You must learn how to use the doorbell!” Mrs. Appleby whispered.
She’d been saying this pretty much every time we’d come over here since the age of seven. And as always I thought to myself, Why don’t you just start locking your door?