I close my locker door and turn, coming face-to-face with Claire.
“Hey,” I say, holding my books to my chest. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to give you a heads-up, Christina is telling everyone to vote for her and Jake for homecoming King and Queen.”
“Is that supposed to be surprising? I figured he’d probably make the short list.” My words are confident but I feel uneasy. Christina makes me uneasy.
“You guys just seem close. I don’t want you to get blindsided if she thinks it’s going to interfere with her plans.”
Blindsided? “Do you think she likes Jake?”
“I think she likes her image and I think Jake elevates that for her.” She pushes a piece of pink hair out of her eyes. She recently dyed several strips. It looks good. “I think she miscalculated everything that went down between her and Jake. Petty isn’t a good look on her. Also? She can’t stand not having what she wants.”
I frown and stop. The bell is going to ring at any minute. I have a million questions about Christina and Jake I’m not sure I want answered, but I do ask her a question, “What happened between you guys, anyway?”
She opens her mouth but the bell does ring. When it finishes, she says, “I’ll tell you later. Just…I don’t know. I can tell he’s important to you. Keep an eye on him.”
“I don’t think Jake really needs my help.”
She rolls her eyes. “From a vulture like Christina? No one is immune to her evil. She hurt him once—she’ll do it again.” I start to walk away but she calls out, “Oh yeah, I meant to tell you. My brother is having a party this weekend. My parents are out of town.”
“You mean you’re having a party?”
“No way. This is on him, but he wants it to be big, and everyone knows the way to get people to come to your party is to have hot girls there.” I stare at her blankly. I’m not sure I fall into hot girl category. She smiles at my bafflement. “Yeah, you count—but to be clear, he said he’d give me fifty bucks if I invited people and I’d much rather someone I like to be there than these other losers.”
“How old is your brother?”
“He graduated last year. Played football with Jake. I’m sure he’s heard about it.”
“So, you’ll be there,” I clarify.
“Everyone will be there, Starlee.” She looks at the time and dashes down the hall. I need to go too before the second bell chimes.
As I run toward my classroom I think about the party. A party. I’ve never been to one before—you know, other than with cake and paper hats. The idea seems scary. Something my mother would freak out about.
And exactly the kind of thing I want to experience.
At four-thirty the next day, I make sure no one is around and sneak back to the cottage. The door is locked. I knock and press my ear against the door. Nothing. Is Charlie really not here?
George had been released from the hospital that morning and I figured Charlie would use his regular excuses to get both of his fixes—gaming and me. When it becomes clear he’s not there, I decide to head over to the Wayward Sun.
I open the screen door and step inside. To my surprise, he’s standing behind the counter, working on Sierra’s laptop. I know it’s her computer because it has a dozen Supernatural stickers on the front.
“Hey,” I say, walking over. I look in the kitchen. Dexter’s not back there. We’re alone.
“Hi.” The screen reflects off his glasses. It looks like a spreadsheet—not a game.
“You okay? I thought I’d find you, um, next door.”
His jaw tenses but he barely looks up. “I needed to do some work over here—get Sierra’s files caught up a little.”
“Sure, makes sense.” I tuck my hands into my back pockets, trying not to hyper-inflate what I think is a weird tension in the room. “How’s George?”
“Bitching about everything,” he laughs, then glances up finally. His eyes soften. “Better.”
I reach over the counter and still his hand. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.”