“I haven’t asked you to homecoming, Christina.”
“We talked about this months ago.”
“No, you talked about it.” His arms crossed. He’s clearly pissed. “I made it clear I wasn’t interested.”
All of Christina’s friends watch their interactions closely, along with a few others in the room. I even notice Claire is paying attention from the kitchen.
“Listen up, Hollingsworth, I do not want to stand on that dais with a loser like Destiny Williams last year, do you hear me?” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “You owe me this.”
“I don’t owe you anything. If anyone owes anyone anything, it’s you. An apology.” His voice is bitter. Angry. I realize maybe there’s more history to these two than I realized. “One I know I’ll never fucking get, which is fine. I’m over it—and you and your disgusting behavior.”
“Why? Because you want to hang around with the new girl? Take a number—your foster brother got there first.”
The spectators explode at that one, people not believing she’d go so far.
Suddenly Claire appears by our side. “Is she bothering you? Because I most definitely didn’t invite this hag to my party. I’m happy to get my brother to show you out.”
“Oh look, it’s Little Miss Edgelord.” Christina says. Her eyes sweep over Claire’s black leggings and gray- and black-striped sweater. Her eyeliner is thick and dramatic, but it looks good on her. “God, are you into the new chick, too? You’re so basic.”
“Bitch,” Claire says in a low voice, “I will snatch the hair off your head if you say another word.”
Christina barks out a laugh. “You think just because you paint your nails black you can take me?”
There’s a pause. A beat, and the whole room waits for the next moment. I don’t know if it’s Jake’s athletic instincts that give him the edge or what, but at the exact moment Claire lunges at Christina, he’s got his arms clamped around her and drags her kicking and screaming away.
Chaos erupts and another guy from the football team appears out of nowhere and drags Christina to the other room. I follow Jake, stumbling over people. In the front hallway he’s speaking to Claire, trying to calm her down. “She’s not worth it, you know that.”
“I just hate her so much.” She wipes an angry, dark tear off her face. “Why don’t you hate her?”
“I don’t like her,” Jake says and then looks over at me. “But I’ve moved on. And it’s time you did, too.”
Claire’s hands shake. “You’re not going to homecoming with her, are you?”
“Hell no. I’m going with Starlee.”
Claire finally notices I’m in the room. She nods her approval. “Good. You deserve to go with someone awesome.”
“You do, too.”
“Yeah, well let me know if you find some awesome chick for me to go with, okay? Pickings are slim around here.”
He laughs and gives her a hug, smiling at me over her shoulder. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but it seems like Jake, Claire, and Christina have some kind of history. And Claire may be a lesbian? I’m totally confused.
Once the dust settles and the party has moved back into full swing (a girl fight apparently isn’t unusual) Jake makes good on his promise (threat?) to get me down by the lake.
We pass the people at the fire pit—Claire’s brother and his friends—blissfully unaware of the incident in the house. A few call out to Jake, everyone seems to know him, and he waves but never releases my hand.
The entrance to the boardwalk is blocked off, but Jake has no problem slipping across the barrier. We take the wooden walkway down to the dock where we have an amazing view of the moon, high and curved, in the dark sky. There are a gazillion stars, so many more than we can see back home. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it.
I hear the gurgle of water and look for the source. Once I find it, I say, “You did not bring me down here to get in a hot tub.”
Cliché. Cliché. Cliché.
“I brought you down here for some privacy,” he says, kicking off his boots. “But I’m totally going to sit on the edge. Want to join me?”
I hesitate for some reason—an edge of worry and confusion has been hovering around me since the whole thing with Christina and Claire. He notices, moving close and touching my chin. “I was going to bring you down here to talk to you about this whole thing before all that drama went down. I should’ve known Christina would fuck that up too, but I still want to tell you, okay?”
I nod, and on a whim, remove my own shoes and pull my leggings up to my knees. The water is hot—scalding--but I like the way it feels against my currently frayed nerves.