The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

“Save it for someone who doesn’t know you,” Tray interrupted rudely, uncaring. “You’re pissed because your sister is letting Amber and Jasmine walk all over her. You’re trying to fix her problem, like you’ve always done. You set the alarms to save Mandy from gossip and now—you’re covering this by going after all of us.”

“Not all of you.”

“You said ‘people like you.’ That means me, my crowd, my people.”

“I’m not going after you. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Yes, it does,” he retorted fiercely. “This is my school, you’re messing with my friends.”

“No—”

“Mine,” he bit out and I remember him saying the exact same thing to Gentley. I remembered feeling the warmth that washed over me at those words. I was his. That’s what he implied.

“Look,” I spoke a little calmer, “I’m just tired of how Amber seems to get away with everything at this school.”

“So do I,” he stated.

“I know, but,” I faltered, “this isn’t about you. About you and me.”

“Oh no. You’re goddamn right about that one. This has no bearing on you and me.”

So he liked the sex too.

Good…I think. I refused to admit that I felt relieved.

“Look, I was just pissed. Amber and Mandy wanted to get out of class for some fucking pep rally posters. I’m tired of how they can do whatever the hell they want. So I said something and then Amber brought my shit up. About the alarms last Monday, about how Pedlam got broken into, and she heard that some evidence got destroyed.” I bit my lip. “How’d she know all that?”

“Not from me.” Tray sighed, raking a hand through his hair. I hated how, even now, I was feeling the warmth, remembering what it felt like—what he felt like. God, he was freaking gorgeous. And those lips…his shoulders…

“She aired my shit so…I went after her,” I finished.

“But—hell!—Taryn. You went after me in the same second.”

“I went after Amber, Jasmine, Devon and Bryce. Well…more Amber, Jasmine, and Bryce—because of how they’ve treated Mandy and how Bryce played with Honey and Bit.”

“Who the fuck are Honey and Bit?” he asked wearily.

“I don’t know their real names. That’s what I call ‘em.”

“You mean the chick that Bryce screwed at my party?”

“Well…yeah, but how can you condone how they just use people?”

“Are you kidding me?” Tray gave me an exasperated look. “You want me to start making my friends saints?”

“No, I just…”

“What? Only be saintly to Mandy and the people you’ve befriended?” he asked shrewdly. “Holy hell, do you realize how

hypocritical you are? You’ve got serious history with the biggest drug-runner in Pedlam. You used to date a guy that roughed up a girl.”

“I was pissed. I spoke up. What do you want from me?”

“I don’t know. A clarification. Who you’re condemning? Who you’re not,” he said sarcastically. “You’re sleeping with me and I run steroids, not to mention—the town doesn’t let the Lansers do business here.”

I sighed, turning away to rest my head against the wall. I didn’t know what to say. I’d opened a can of worms, but—hell—I wasn’t one to sit back and let stuff slide by. Not if I was pissed enough and could stop it. Or, to be more accurate, if I even wanted to stop it. Tray was right, I let a lot of stuff by because I didn’t care about it. But this time, I’d cared. So I’d opened my mouth.

“How do you do that?” I asked, quietly. “Jace told me…he told me to watch out for you.”