The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

Standing up, Tray replied, “Well, that’s a lot more productive than stealing shit.”

Which was true. He walked towards the door.

“Are you coming out?” he asked over his shoulder, a hand on the door handle.

“Pretty soon,” I replied, realizing that it required me to get up and get dressed. It required me—moving. The only moving I wanted to do, was my chest rising up and down in a good, deep sleeping motion.

“Alright,” he said easily, then slipped through the door. I noticed he’d locked the door from the inside before he pulled it shut.

I was starting to realize, among many other things, how observant and thoughtful he could be. Tray was…surprising and not what the eye met. The guy was gorgeous, that had never been denied. Hell, straight guys probably thought he was gorgeous.

But he was—scarily intelligent. Tray was ahead of me by two moves, at least, and I was just starting to understand that.

Groaning, I moved up and dressed. Finishing a French braid in my hair, I moved to the door and was met with a crowd of people. A party had migrated to Tray’s place without us realizing it.

I declined a cup of beer, which was offered to me by a guy manning the keg. Let’s hope they only brought one, and not five.

Why would they need a keg before we headed to Rickets’ House?

Rooters was at the kitchen table, telling a story to Honey and Bit, who were smiling and nodding politely.

“Hi, Taryn!” Honey exclaimed. “I like your outfit, very cute.”

“Thanks.” I was wearing loose-fitting, light-weight trousers that weren’t too baggy, but were comfortable at the same time, and a sky blue tank top that wrapped around and crisscrossed in the middle of my chest and tied behind my neck.

“Looking good, Matthews.” Rooters gave me a whistle. What a moron. But I laughed.

“Is it true? Is Tristan Reynolds here tonight?” Honey asked eagerly.

All this gossip.

I shrugged.

“We heard she got into town last week because she left her boarding school, against her parent’s wishes. But she couldn’t see any of her friends because her brother made her promise not to let anyone know she was here.”

I could care less.

So I lied, “I don’t really know anything.”

Then I left. I didn’t care if it was rude, but seriously, I just couldn’t handle the gossip anymore. It seemed like it was all these people did.

“You’re still standing, I see.”

I stopped in the hallway and saw Crystal Fairs leaning against the stair’s spiraled rail.

“Hi.” I was surprised—again—I was actually grateful to see her. “Didn’t know this was your scene?”

“Aidrian’s here. She’s entertaining,” she said, like it made perfect sense. Crystal added, “You handled her well, by the by. I was impressed.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a gift,” I murmured distractedly as I moved out of the way of people. Holy hell. “What’s up with all these people? I didn’t think Tray was having a frickin’ party before we went to Rickets’ House.”

“How many you think are going to go to school tomorrow? I’m guessing about a third. I know I’ll probably skip the next few days. It’s the play-offs. It’s like a five-day party…or it should be.”

The thought had promise.

Suddenly, Tray materialized at my side and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Ready to go?” he asked.

“No,” I answered truthfully. I had no desire to go anywhere with all these people.