The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

Entering the kitchen, we saw that it had been raided. And the number of people had multiplied. Mandy was now being kept company by Grant, Amber, and Tristan, the usual crowd minus Devon, Bryce, and Carter.

“Morning,” Tray greeted everyone, pulling out the first-aid kit from one of the shelves.

“Dude,” Grant breathed out, “what the hell did you do?”

“I beat up a wall,” Tray replied, shooting him a cocky grin.

“Seriously—” Tristan started, scooting closer.

“Seriously.” Tray stopped her in her place. “It’s none of your fucking business.” Well, that’s settled.

Grant chuckled. “I remember when I used to beat up walls.”

“Now you just walk into them.” Amber grinned at her brother.

“That’s hilarious,” Tristan said dryly, rolling her eyes.

Ooh. The embodiment of class from the night before was just replaced by a haughty bitch? I thought I was the only bitch in this crowd.

This was turning into a whole new crowd.

Did this mean…wait…was I the nice one? Oh, fuck no.

“You’re hilarious,” I shot at her, grabbing the disinfectant and Tray’s hand. “Your little show last night.”

Tristan glanced at Amber from underneath her eyelids. But Amber saw it. So did I. I grinned. “Isn’t that why you hooked up with Garrett? To piss Amber off?” I made my final decision about Tristan: I didn’t like her.

“What?” Amber hissed. “You slept with Brent Garrett?”

I half-listened as I bent over Tray’s hand and swabbed at the sores. His hand flinched a few times, but he didn’t make a sound. I glanced up at him once and saw he had his poker face on.

I quickly finished, bandaging him up swiftly.

When I finished, I rubbed my thumb over them one last time. I looked up and Tray was watching me. A faint grin pulling at the corners of his lips. His plump, luscious lips…

“Taryn,” Tristan said.

“Yes,” I replied, a little breathless.

“Can I talk to you?”

“No.” It was another automatic response. I was still trying to catch my breath. “Why?” I frowned, catching on.

“I want to talk to you about something. In private,” she stressed, leading the way into the hallway.

I followed her reluctantly and found myself in a room I hadn’t been in before.

Tristan whirled around and shut the door. She crossed her arms and stared at me, looking pissed off.

“What?” I surrendered, slinking onto the seat of one of the couches. It was kind of a…living room. I think this is the third one I’ve been in.

“What do you have against me?” Tristan asked, demanding.

“What are you talking about?” It was a petty game, but I was willing to play it, with her, at least. It just got her angrier.

“Last night. You sicced Aidrian Casners on me, I know. Erin told me all about Amber, Aidrian, and Brent. And this morning, with Amber just now. Why don’t you like me?”

“Because you were a bitch to Mandy yesterday at the house. You were purposely manipulating her. It pissed me off.”