A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 1)

“Yeah.” I knew how she felt. Brian had cheated once. I almost killed him afterwards.

She nodded, her jaw hardening. “Yeah.”

“So where are you guys going tonight? Who’s all going?”

“The gang and some others.” That meant the top circle and the crowd beneath them. Stephanie. Ugh. “We’re going to a party at Rickets’ House.”

Another ugh. Rickets’ House was a big white mansion near Pedlam. Parties were thrown there because the house was abandoned, situated deep in the woods. Kids could scatter easily if the cops showed up, and it was notorious for being a mating ground. Brian wouldn’t be there; he hated that place, but there’d definitely be others there from Pedlam.

“I’m in.” I wasn’t doing the job, but I wanted to know why Pedlam had so much security. It was nagging at me, and I knew I could get some answers there.

*

Devon and Jennica arrived a few minutes ago and planned on riding with us. It had been awkward. She gave my outfit a second glance. I couldn’t dress like the new me. Boring, all covered up, and saint-like. I hadn’t dressed like that at Pedlam, and I needed my old intimidation factor at full force to get the answers I wanted. So I dressed how I used to. I wore a leather miniskirt and a lacy black tank top that hugged my curves with a diamond necklace that was looped twice around my neck, resting above my belly-button. Even Mandy had been taken aback, and she’d seen the old me a few times.

She got over my wardrobe when she grew distracted by Devon’s behavior. He’d been standoffish the entire evening. He arrived, gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, and that had been it. After we traipsed into the car, he’d been silent, just focused on driving. Jennica sat in the back with me, chatting to Mandy, who was glancing at Devon every few seconds, trying to appear nonchalant. I was staring out the window tuning the conversation out.

Until I heard Jennica say, “…he was with Adrian last night. Seriously. Tray pisses me off some times.”

I looked over and caught the heated look Mandy shot Jennica. She flushed when she saw that I had caught her, and I grinned. “What happened?”

Jennica turned to me. “I was telling Mandy that sometimes I’m embarrassed by Tray, especially when he screws girls like Adrian Casners. She’s white trash.”

“That’s probably why he screwed her.”

Jennica and Mandy were both watching me. Even Devon glanced in the rear-view mirror.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Mandy looked away.

Jennica turned to face me. “We heard an interesting tidbit last night, about you and Tray.” She was almost gloating. “Care to elaborate?”

I frowned. I had missed something, then how she said ‘white trash’ came back to me. There’d been an extra emphasis on those words. “Are you insinuating that I’m white trash? Because if you were, you worked too hard for the joke.” I flashed her a grin and asked, “How long till we get there?”

I turned back to the window and ignored whatever her reaction was. A moment later, Devon turned into a driveway. “We’re meeting up with Tray and the rest of the gang at his place first.”

Tray’s place was gorgeous. It was a mansion, bigger than Mandy’s, and had four massive pillars right before the front door with a large porch extending off to the side. The living room could be seen through three large windows and inside there was a flat screen TV highlighting one entire wall. White leather couches aligned the sides of the room. The pool could be seen through the glass patio doors, shimmering on the other side of the mansion.

Walking inside, I saw a spiral staircase off to the right. There was an open doorway before the steps, leading into an expansive kitchen with an island in the middle, steel appliances, and granite countertops; even the kitchen looked like a masterpiece.

Most of the ‘cool’ crowd was lounging there, drinking, chatting, or in the process of making their drinks for the ride. Grant and Samuel were at a table talking with some girls I didn’t recognize. Amber was sitting on the island, dangling her feet, talking with a guy that I thought was Brent…Garrett? Basketball team…I think. I didn’t care.

Tray was nowhere to be found.

Mandy nudged me. “Tray just got here. He’s getting dressed and then we’re heading out.”

“I don’t get why we’re all meeting here? Why don’t we just go to the party?”

“Because Tray and Grant are the only ones who know where Rickets’ House is and there’s probably Pedlam students there. It’s not like we all want to show up there alone.”

“What? Strength in numbers? Can’t handle a few Pedlamites?”

“You could?”

“I went to Pedlam, a few times.”

“A few times?” a girl asked. I didn’t recognize her, but she was already annoying me. She could’ve been the poster-girl for Hooters.