"Nice," Lincoln says, impressed.
Actually, so am I.
The red pickup truck backs up, braking a few feet away.
"How do we know they're not psychos?" I ask.
"We don't," Tori says. "But we have our own psycho, so if anything, they should be worried." She looks toward Vic. Except he's not here. "Where'd our psycho go?"
"Vic!" Lincoln calls out.
But he doesn't appear from within the shadows of the trees where he was sulking only a moment ago.
The driver's window rolls down, and a guy with super gelled dark blond hair leans out. "Need a lift?"
Lincoln steps forward. "Yeah, man, that'd be great. Our ride ditched us. We're trying to get to The Point."
"Us too!" a voice squeals excitedly.
That's when I notice the girl with a hot-pink bobbed wig sticking her head out the small window in the back of the cab. Her face is speckled with glitter, and she's smiling so big, she's making my cheeks hurt looking at her.
"You can jump in the back," the guy tells us.
Lincoln looks around again as we near the truck. "Vic!"
"Leave him," Nina says, pulling out a bottle from her satchel of a purse. She approaches the passenger side and waves the liquor at the girl. "Can I sit up here with you?"
"Sure!" the girl exclaims. "Wow. You're so nice. Look, Seth, she's sharing with us." She scoots over to make room for Nina. "I'm Allie."
"Great," Nina replies. She tips the bottle back and chugs, preparing herself to sit next to the happiest girl on the planet.
Joey and Lincoln lower the tailgate and hop into the back before offering to help Tori and me up.
Just as Lincoln reaches to close it again, Vic's fingers curl around the metal, forcing it back down. "Hey!"
"Where were you?" Lincoln asks him in alarm. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"
"What the hell, man? Were you going to leave me?" Vic jumps up onto the truck and shoves Lincoln.
Joey leaps forward to get between them. "Don't start." His voice is low and authoritative.
No one moves. Joey looks between the two guys. Their eyes lock, silently challenging each other.
"Sit down."
Lincoln backs away and sits, resting against the cab without taking his eyes off Vic. Joey lowers himself beside me, prepared to jump back up if necessary. Vic stands defiantly, glaring at Lincoln with his fists clenched.
"Vic, sit your ass down," I tell him.
He directs his attention to me, trying to intimidate me with his scary stare. I roll my eyes. He grabs the edge of the tailgate to close it.
Tori knocks on the window. "We can go."
Vic stumbles and falls on his ass when the truck takes off. I snicker. If only he'd fallen out.
Chapter Seven
"Don't lose yourself to anyone," my aunt Allison says to me, lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling with a funny-smelling cigarette dangling between her fingers, "not a boy or a friend or even your family. You can't care what anyone thinks of you, Lana, because as soon as you do, you're lost."