Lost Boys (Slateview High 1)

I kept my mouth shut, wondering if he was referring to the night before or this morning or something else entirely—and ever grateful that he didn’t elaborate.

“Well, with the way everyone is around here, don’t be dicks.” She left it at that as she tucked in. Bishop shook his head.

“Whatever

. Anyone give you trouble so far?” For the first time since plopping down beside me, he looked down at me. I shook my head.

“Nope. Everyone’s… basically ignored me.”

“Good.”

That seemed to satisfy him. I didn’t know if I should say anything else, but lunch went on without a hitch, and I wasn’t going to complain about it.

Thirteen

“We’re heading down to the warehouse district after school. You’re coming with.”

Bishop leaned up against the bank of lockers next to me as I pulled out the books I would need later for homework. I glanced up to him, confused.

“What?”

“Warehouse district after school. We’re gonna chill. It’s what we do, and you’re coming with.” He tilted his head, shoving his shaggy brown hair back from his face. “Come on Princess, keep up.”

I leveled a look at him as I straightened, books in my arms.

“What is… going to chill? What does that entail?”

“You’ll find out. Don’t take too long.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You don’t like to wait.”

“Nice to see you’re learning.”

The grin he shot me was almost flirtatious, and I hated that it made warmth pool in my belly, made my gaze catch on his lips. He lingered for a second longer, his hazel eyes growing serious as he dropped his focus to my lips too. Then he turned and strode away down the hall, leaving me to rush to my final class of the day.

I tried to take notes as Mrs. Hall lectured, but my mind was already skipping ahead to what would happen after school. Confusion and caution warred inside me as I waited for the day to close out.

Warehouse district? Who went to a warehouse district to chill?

Dumb question. Guys like the Lost Boys did, obviously, and I wasn’t sure why I even bothered trying to figure them out anymore. I should’ve known by now it was a hopeless cause.

The thing was, it was the end of the week, and this was the first time they had mentioned anything like this.

Ironically enough, despite my terror at accepting their bargain, my days with the Lost Boys had been mostly tame. I rode with them to and from school, ate lunch with them and their friends, and fell into step with them when I saw them in the hall. So far, nothing strange had happened.

But maybe this was the moment when the other shoe was going to drop.

After all, no one went to an abandoned warehouse to do good things, did they?

Growing trepidation filled my gut as I made my way out to the convertible after school, bag slung over my shoulder. The boys were already by the car, chatting as I came up to them. Misael looked over as I approached, and he grinned.

“Hey, there she is.”

“Bishop said we were going to… a warehouse?”

Misael nodded. “Old canning factory that we hit up on the weekends sometimes. Cops don’t roll around there, and they don’t bother us. Good place to start the weekend off right.”

“Is anyone else going…?”