Wild Girl (Slateview High 2)

“More time for us girls to bond then,” she said with a wink. “Liam has to leave soon too. Let the boys go off and play rough and tough. We’ll have more fun than them anyway.”

A small laugh huffed out of me. Something about Jessica was so disarming… even with my stomach in knots like it was. I looked to Bishop, who gave me a nod before he, Misael, and Kace headed out.

I wished they had all kissed me, but a part of me was glad they hadn’t. It would’ve felt too much like a goodbye, and I couldn’t stand to even think of that possibility.

Sighing, I sat down. Jessica, Liam and I went back to our homework, but concentration became harder than ever. I couldn’t stop thinking about the boys, couldn’t stop wondering and worrying and playing out dozens of scenarios in my mind. I was still staring at the same damn sentence when Liam stood to leave ten minutes later.

Jessica walked him to the door, and I tuned out the sounds of their heavy make-out session, threading my fingers through the roots of my blond hair as I rested my elbows on the coffee table, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth.

“You got something on your mind?” Jessica asked when she returned a few minutes later, her cheeks slightly flushed. She rested a hand on her hip as she stared down at me, her eyes narrowing.

I shook my head, forcing a smile to my face. Then I sat back from my open textbook, stretching my arms over my head.

“Just not really in the studying mood, I guess.”

Jessica laughed, tossing her dark hair over one shoulder. “Ugh. Tell me about it. My brain is on the verge of turning into mush.”

She settled back on the couch behind, and we were quiet for a moment before she poked me with her toe.

“Tell me about being rich.”

That surprised me enough to drag me out of my worried thoughts, and I turned toward her, raising my brows. “What?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been curious ever since you came to Slateview, but there’s never been a good time to ask you about it—and I mean, part of me wondered if it was rude, but whatever, we’re friends now. So if I piss you off or whatever, you can just tell me.”

I looked to her, head tilted. I couldn’t tell if she was asking because she actually wanted to know, or if she was making fun of me. Pretty much everyone at Slateview hated me for who my family was—or who we’d been anyway.

She grinned at me. “Well?”

She looked genuinely interested. Or maybe she could just tell something was wrong with me, and she was trying to distract me. Honestly, I didn’t care what the reason was, I was just glad to have a distraction, period. I certainly needed it, given the fact that I was pretty sure the guys would be gone for a while.

And until they came back, the knot of worry in my stomach wouldn’t unclench.

“Okay. What do you want to know?”

The question opened up a floodgate. Jessica, it turned out, was actually very, very curious about what my life as a “rich girl” had entailed. I told her about the parties—and then described about twenty different types of appetizers served, along with how my mother would make sure there were proper wines and champagnes to complement every single one served. I told her about our house, with its grand ballroom and sweeping staircases to the indoor, heated pool in the back. I told her about my old classmates—people I’d thought were my friends, although they hadn’t spoken to me in months and probably never would again—and I told her about Ava, who I still missed dearly.

“You know, I used to think it was all… perfect and wonderful,” I confessed. “But now I wonder how much of it actually mattered. I mean… it was all just stuff, wasn’t it? Stuff is just stuff. It seems so unimportant now.”

“I dunno about that.” Jessica was lying on the couch with one leg propped up on the back cushions. “I would love to have five hundred different rooms in my house.” She laughed. “But then I’d have to clean all of them.”

I chuckled. “A house that big, you don’t clean anything yourself—you’d have a housekeeper. Several, probably.”

“Holy shit. You guys had more than one maid?”

“Yeah. We had like an entire staff of people who basically ran the house. Technically, Ava was one of our housekeepers… though she felt more like family to me than someone who was just an employee.”

Jessica rose onto one elbow as she pursed her lips, considering that. “Do you know where she is now?”

“Probably working for another family,” I guessed. “Hopefully. Mom wrote her a good recommendation after everything happened, and we realized that we wouldn’t be able to keep the house, and that meant that we wouldn’t be able to keep her employed.”

“Man, that sucks. Well—if everything ever goes back to normal, I bet she’d come back to work for you.”

If things go back to normal…

What the hell did that even mean anymore?

I smiled, a small, sad thing. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe.”