“Yeah, we did. It was incredible. He’s so sweet and so tender.” I blush a little in the glow of remembrance.
“A tender jock. I never would have guessed it,” she muses thoughtfully as she smiles at me. “I’m so happy for you! Really.”
Dana lets go of me and flops back on her bed to soak it all in. I get it. I’m just as shell-shocked as her.
I mean, I joined swim team to try and get Wills … but I was sure it hadn’t worked.
“Well, that’s a hell of a night for you,” she says. “I can’t fricking get Victoria. What’s wrong with her?”
“Let’s not talk about that,” I say. It’s more than the fact that I really just want to forget all that nastiness; it’s for Dana’s benefit too. We’ve established that her crush on the cruel queen of the school can’t be helped … and as much as that bitch might deserve it, I’m not going to bad-mouth her any more than I have to in front of my best friend. “You know what they say. Kind of ‘they won the battle and you won the war’ sort of thing.”
“And the others?” Dana asks. “How are they going to take it? I mean … you’ve finally picked one of them right? I bet they aren’t going to be happy.”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” I say. I wouldn’t say I’ve ‘picked’ anyone … but there’s no need to try and explain that to Dana. She might be understanding, but some things are a bit much to try and explain.
The fact that, somehow, Wills has always been a sort of package deal alongside the other two is one of those things.
“You’re a strange one, Teddy Price,” she says, looking up at the ceiling. “I like it.”
I don’t know how I wound up being so lucky with a friend like her. I’ll never take her for granted again.
Breakfast beside both Dana and Wills is admittedly a little strange. When he first showed up at my door this morning, I still was hardly able to believe it. Part of me was sure I made it all up … but here he is, sitting beside me in front of the whole school, without even a tiny smidgeon of shame.
In fact, I think he’s still pretty oblivious to the stares directed our way.
Dana is taking it all in stride. She never really got the chance to get to know him the way I did last year, but she’s wasting no time now. I’m barely able to get a word in edgewise between her barrage of questions.
Wills answers dutifully, and I find myself learning things even I didn’t know. He and the other boys were accepting of Dana last year, but not completely inclusive with her all the time. Now it feels like Wills genuinely wants to become friends with her too, if just for my sake.
I’m expecting some sort of scene when the rest of the holy trinity comes in and finds us together, and it’s making it hard to stomach my eggs. Breakfast is almost over, and I’m about to chalk it up to a near miss when suddenly, there they are.
Astor and Blair pause in the doorway to the dining hall for a moment. I know they see us, but Astor just keeps that blank look on his face and passes by to the serving line. Victoria, always at his heels, gives us a cold, hard glare that shows no remorse for her actions the night before.
Then again, why would she? It’s all thanks to her that Wills is sitting here across from me, shoveling a mountain of egg-whites into his face.
Wills just raises his eyebrows up at me, and goes back to eating an ungodly amount of food.
I can’t let it go, however.
I lean in and drop my voice. “Did you tell them already, then?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asks, looking back up at me. It’s so straightforward and honest. I’m not used to it.
“I guess—”
I’m cut off as a pair of arms encircles me from behind, catching me completely off guard. I know the smell of him before I recognize the arms trying to embrace me.
“Blair!” I say, my voice closer to a screech than any other acceptable human noises. I’m frozen, unmoving, as he tries to give me a good squeeze. “What are you doing?”
His arms go rigid, and he takes a sudden awkward step away to the side so I can see him.
His eyes shift from me to Wills, and then back to me again. “Well … things are … things have changed a bit, haven’t they? I’m just really g
lad.”
It’s my turn to look between the boys. “And?” I ask coolly. “I still don’t get what you’re doing.”
Blair’s grin falters as he realizes I’m not entirely thrilled to have him standing there beside me. “We don’t have to hide anymore. I thought … after Wills here … that was obvious.”