“How was your weekend?” my friend Lauren asks as she enters the classroom and sits down next to me. We’re not close like I was with my friends back in Collins. But I don’t have to have friends. I’m just fine being alone.
I groan. “Shitty. Yours?” I ask.
She gives me a big smile. “Perfect. I got to see Billy.”
“And how did that go?”
“Amazing.” She sighs heavily. I want to puke. “He’s having a bonfire party this weekend out on his parents’ property. Wanna go with me?”
I stiffen. The last time I went to a bonfire was my sophomore year while I was still living in Collins. Back when things were somewhat normal.
I sit on my bed, flipping through the channels and looking for something to watch on TV. As usual, there’s nothing. A knock on my door has me shutting it off. “What?” I ask.
My sister pops her head in. “Wanna go out tonight?”
I eye her skeptically. She wears a crimson long-sleeve shirt with black lips on it and matching black skinny jeans with a pair of black boots, and her blond hair hangs straight down her back. “No.” She never asks me to hang out with her, so for her to do it now is sketchy as fuck.
“Come on.” She pushes my door all the way open and steps into my room. “I just spoke to Deke, and the GWS are gonna be there.”
My heart skips a beat at the mention of the sharks. I don’t know why. He doesn’t know I exist. And if he did, he would never like me the way I like him. “Pass.” I turn my TV back on. Might as well save myself the embarrassment.
“This is your chance, Demi. Dad is out of town. And Mom keeps threatening to make you move to Texas.”
I bite my bottom lip as I think that over. My mother doesn’t mind that Becky lives here with our dad, but she’s been telling me for four years now that she’s going to make me move to Texas to live with her. The only reason she hasn’t forced that on me yet is because she’s gone more than my dad and she doesn’t want me left home alone. I’ll hate her if she makes me move. I’ve only got a couple of years left in high school, and then I’m off to college. And I’m going to choose the first place that accepts me that is far from my family. “Fine,” I growl.
She gives me a big smile, and it throws up all kinds of red flags, but I ignore them because I do want to see him. No matter how much I tell myself I shouldn’t. “Get dressed. David will be here in fifteen to pick us up.” Then she leaves, shutting my door.
I jump out of bed. Fifteen minutes? I run to my closet and yank a T-shirt off a hanger and then snap another one from pulling on my jeans too hard.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I have to hurry! I don’t have time to shower.
I pull my jeans up, kicking them in the process to help slide the tight-fitting denim up my legs. I fasten the button and pull up the zipper. I don’t even remove my sports bra. I just throw my black T-shirt on over it. Sliding my feet into a pair of black Converse, I pick up the lip gloss and quickly apply it, looking at myself in my vanity mirror. Then I grab the jacket hanging over the chair and run down the stairs.
“Demi, he’s here early …” Her voice trails off when she sees me. She gives me a smile that tells me the fucker was already here when she asked if I wanted to go.
God, I hate her.
“Let’s go.”
I follow her out of the house, and sure enough, David’s leaning up against the hood of his car, and his best friend Maxwell stands next to him.
Fuck. I hate this guy. He likes me. At least I think he does. At this point, I’m not sure if he’s just fucking with me or if he truly is interested in me, but I don’t care because he’s not the one I want to see tonight.
“Hey, Demi, glad you could join us.” David smiles at me.
I’m not sure how she got him to date her. He’s a nice guy, but she fucking cheats on him. And with Deke Biggs, no less. One of the biggest players in our school. I overheard her talking to him on the phone the other day when she thought I wasn’t home. She plays it off as if they are just friends, but he doesn’t have any girls who are friends. She was telling him about how much fun she had in the back seat of his Range Rover after one of his swim meets.