“Are there classrooms out here?” I asked, half-running to keep up.
My God. Their gym was ginormous. We followed the long side of the brick building, each step taking us farther and farther away from everybody else.
Rafe took a sharp right when we ran out of wall to follow and led me behind the gym.
I stopped abruptly. “There’s nothing here.”
“Exactly,” he answered.
I probably should have been concerned by the situation I’d gotten myself into. I was alone with a guy I didn’t know, well away from the school buildings, which held the people who wouldn’t hear me scream. But oddly, I wasn’t scared. Rafe’s attitude was full of disinterest, but he wasn’t remotely threatening.
He pulled a lighter and a hand-rolled cigarette from his pocket and lit up. He took a long drag, and as he blew out the smoke, I realized I’d been wrong. Not a cigarette. A joint.
“Seriously, dude? It’s not even ten.” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Don’t know what the rules were in your last fancy-ass school, but round here, there’s no rules on what time we can get high.”
I somehow doubted, even at a school like Saint View, you were allowed to get high on school property. “You couldn’t wait until you’d delivered me to my first class? I really don’t want to get kicked out of school on my first day because you wanted to smoke a joint.”
He held it out to me. “Relax. You look like you need this more than I do.”
I shook my head stubbornly.
He shrugged. “If you change your mind, you know where I am. Trust me, Saint View is a lot easier to deal with if you’re a little baked.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
I spun around at the feminine voice behind me. A girl, about the same height as me, but in a short, tight denim skirt and a top that showed a sliver of her toned stomach joined us. Her long hair fell down her back, a deep crimson that looked fresh out of a packet of cheap hair dye. But it suited her. I kind of wished I had the lady balls to try a color that bright. My hair looked downright mousy in comparison, even though I’d paid two hundred dollars at my last salon appointment.
The girl plucked the joint from Rafe’s fingers, inhaled, and blew the smoke in his face.
Rafe didn’t seem to mind. Just took the joint back from her without a word.
I eyed her carefully, a little on edge after Gillian’s hostility this morning, and at being caught out here alone with Rafe. Was he her boyfriend? That’d be all I need. Another girl hating my guts because of something her boyfriend did.
But the girl’s red lipsticked lips stretched into a wide smile when she turned in my direction. It lit up her entire face, her dark eyes gleaming. “New girl. Right? Stacey?”
“Lacey,” I corrected. I stuck my hand out for her to shake.
She ignored it, and to my surprise, hugged me instead. I breathed in her perfume, an unfamiliar scent. Or perhaps it was just the fact it was mixed with the smell of pot smoke. It wasn’t unpleasant, though. She squeezed me tight, while I stood awkwardly, not exactly sure what to do with my hands.
“You’re scaring her, Jag,” Rafe drawled, leaning back on the brick wall of the gym. “Go easy.”
“Oops, sorry! I’m Jagger. And I’m a hugger. But it’s better you know that upfront anyway, since we’re going to be friends.”
I shook my head, pulling out of the hug. “We are?” I asked before I could think about it. My head spun. And I was a little suspicious after Colt and Gillian had been so icy this morning. Were they setting me up? But then I looked into Jagger’s smiling face, and either she was a terrific actress or she was sincere. I wanted to believe the latter.
She hooked her arm through mine and steered me away, throwing a wave at Rafe over her shoulder. “Of course. I’ve just been waiting for someone interesting to come along. There’s only so much of Gillian and her crew I can handle. And everyone else is as dull as dirt. Come with me, Rafe is a useless guide. And anyway, Banjo sent me to rescue you. He said you’re a good one, so that’s enough for me.”
“He did?” I asked.
What the hell? Banjo and I had barely spent thirty minutes together. He couldn’t know if I was a good or bad anything. This entire morning had been overwhelming. I needed a minute to catch my breath and perhaps take some notes. Colt, Gillian, Banjo, Rafe, Jagger. At least I remembered their names. Five out of a school of hundreds. It was a start. I was suddenly regretting not taking a hit from that joint. It probably would have calmed my nerves.
“Yep. So let’s get you to your first class, because you strike me as the type who doesn’t like to be late. Am I right?”
I couldn’t deny that.
Jagger put her hand out. “Schedule?”
I riffled through my backpack and fished out the now slightly crumpled piece of paper and handed it over.
Jagger paused to squint at it and then looked back to me. “You’ve got math in the D block. It’s at the other end of the school. Come on, I’ll take you there.” She set off at a brisk pace.
I jogged a few steps to catch up. “Don’t you need to get to your own class?”
She shrugged. “Already late. And, hey, wouldn’t want to set my new teachers up for anything other than disappointment on the first day. Best they know now that I’m perpetually late for everything.”
I smiled at that. We couldn’t have been more different, and just knowing I was already late for class made my skin itch. But there wasn’t much I could do about it, and I would have been a whole lot later if I was still waiting for Rafe, so I was grateful.
We walked along the now empty halls, passing classrooms with teenagers lolling at desks. I peeked into each open door as we went, but it all looked much the same as Providence. Students all barely paying attention to their teachers. I guess money didn’t change that.
“So, you don’t get high?” Jagger asked.
I shook my head. “No. Never really felt the urge to try it.” I eyed her sideways, wondering if she’d give me a hard time about it. There were plenty at my old school who liked to party. Though I’d never seen anyone smoking a joint at school, first thing on a Monday morning. That would have been risking expulsion. And getting expelled from Providence…I couldn’t even imagine the uproar that would have created.
“That’s cool. I don’t normally at school either. But Rafe always has good weed.”
“Does he do that a lot?”
She shrugged. “Define a lot?”
I chuckled. “Sounds like a yes then.”
“Probably.”
“Has he ever been caught? It’s not exactly an original hiding spot he has there. You seemed to know exactly where to find him.”
Jagger took a sharp left into a new corridor, and I tried to memorize the path we were taking. This school was humongous.
“Oh, all the teachers know. But Rafe is an Untouchable.”
“A what now? Is that a club?”
Jagger stopped abruptly and faced me. “Sort of? I mean, not officially. It’s just what most of us here call them.”
“Them?” I hated to sound like a parrot, but my interest had been piqued, and my need to get to class on time died. My whole reason for being here was to find out who had been at the fire that night. And learning about the students and staff was the best way to do that. If Jagger was a gossip, all the better for me.