“Okay, I just checked,” Kristine gasps with excitement, her voice breathless like she ran all the way here.
I watch her skeptically as she literally dives head first into the passenger seat, her cheeks flushed—I’m betting it has nothing to do with the fact that she ran here after being gone for over twenty minutes just to check on how packed tonight’s party is.
“Took you long enough.” I side-eye her, noticing the smudge of her lipstick.
“Well, I had to make a pit-stop,” she gasps, trying to catch her breath.
“Was that on your knees?” Rye counters from the backseat and I smile, staring at my reflection through the compact mirror.
“That’s none of your business, Rye,” Kristine says, “At least I had the guts to actually go in and check.”
“Among other things.” Rye mumbles and I laugh, unable to hold it in.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Rye smiles at her. “What did you see?”
“Well get ready, bitches, it’s packed like a den of sin in there,” Kristine gushes excitedly, her voice out of breath. “It looks like a neutral party.”
“That means public schools and private school students are here, right?” Jaz questions from the backseat, making Rye and Kristine sigh loudly.
“Oh sweetie, that’s what I meant, it’s a neutral party,” Kristine mocks, a fake smile plastered on her face. “Which means, it’s going to be steamy as hell, with an all you can eat buffet of guys just waiting. Ripe for the picking.”
“Ripe for your abuse,” Rye murmurs and I chuckle.
“What?” Kristine snaps, turning around to stare at her. “Do you have a problem with me?”
“A problem with you?” Rye starts, tilting her head to the left like she’s confused. “That would assume I actually consider you as anything more than a little…”
“Rye,” I cut her off before she can go on.
“No, let her get it off her chest.” Kristine huffs.
“Now is not the time.” I sigh. “Tonight’s about partying. School starts on Monday.”
“As well as whoring,” Rye chimes in again, her eyes narrowed on Kristine.
“What did you just say?”
“Here we go again,” Jaz grumbles.
“Nothing, sweetie.” Rye smiles because that’s what you do in high school when you’re a mean girl. You keep your enemies close and the girls who steal your boyfriend from under your nose even closer.
“Whatever, you can be sour all you want but tonight, I’m going to let loose!” Kristine screams in my ear, making me almost jump in my seat. I push her face away, shooting her an evil eye.
“When are you ever not loose?” I scowl at her, making Jaz and Rye laugh all over again. “And stop screaming in my ear, you sound like a fox in distress.”
“Seriously?” Kristine gasps, staring at my profile with her eyebrows almost touching her hairline. I’m almost impressed by how much give her face muscles still have. Sixteen years old and already she’s had work done. “Seriously, Mia?”
“What?” I shake my head, then snap my compact mirror closed so I can fluff out my hair. “I didn’t say anything that isn’t true, and you know it.”
Some people should just own up to how they became overnight whores since discovering sex like an overeager, sex-crazed machine. For Kristine, that was when she turned thirteen. But sleeping with Rye and Jaz’s boyfriends like that, it sounds personal.
“I’m not loose!” Kristine frowns, making Jaz snort.
“Yeah sure,” she starts. “That’s why you’ve been dating three guys at a time for the past two weeks?”
Whoa, say what?
“You’ve been dating three guys at the same time?” I question. “And you’ve only known them for two weeks?”
Kristine turns haughty right then, eyeing me like she knows something I don’t.
“Yeah, impressive isn’t it?” She drops her voice to a mocking moan. “Feeling jealous?”
I don’t know why she thinks I’d consider her moral torn, identity crisis, another-man-snatching tendencies impressive. And the way she says it, it’s like she’s joking but the look in her eyes makes me narrow my eyes at her.
“Uh, jealous of catching STDs and STIs?” I mock right back. “Sure, Kristine, whatever makes you feel less pathetic in your Foursome Fortnight.”
She scrunches her nose up at me, looking severely confused.
“Foursome Fortnight?” she questions, making me roll my eyes. Seriously how dumb can one person be?
“Never mind.” I sing-song.
“Well take it back because I’m not loose.”
There’s a moment of silence in the car before Jaz, Rye and I burst out laughing at her like she just announced she’s turning over a new leaf and will be a celibate nun seeking the face of God for the rest of her life. I’m all for religion if you actually mean it. Kristine, however, doesn’t take anything seriously in her life other than living to look and sound like the R.A.C.K.
“Stop laughing. I mean it!” Kristine snaps. “I’m serious about this. I’m going to get the man of my dreams tonight.”
“Just drop it already, Kristine.” Rye leans over the console from the backseat. “Shane Matthews only has eyes for one girl and it’s not you.”
“Shane isn’t the only guy that’s here tonight, and you don’t even know who I mean.”
“Who are you talking about then?” I question, checking my make-up one more time as I summon my best mask, mentally telling myself that everything’s going to be alright. It’s been a year, there’s no reason to continue looking over my shoulder like a seasoned criminal on the run.
“Julian Fitzgerald, of course.”
Kristine exhales his name with an ease that matches the way I immediately turn into stone in my seat. It’s been a year, sure, but I still can’t bring myself to say his name out loud, let alone try not to react to it.
“What?” Rye almost gasps. “They’re here?”
I watch Kristine closely, waiting for that answer like it’ll determine whether I’ll take my next breath or not.
“Well, they weren’t in there,” she murmurs. “But I heard they might be there.”
“Yeah right, they never show up to parties anymore,” Rye mumbles, disappointed.
“Well, except for Liam,” Jaz cuts in. “Now that exceptionally hot, I’ll-fuck-you-and-your-Mama manwhore, is almost everywhere, but God, I bet sex with him would change your life. I swear it.”
“Ah, showing our true colors are we, Jaz?” Kristine says, looking down her nose at her.
“I’d like to have sex with that guy, I don’t hide it,” Jaz counters. “Unlike other people.”
“Liam?” I question, blinking like a dumb little cheerleader.
“Julian’s younger brother,” Rye explains. “He’s our age. Sexy. A smart mouth. He worships his brother. How come you don’t know this?”
“Yeah, Mia?” Jaz frowns. “Sometimes I swear you live under a rock better than the ground.”