With my mouth slightly agape, I let the tip of my sneaker hang over the edge of the sidewalk. I look stupid, but I don’t care. It’s not every day that a bunch of tattooed outsiders find themselves in a place like St. Simeon.
“Holy shit. St. Simeon just became interesting.” Aubrey laughs behind me, pulling me backward.
I’m nodding, captivated by the tattoo on the driver’s hand, trying to make out what it is, as two women make their way across the crosswalk. The Miss Manners duo all but clutch their pearls as they stare at Main Street’s newest fascinations through the windshield.
From where I stand, I can only see the driver’s profile.
“Ugh. I can’t see his whole face.”
Aubrey clutches my hand, settling shoulder to shoulder with me as the car’s engine revs—making me jump, Aubrey laugh, and the women move faster.
“Animals,” she snarks, shaking her head.
The driver flicks his cigarette toward the street, laughing as one of the women gasps.
He’s an asshole, not an animal. But that laugh—so deep and carnal. Piper comes up on the other side of me, staring up at my face with a grin.
“I smell the need for a confession coming on. No hate. That jawline alone puts him in my dream rotation.”
I giggle as Aubrey exhales, “Jesus,” and fans herself.
“It’s a good thing we go to Catholic school—because those dudes’ vibes were immaculate, and staring at them definitely got me pregnant.”
Piper reaches behind me, shoving Aubrey’s shoulder. “You have to be a virgin for that…”
“Shut your blasphemous mouth. I am still a virgin because anal counts in the tally too, bitch.”
They start playfully sparring back and forth, but I’m not paying attention. My eyes are on the set of taillights turning the corner. Until the feeling of someone watching me has my head shifting to look over my shoulder.
The woman with those dark eyes and even darker words makes the sign of the cross before walking back inside the shop.
“Dad?” The door slams behind me as I walk inside my house. “Mom? Hello? Anyone?”
“Sutton,” I hear my mom call from her office off the entryway. “In here.”
Peeking my head inside the door, I see her sitting at her desk, papers littered across the surface. Her sleek blonde tresses shine like she’s in one of those hair commercials as her blue eyes affix to mine.
“How was your day, kid? Aubrey and Piper exhaust you too much with all the shopping? I still don’t understand why you need to shop for clothes this much when you wear a uniform most days.”
I shrug with a smile. “What about all the free-dress days and the dances? And don’t forget the wild parties and secret trips into the city we take and never tell you about. And the most obvious is summer. I can’t just wear a bathing suit every day. That’s indecent—so say the nuns.”
She piles a manila folder on top of the impossibly high stack next to her.
“And yet, you own enough to do so. Just make sure everything is front page appropriate.”
I roll my eyes, walking inside as she gestures for me to sit down.
“Back to your day.”
Plopping down on the chenille armchair in front of her glass desk, I relax back, doing what we always do. She pretends to listen as I speak, and I only give her the headlines. It’s almost like a real family.
“Well, in order, it was boring. Boring. Boring. Then way less boring.”
Her perfectly shaped brows raise. “Oh yeah? Definitely start with the less boring part, please.”
I wrap my hand around the ends of my long copper hair and pull my legs up to sit crisscross as she takes another file from the stack, looking it over.
“Well…you’ll never believe what I saw downtown today. There were these boys—well, not really boys—and also this super-strange lady giving like tarot slash tea leaf readings. It was weird—”
Before I can finish, my father bursts through the doorway, tossing a newspaper onto the desk as he stalks toward it.
“Did you see this?”
My mother scrambles for the paper as my head shifts between them. My father’s face grows crimson as his voice gets louder, making me jump.
“Read it.”
I stare at my mother’s surprised face before I look over at the fury scrawled over my father’s. The words on the tip of my tongue are swallowed because I’m too scared to draw his attention.
She shakes her head.
“This is a commercial real estate announcement, Baron.” Confusion mars her brow. “I don’t under—”
“Look at the goddamn name, Elizabeth,” he barks, cutting her off. “Look at who bought up all those properties across the tracks.”
My father slaps the paper from her hand back to the desk, stabbing his finger on it, and I quickly cover the shriek that shoots from my mouth, drawing their attention.
My father straightens, motioning toward the door dismissively. “A moment, Sutton.”
I stand quickly, nodding as I walk toward the door, hearing, “That scum takes my town over my dead body.”
2
Sutton
Golden sunrays bathe my cheeks as I lift my face toward the sky. Eyes closed. Mind quiet.
My Doc Marten–adorned heels bounce off the cement wall I’m perched on as the chatter from my friends becomes muffled.
I take a deep breath, drawing in the ocean air, and feel my shoulders relax. A smile begins to bloom on my lips as tiny birds chirp their songs and the leaves on the nearest tree rustle.
May’s always warm on St. Simeon, but this year it’s as if summer’s come early.
I can almost smell the scent of the coconut oil that’ll replace all the musty library books and taste the cherry Popsicles that’ll become my only communion—no more nuns, homework, or mass on the first Friday instead of pep rallies.
One more week and goodbye, junior year.
“Sutton, are you listening to me?”
A faint breeze carries a stray copper tendril over my lip, getting it stuck on my gloss as I soak up the moment. I brush the strand away as Aubrey’s voice cracks through my daydream.
“Hello?”
Shh, I think, but my smile gives away that I’ve heard her.
Piper tsks. “No. She isn’t. Her head is in the clouds, as usual. A penny for your thoughts, Sut. Although, I bet I can guess.”
I don’t move from my sun worship as I answer.
“If you must know, I’m thinking about how this is always my favorite time of the year. There’s something kind of sexy about it. You know?” My hands grip the cement as I tip my chin a bit higher. “It sounds weird, but it’s like all of a sudden, the sun comes out, and everything comes to life. Like the world becomes more vivid. Even the stars shine brighter.”
There’s silence, and then they both laugh.
“Oh my God, you dreamy bitch.” Aubrey gently pinches my arm. “Open your eyes. I need you on planet Earth. Stat.”
She’s only half-joking. My friends are used to me. They should be, considering our whole lives have been intertwined since birth. We’re the three musketeers, minus the swords and the unknown fourth member. Why do people even say “three” musketeers? It’s so misleading.