We continue to eat our food. While I keep my eyes on the lawn, Ruby shifts in my periphery, a blur of brown hair and blue uniform. I want her back, but anger pulses through me. She never apologised for abandoning me at the party. Am I right to expect one?
I don’t understand why she’s so angry about Oliver. Maybe if I had siblings, I would understand. I can’t tell whether her being upset is reasonable, or whether I want it to be an overreaction to absolve myself of guilt.
Ruby sees something over my shoulder and her brows draw together. I turn around. Tiana, Alison and Sana walk towards us. They’re in a perfect line of three, and each one of them is wearing a smirk like they’re the villains in a teen movie.
I bet they’ve come to slut-shame me, and my fist curls.
“Hey girlies,” Tiana says when they arrive.
Ruby says hello, though her voice is weary. I glare at the three of them, narrowing my eyes at Tiana.
“Aren’t you going to say hello, Eve?” Sana asks.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
Alison shrugs. “We wanted to catch up. How’s it going?”
“Great,” I say. “Especially because everyone thinks—”
“How’s your boyfriend?” Sana asks.
“For the last time, he isn’t my boyfriend,” I huff, though I know it’s pointless. Noah and I signed up for this.
“Isn’t he?” Tiana asks. “Didn’t Oliver come over yesterday?”
I freeze, and in the corner of my eye, I see Ruby stiffen and look at me. “Oliver? He’s not my boyfriend. And how do you know that?”
“So a friend with benefits?” Tiana says, her voice sickly sweet. “Or like Noah? Oh wait, you were never with Noah. You pretended to date to make people jealous.”
“You shouldn’t be so loud in Maths class.” Alison’s smile is toothy.
My heart stops. But Noah and I were quiet … and the three of them weren’t paying attention …
“Eve?” Ruby says.
“Didn’t you know?” Sana asks her. “Noah and Eve have something named the Jealousy Pact. That’s right, they had a name for it.”
“They let people think they were dating to make people jealous,” Tiana explains. “Eve wanted to make Oliver jealous, and he wanted to make Henry—”
I jump up. “Don’t say another word about Noah.”
Behind me, Ruby stands up too. “Eve, what are they talking about?”
I keep my eyes on the girls. “We never pretended to date. We’re friends.”
They smile at me and I bite my tongue to stop myself from doing something insane.
“Eve,” Ruby repeats. “Did Oliver see you yesterday?”
Before I can answer, Tiana speaks. “You know, I care less about your psycho fake-dating and social climbing and more about the juicy gossip about Noah Rosselli. No wonder he hasn’t had a girlfriend in ages. He’s already in love with someone, already hooking—”
“Shut up!” I shout. I realise how loud I am when people passing on the footpath look at us. My skin goes hot. “Did you not hear me? I told you not to say anything about Noah. Don’t.”
“Aw,” Alison teases. “Do you care about him? I thought you were only using each other—”
“What did they mean, Oliver was a friend with benefits?” Ruby asks. “Did you sleep with my brother?”
I open my mouth but words don’t come out. Tiana, Alison and Sana laugh, mouths wide open, before sashaying off. I stare at the back of their heads.
