“Shut up, Marvin.”
When I hurled myself into the bathroom, I found Amelia fixing her messy hair with her fingers. “Everything okay, June?”
“What happened to you?” I asked, noticing her blouse slightly wrinkled around her waist.
“Um.” Amelia immediately redirected her attention to me and my uniform, which was now soaked. “What happened to you?”
“James Hunter,” I replied succinctly, as if that was enough of an explanation in and of itself.
Amelia, unlike her usual self, didn’t wink at me this time. She seemed particularly distracted this morning.
Okay, but get out now so I can change, I thought, staring at her.
I was embarrassed to get changed in front of anyone, boy or girl. But I had to get back to class as soon as possible, and Amelia didn’t seem to be paying attention to me, so I unbuttoned my shirt.
I didn’t have a change of clothes in my backpack except for an extra-large T-shirt that I used for gym class.
“And Ari?” I asked, putting the shirt over my uniform skirt to not expose myself too much.
“Can you believe that I can’t talk to her? Are you coming to Tropical with us tonight?”
“Who’s ‘us’?” I asked skeptically.
Every once in a while my mom possessed me.
“With me and Poppy. I’ll try to convince Ari, too, but it doesn’t seem like she wants to talk to me lately,” she muttered, coming up behind me as I put on my sweatpants.
“Did something happen?”
Amelia’s facial expression hardened. “Don’t tell anyone, but I think she left Brian for someone else,” she whispered.
“What?”
“Do you know anything?” Oh no.
“No, nothing,” I lied breathlessly.
“Okay. We’ll see each other tonight. I’ll tell you if there are any updates.”
I went back to class the next hour full of thoughts. I found James, Jackson, and Marvin leaning against the door like three vultures.
The latter must’ve just made a joke because his friends were scolding him.
“Enough with this shit, Marvin,” said James.
“What do you want? The heart wants what it wants.” Marvin laughed, giving me a once-over.
“Yeah, the heart. Sure,” James replied without moving an inch when I passed him by.
“You don’t like her that much.”
“She’s already pretty busy with Will and Hood.”
Those words caught my attention.
“I told you it was an accident. But even if it wasn’t, do you not get that it’s none of your business?”
Marvin and Jackson barely held back their laughter. They seemed to get a kick out of seeing a girl stand up to James, and I was now an expert at that.
