James stayed there to vape with his friends, but every time I glanced in his direction, he was staring at me. I licked the corner of my mouth and tasted the strawberry flavor mingled with the bitterness of the smoke.
“You okay, June?”
William tilted his head, gazing at me attentively. He was probably trying to understand why I had such a dazed look on my face.
We had been just about to kiss before James interrupted. But I wouldn’t be kissing William now. The magic of that moment was already gone.
I still smelled James Hunter’s cologne on me, and his eyes pierced through me every time I caught him staring at me. All of a sudden, the situation started to get on my nerves, and I decided that it was time to head out.
“Will, I’m fine, but—”
He tried to pass me a cup of what appeared to be orange juice, but I turned it down.
“Maybe it’s better for me to go back to my friends.”
“I’m sorry. If that bothered you . . .”
“Not at all. See you at school,” I said before putting on my sweatshirt. I was about to go back into the house when I noticed James shoot me a shit-eating grin. He might have won that time, but I vowed that it would never happen again.
7
June
I woke up later than usual the next day. I wasn’t a morning person. In fact, I loved to lie under the covers for hours. I scrolled through TikTok until I realized that it was already eleven thirty. My stomach had been growling for a while, so I went downstairs to get some breakfast in peace, but my plans went right out the window.
I heated up a glass of milk in the microwave, grabbed a bag of Corn Flakes, and settled in on the kitchen island stool. Then my mom interrupted me with her typical yapping.
“Don’t get me wrong, it makes me happy to see you going out with your new friends, but are you sure you’re not letting it get in the way of your schoolwork?”
“Good morning to you, too, Mom,” I replied reluctantly. My mom spent her days painting in her studio, and as soon as she left there, she resumed her favorite pastime: bothering me.
To her, “letting it get in the way of your schoolwork” was not spending the night studying.
“I’m just pointing it out because I know you. Every time you change schools, you spend the first few days getting caught up. Besides, you never went out before.”
“Thank you for always being ready to remind me of my unsociable past. But, yeah, I met a few people I like,” I admitted between heaping spoonfuls of cereal. “My clothes don’t really work for the California weather. Will you go with me to get something new?”
She ignored my question because she was only interested in the first part of my answer.
“Are we talking about boys?”
“No. We’re talking about mythological creatures with tentacles for arms. Mom, please, let’s not,” I snapped, irritated.
“What’d I say? I just want to know if you met someone who . . . you know, ‘caught your eye,’” she said as she made air quotes and pretended to be my friend, but that was all a sham. She only wanted to pry.
“I met both male and female classmates, and they all blurred together. I’m not interested in any of them.” I mimicked her air quotes and tone of voice.
She looked up at the ceiling then walked around the kitchen island and stood in front of me.
“If you want, I’m free this afternoon. I’ll take you to the mall,” she chirped, taking the cereal right out from under my nose. Noticing my aghast facial expression, she added, “You want new clothes? Fine. We’ll get clothes with the same size. Otherwise, we’ll have to buy you more new clothes in a month.”
If I could burn her with my eyes, I would have.
“But I’m picking them, Mom. You don’t have a say.”
The afternoon at the mall went by faster than we thought it would for one reason: I didn’t like spending hours going from store to store like my mom did. I knew what I liked, I knew my style, what was the point of wandering around stores blindly perusing countless racks of clothes if you knew you’d never wear them? I only ever picked out cargo pants and long T-shirts. Nothing with prints, plunging necklines, or off the shoulder. I liked tight dresses, miniskirts, and tight tops, but I’d never be able to pull them off.
I got a new pair of jeans and a slightly clingy T-shirt, nothing too flashy.
