He grabbed my chin, and his pupils burned with jealousy when I looked at him.
“If I catch you with him again, it’s over between us.”
“We were just talking.”
I felt Jackson’s fingers press into my skin, and my face burned with embarrassment.
“Me or him?” I managed to ask.
I had to know. Who was he jealous of? Who did he really care about?
21
June
I was surprised by the unusual silence in Poppy’s town house when I got there.
“June! You’re here too!”
Poppy opened the door, clearly buzzed. She was wearing a light-blue cardigan with a bikini underneath. I felt agitated as I followed her to the garden.
“Did you bring your swimsuit?” she asked, taking a sip from a drink with strawberries and mint leaves.
Jackson and Marvin were in the water with two girls.
Poppy realized they were smoking, and she ran to tell them off. I was alone in the middle of the garden.
“Finally, you’re here.”
Ari pulled me back inside and held out her hand expectantly.
Was I really reduced to this? Being a drug mule for a bit of attention?
“All of them or just one?”
“Give me everything,” she said curtly.
“What’re you gonna use them for?”
She blinked at me. “So I don’t sleep, June.”
She walked away, joining Brian in the kitchen.
He grabbed her hand. “What’d June give you?” he asked, glancing at me.
“Nothing. I have a bit of a headache. She just gave me some Tylenol.” Ari just lied to her boyfriend, and looked him right in the eyes when she did it. I was inundated by conflicting emotions again. What if James was telling the truth? I immediately brushed away that thought. It wasn’t any of my business, and Ari was too perfect to cheat on her equally perfect boyfriend. I went back to the living room, where Poppy was discussing tomorrow’s homework with Sammy.
I felt jealousy take hold of me like a poisonous snake. My grades were mediocre, and all I did was study every afternoon just to keep up while they smoked, got drunk day in and day out, and were still straight-A students.
It was like being in a race knowing you’d lost as soon as you started.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” I muttered.
I needed to get away from this mess.
“June, can I lend you a bathing suit?” Poppy asked as she rubbed a cloth on the Coke- and rum-stained carpet.
“No, thanks.”
