She laughed. “Duh.”
Okay.
I felt Stacy and Blair’s eyes on us, felt them drawing closer.
“Well, I’m Jane.” I stuck out my hand for her to shake it.
But her arms stayed lashed to her chest as she studied mecoolly with her swimming pool–blue eyes. She worked the cigarette between her fingers, which were sticking out of black lace Madonna gloves. Her eyes popped when they got to my bandage.
“What’s wrong with your leg?” she asked. Not with concern. Almost mocking me.
“I got thrown from my horse—”
“Oh my god! So thatwasactually you? You actually like, ride…a horse?” That same wicked grin curdled across her mouth.
“Yeah, Iactuallydo,” I replied, my pulse throbbing in my temples. “But hey, nice car.” I jerked my chin at her bimmer. “Thanks a lot for running me off the road earlier, nearly killing me.”
“What?” she sneered. “Like it’smyfault you can’t control your horse.”
Unbelievable.
“Youcaused this?” Blair said to Nellie. She and Stacy were standing next to me by then.
Nellie just scoffed.
“Well,of courseyou did. Little psycho.”
“Yeah, like sorry, whatever.” Nellie snickered. “Maybe you should get a car instead. I don’t know where you’re from, but this is an actual modern town.”
“Shut up, Nellie!” Blair shot back. “Jane’s awesome, and her farm is also supercool. I just picked her up out there, and there’s all this amazing stuff—”
“Oh, Blair, you’re so full of shit!” Nellie practically shrieked. “You hate the outdoors unless it’s Miller’s Hole or waterskiing,” she said, her hands flailing around her, “or this. You were thebiggest scaredy cat at summer camp, jumping at every bug—”
“Okaaaay.” Blair rolled her eyes, turned to me. “Don’t worry about Nellie.” She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder. “She’s just jealous.”
She looped her arm through mine and turned to walk away, so I followed. After a few steps, she said, loud enough for Nellie to hear, “And…weird.”
After my second cup of Hunch Punch, I ducked into the woods to pee. I heard a loud rumble, looked up to see a Ford Bronco crawling toward the party.
A guy hopped out of the driver’s seat. Seeing him up close, I recognized him right away as Dustin Reeves. Nellie’s boyfriend. I’d met him at the swimming hole night before last. He kind of gave me the creeps.
He spotted me and staggered over, clearly already drunk. Unlike Tommy, or Luke, Dustin is not exactly handsome. He’s oafish. Tall. A rich mama’s boy, kinda pudgy, with teeth like a shark’s. But trying desperately to look cool in his Metallica T-shirt.
My heart drummed in my chest. We weren’t out of sight of the rest of the party but far enough away to make me feel uncomfortable.
“Damn, girl, how’d that happen?” he asked, pointing at my leg. Laughing. His eyes moving over me as if they were devouring me. I felt squeamish.
“An accident,” I said, keeping my tone neutral, not wantingto bring Nellie’s name up, get into it with him.
“Looks bad. Seriously, what happened, huh?” His alligator grin grew wider, uglier.
But I kept my face as still as a stone.
From across the bonfire, I could feel Nellie’s stare again.
Great, I thought.Now she thinks I’m hitting on her hideous boyfriend.
“Later,” I said to Dustin, then stomped off.
