The group laughed and moved on; I overhead Orion telling them to ease off.
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” I muttered and shouldered my bag, just as Dean jogged to catch up to me.
“Xander, my man! That was the best bow seat action we’ve seen in years. Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Fit in on my own crew?”
Dean slapped my back. “Nah, Tucker’ll come around.”
I doubted it. Because the other thing I couldn’t do was stop thinking about his girlfriend.
Chapter 10
Emery
Saturday night. The sun hadn’t sunk yet, but once it did, most of the Academy students would head over to the west side, to the abandoned lighthouse. It had once guided ships into the Narragansett a hundred years ago. The bonfire party was an unofficial back-to-school tradition—dancing, drinking, and hooking up.
Going to Cassidy’s—the burger place on the north side of Castle Hill near the Bend—was a bonfire night tradition too. The guys wanted to fill up on burgers and fries to soak up all the beer and Jägerbombs. The diner was bustling, with servers in 1950s-era uniforms crisscrossing the black-and-white checkered floor to oldies songs.
Our booth was packed with the seven of us: Tucker and me; Aria Kingston and Rhett Calloway, who’d been together since the eighth grade; Gideon Foster, a gymnast who always seemed to run solo; Orion Mercer; and Elowen. She sat as close to Orion as she could without seeming obvious. Not that I blamed her. Orion was probably one of the best-looking guys in school but had a rep for being a manwhore. Elowen had told me this was the year she’d wear him down and makea boyfriend out of him. That didn’t sound very romantic, but then again, my own boyfriend’s idea of romance was a date crammed with other people and greasy food, followed by fooling around in the cab of his truck.
Tucker sat beside me, his arm slung across the back of the booth, manspreading under the table so I was squashed between him and Gideon. The conversation meandered around the usual stuff: gossip, who was already hooking up with who, and the upcoming Halloween Festival and dance.
“Everyone got their costumes?” Elowen asked. She glanced up at Orion. “You’d make a fantastic Alfie.”
Orion frowned. “Who’s that, love?”
“From the show,Emily in Paris?” Elowen said, and I didn’t miss how her eyes brightened at being called “love.”
“Never seen it.” Orion grinned. “I already have a costume, anyway. I’m going as Mr. Universe, and this”—he gestured to himself—“is my costume.”
Elowen gave him a playful little shove that he completely ignored.
“We got our costumes,” Tucker said. “Em and I are going as Ken and Barbie…from the movie.”
“Oh my God, perfect,” Aria said. “Emery, you’re literally Barbie.”
“Thanks.”Especially if you mean a girl in a box who doesn’t know if she can be herself or was made for someone else to play with.
I gave my head a shake. “Anyway, Tucker just wants an excuse to go shirtless.”
“Damn straight.” Tucker laughed and lifted a corner of his T-shirt to show the tight six-pack of his abs. “But also, come on. Me in that fur coat and Em wearing…basically anything? We’re a shoo-in for Best Couple.”
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes, but no one disagreed.
“How’s the crew looking?” Gideon asked. He was blond and big like Tucker, a specialist on the bar for the men’s gymnastics team. “Tryouts earlier today, yeah?”
I sat up straighter and listened intently without looking like I was listening intently. I’d been wondering all day how it had gone for Xander.
Because he’s my friend. That’s what friends do.
“It was alright,” Tucker said. “I think Coach is going to shit-can one of our guys and replace him with a Bender. That new guy, Xander Ford.”
My pulse kicked up ten notches and a strange pride filled me, as if I could take credit for Xander. As if his very presence at the school was somehow my doing.
I was dying to hear more, but the waitress appeared. She was middle-aged and tired-looking but offered a warm smile.
“Here you go. Four coffee cabinets and three Diet Cokes.” She set the milkshakes in front of the guys, the sodas in front of us girls. “Your food will be right out.”
