I felt my eyebrows rise in shock.
“You’re joking?”
“No,” she said.
“Likeever?”
“Nothing I’d ever chosen.”
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those ‘I’m not like other girls’?” I asked, mentally cringing.
“What? What does that mean?”
“You’ve never seen the memes?” When she gave me a blank stare, I continued to explain, watching her face scrunch with disgust.
“Ew, fuck no. I don’t claim to be like anyone else, but that’s just because I think everyone our age is a dumb fucknugget. It’s not for attention from guys. I don’t listen to music because I don’t have the means to. I don’t have a phone or a car to listen to the radio.”
I shook my head slowly, still in disbelief. She had to be the first teenager I’d ever met that didn’t listen to music like it was something as essential as water or food. And no cell phone either? She really was a strange person, and not just to be a pick-me kind of girl like several of our classmates.
I crawled to a stop in the driveway beside my sister’s car, making sure to put my parking brake on. I pulled on my hood before reluctantly leaving the warm car to grab my bag from the back and rushing inside. I looked over my shoulder to make sure that Shiloh had followed me, and she had, although admittedly slow despite being pelted by hail the size of grapes. She looked quite pale, which was saying something because she was already very fair.
“You feeling okay?” I asked as I stood beneath the front porch waiting for her to reach me.
“Fine,” she grumbled, giving me a cold stare.
I pursed my lips and nodded, reminding myself that she must have a reason for always being so rude and not to get upset at her for it. Plus, being in pain was probably causing some of her irritability.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside, tossing my shoes inside the hall closet. I turned around to find Shiloh staring at the family portrait on the wall beside us.
“I take it you’re not the honor roll student?” Shiloh asked.
“First of all, I could be an honor roll student. You don’t know what my grades are in my other classes. And secondly, who told you I was an honor roll student?” I said, pulling my damp hoodie over my head. I noticed her eyes linger on my stomach from where my shirt had risen and pulled it down.Thank you, free gym membership from Uncle Q. You’ve finally paid off, and a girl has taken notice.
“The bumper sticker on your car. And you’re right, I don’t know your other grades. Just figured with how lazy you are with studying math, that also applied to your other classes.”
“Rude!” I rolled my eyes in annoyance that she had pegged me so well. “Just because I’m not good at Algebra II doesn’t mean I’m dumb.”
“I never said you were,” she stated obviously.
“Well, you aren’t completely wrong. That sticker was for my older sister, not me. It was my mom’s car before it was—”
“That explains why you drive an SUV,” Shiloh interrupted.
“Yeah,” I shrugged, motioning for her to remove her shoes.
I grabbed her backpack from her shoulder and noticed her shirt was damp and sticking to her chest.
Lord have mercy. Nipples. Those are definitely nipples, Nox.
I swallowed and quickly averted my gaze, eyeing the kitchen where the voices of my family could be heard. I glanced back at her appearance. Her socks must have been wet because she was standing there barefoot.
“Let me grab you a shirt you can borrow. And some dry socks. Come on.”
She glanced down at herself, crossing her arms over her chest, before pinning me with her signature scowl.
“Look, if my parents see you soaking wet, they’ll just make me go grab you some clothes anyways.”
She rolled her eyes but motioned for me to lead the way. I decided not to climb the stairs like a freak three at a time, especially seeing how slowly she walked. I was beginning to think it must be because of an injured rib, and she was lying about being fine enough to be at school. There had to be a reason why she wouldn’t rather be at home curled up and binging something on TV while she healed.
