The ends justify the means.Besides, she’ll only stop being in danger if she doesn’t hang out with us.
“They won’t be as bad afterward. It’s the best idea.” I nodded, convinced.
“Yeah, but think about it—you’re the only one who gains anything from it because you’ll be the one banging her.”
“Are you nuts, Jax? Do you think I want to bone her? I’d do it for Will.”
Jackson was literally burning me with his wide eyes.
“It just takes a kiss. That’s already cheating, isn’t it?” I asked, as if I wasn’t used to the monogamous practices of couples in love.
“Yeah, but Will’s gonna feel like you betrayed him.”
“No, but he’ll understand that I did it for him. I want to demonstrate that she’s a waste of time. That she’d have no issues banging his best friend while William almost sacrificed our friendship.”
I understood from his sharp gaze that Jackson doesn’t approve in the least. He looked pissed.
“Yeah, you’d show him she’s not trustworthy while making the same mistake yourself. You’d look untrustworthy to Will.”
“Maybe you didn’t understand me.” I got serious, getting close enough to him to whisper. “I’ve had plenty of opportunities to bang her, but I stopped myself.”
There was one thing I had no doubt about: I would’ve never betrayed Will. Never. I definitely couldn’t say the same about him, because he was unstable and unreliable, but that didn’t mean I loved him any less.
“I didn’t want to betray his trust,” I admitted quietly.
“That’s the result you’d get if you did that, James. William would go ballistic if you did something like that to him.”
“A kiss is just a kiss,” I burst out sharply.
“Not everyone thinks that way. It’s cheating.”
“Fuck, that’s not cheating. I’m not turning my back on him or hurting him. It’s just a fucking girl, they’re not even together. It’s not cheating.”
“Look, cut the bullshit. We have to find another way, that’s too drastic. I’m leaving now. If I get home late today my grandma will explode.”
Jackson hit me on the back so hard that I whimpered in pain.
“Are you sure you don’t have internal damage? He kicked your ass, huh. Considering that you did it because you defended someone ‘just like all the others,’ it’s a little weird, don’t you think?” he mocked me with an amused smile.
“What the fuck are you saying? Go home, Jax.” We burst out laughing.
“See you at school.”
He flung the bathroom door open and a second later I stood alone, grabbing the sink.
My head was spinning. Like always. First the beer, then the weed. I had to eat something and take a painkiller.
I heard alternating voices in the distance, Will still sounding angry, and finally Jackson’s voice in the hall.
“It’s all your fault, June White,” I muttered, staring at my reflection. Because of that insufferable princess, I’d fought with Will again. Twice in one day. That had never happened before. And he still had an issue with me. Why didn’t he understand that we, his friends, came first, and then her? What was the point of putting her first if he’d only met her a month ago? She’d turn her back on him at the first sign of trouble. I was sure about that. I thought about my plan again.
Maybe Jackson wasn’t all wrong—my plan was extreme—but if I went through with it I’d put her to the test and understand if she was worthy of my trust. And consequently, see if she was worthy of William. I was at a crossroads.
I didn’t understand why Will would want to be with her and worry about anyone other than him sleeping with her. Marvin and I had been with the same girls a million times and nobody ever complained. Would it really be so wrong this time?
Was what she and I did behind Will’s back wrong? I remembered when Marvin floored the elementary school teacher in religion class by asking a weird question.
If heaven didn’t exist, what was the point of being good? I thought about that a lot. We were eleven, and that afternoon we were about to steal from the store near the skate park just for fun since we didn’t need money. Jackson had turned red from embarrassment. It was impossible to do it with him; William on the other hand always went too far. He always filled his pockets too much. Marvin was the perfect right-hand man.
