I would’ve liked a few clarifications on the attack on his dad, to find out how he was, how he took it, and, why not, maybe his version of events too.
A hand grabbed my shoulder.
“June, is that you?”
I moved the teddy bear away from my face, trying to put it under my arm.
Tiffany appeared.
I groaned a hi without too much enthusiasm. Every time I’d dealt with Tiffany she’d turned out to be someone who got too friendly. She craned her neck trying to catch a glimpse of me hidden behind the stuffed animal. Did she just look at my tits?
“Are you alone?”
“No, Will’s inside.”
“Want a vape?” she asked, leaning her shoulders on the anything-but-clean wall.
She was wearing a leather jacket over a crop top and a matching miniskirt.
“No, thank you.”
But she insisted on staring at me.
“What is it?”
Did I have something in my teeth? Did I just grow a zit?
“Nothing.”
We both went back to the main entrance where William and the guys were walking out.
“Do you know them well?” I asked, referring to them with a furtive glance.
“In some way.”
She hinted at a smile, which gave me the courage to ask her another question.
“Were you and James, um, like together, or—” My innuendo made her crack up.
“No, are you crazy?! If you say something like that in front of Taylor, she’ll turn into the Queen of Hearts and hunt me down screamingOff with her head!”
I let a smile escape.
“You see me around James a lot at school because the most beautiful girls are always around him. It’s not even because of him.”
This time wasn’t just my imagination. Her gaze drifted down and lingered on my tight-fitting tank top.
“Um.” I cleared my throat. “Tell me more about them.”
I tried to take her attention off me and bring it to James and his friends.
“What do you want to know?” she asked, continuing to vape.
“I don’t know. The first thing that comes to mind about each of them, without thinking too much about it.”
I wanted an honest opinion, and most of all, I wanted to understand what kind of people I was dealing with.
Tiffany twirled a lock of dark hair around her index finger coyly.
