“Yeah, your girlfriend takes forever to tie knots.”
“I’m not his girlfriend, and you know that,” I snarled quietly, yanking the tie on him.
“Shut up.”
I panted, but the tension that shook every cell of my body didn’t seem to disappear like I hoped it would. I went to open the door for Will, who greeted me with a dull smile and his hands hidden in his dress pants pockets. I didn’t glimpse any anxiety or suspicion in his eyes. William seemed calm, like the same guy I’d met the first day of school.
“What are you doing?”
“Hiding from the asshole art aficionados,” retorted James absentmindedly, focused on fiddling with a lighter in his pocket.
“Jasper just went downstairs,” I said, wanting to justify being caught with James in my room.
“My parents are downstairs too.”
Will’s comment made me smile sincerely, maybe because he said it without hiding how happy he was. He went up to the open window and pointed out a tall blond lady in an animated conversation with other people in my backyard.
“That’s my mom.”
She was wearing big sunglasses and a black dress hat with feathers popping out of it.
“She looks like she’s going to a funeral,” I said. Will burst out laughing.
“No offense to your mom,” I clarified, embarrassed.
But he didn’t take offense; he turned to me, and our eyes met.
“I missed your spontaneity, June.”
I smiled with my eyes on the floor, while Will clumsily rubbed his chest.
“There are way too many people, and my mom is breathing down my neck,” he admitted. He started biting the inside of his cheek. He seemed a little apprehensive, so I decided to calm him down.
“You know what? I don’t want to go back down there.”
“We’ll definitely find something better to do,” he said, shrugging.
James was leaning on the desk in the back of the room. At that exact moment, my eyes caught his, which looked up lightning quick from the paper he handled between tapered fingers. It lasted a second, then he went back to tinkering with his stuff.
“What do you say, Will?” James pointed at the freshly rolled joint he held between his index and middle finger.
“What do you want to do?” I asked, frightened.
“Smoking. You’re not invited, White.”
“It just so happens that this is my bedroom.”
James didn’t answer, but he stood up and made a gesture that left me speechless. I saw his hand grab the key and lock the door. Did he really lock my bedroom door?Calm down, June.
“Why’d you lock it?” I jumped up, irritated.
James put the mouthpiece of the joint between his lips and studied me contemptuously. “James! Are you serious?” I shouted, stretching my arms out.
He couldn’t smoke in my room, the smell would get in my curtains and fabrics; my mom would notice right away.
“You know, Snow White, maybe the question you should be asking isn’tWhat we want to do,”—James addressed me seriously, approaching me in an intimidating way—“but who.”
He and Will exchanged an intense look that made my heart burst out of my mouth.
