“Damn locker!” I cursed, then I heard James get sarcastic.
“Will, give her a hand for once.”
My gaze darted fast toward him. James moistened his lip while looking me right in the eye. Asshole. But why was I surprised? He’d be screwing with me forever. And stupid, stupid, stupid me, I fell for it. William came up and worked his magic on the lock, which easily sprang open right before my incredulous eyes.
“Wanna come over this evening? All three of us have that chemistry homework to make up.”
“Okay. I’ll be at your place at six, Will.”
“What are you doing before that?”
What was I doing? Great question.
“I gotta help Jasper with his homework, I think,” I shot back hesitantly.
“James, tell your dad June’s not available today.”
James stopped and stared at something, took the vape pen out of his mouth and stood with his full, slightly parted lips as his tapered fingers massaged his chin with slow exasperation.
“What homework?” I hated him.
Will burst out laughing at his friend’s words, while I was too busy glaring at him.
“See? Problem solved. Let’s go to class, June.”
I shook my head and followed Will, but James grabbed my arm as soon as I passed him.
“Jasper will be gone for three days. Try not to show up at my house,” he said menacingly.
“Where’d he go?”
He shrugged indifferently. “None of your fucking business.”
>> <<
The sun was already setting out the window and Will’s room was painted with faint colors that turned pink.
“Jackson scared the hell out of everyone. His Pennywise makeup was so realistic that Marvin had nightmares about it for a week.” I was sitting cross-legged on his bed, with a book on my lap. Will sat next to me, brightening up our study session with a few stories from the past.
James leaned on the desk with a notebook open under his nose. It had notes that he obviously wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to, given that he was on his phone.
“Why’s he here too? Shouldn’t we study alone?” I protested, pointing at him. James was as uninterested in our discussion as he was in studying.
“He’ll leave soon. Anyway, it was the best Halloween ever.” Will continued telling me his stories, but the laughs stopped when he started to examine James.
“Gimme your phone, James.”
His sentence caught James’s attention right away, and I froze. He tilted his head and gazed at William bewildered. “Why?” he asked tensely.
“To see the photos from last year’s party. Come on!”
I saw James raise an eyebrow, then stare at William’s outstretched arm waiting for James to hand over his phone.
“What photos?”
Judging by James’s troubled gaze, I understood that we were both thinking the same thing. My photo. No, it couldn’t be. If Will looked through James’s gallery, he wouldn’t have found my picture because Jameswould have deleted it. Why would have needed to save it? I prayed with all my heart that he had deleted it, but his struggling expression seemed to say otherwise.
“Last Halloween, I told you,” continued Will, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room.
