“I’ll pay. Obviously.”
“Not tonight, man.”
Annoyance prickled the back of Billy’s neck. He pulled out a few crisp bills from his back pocket and held them up over Justin’s head, then released them so they fluttered in the air, landing on his face.
“C’mon,” Ethan said behind him in that worried tone of his. “Be nice about it.” But Billy smirked, waiting for Justin to do something. If this kid—this trust-fund baby who was just as well-off as the rest of them—wanted to act hard all year, like he was a real-life Scarface, then Billy wanted to see him do something other than hand over a bunch of pills he swiped from his mom’s medicine cabinet. Billy could do that, too, based on his own mother’s stash.
Justin stood up, the money floating to the ground. “I’m not selling you shit.” The kid turned his back on Billy and started to walk away. But that wasn’t going to work. Not for Billy.
“Hey!” Billy called, reeling his elbow back in space, and when Justin turned around, Billy leaned forward and made sure to land his fist right on Justin’s jaw, hard enough to hear a cracking sound split through the air.
Frankie
Accompanying Millie to the Book Bonanza is like running a marathon. You have to prepare by making sure you have water, a snack, money for an iced tea, probably another snack, and so much patience. Something I definitely lack.
We’re here because Millie’s refused to talk about that photo of Trevor since I showed it to her at the solstice party a few days ago, and insisted that if we were going to do it, we’d have to go far away from home. And yet, we’ve been at the shop forever, browsing books.
“C’mon, Millie,” I say, tapping my foot against the wooden floorboards. “Can’t we sit over there for a sec?” I point to the cozy reading corner where two overstuffed purple armchairs face each other against the window.
“Chill out,” she says, pulling another hardcover from the romance section, where she’d been methodically moving down the aisle for the past twenty minutes. “I still haven’t gotten to the new releases.”
I smack my palm against my forehead. “Why are we hanging out with the books you already know?”
A small smile spreads on her lips. “Because,” she says, “it’s fun.”
“Fun for you. We havethingsto discuss.”
Millie turns back to the stacks like she doesn’t hear me. I cross my arms over my chest and give her the most powerful glare I can muster, but she doesn’t look back at me.
“Millie,” I say, growling her name.
“I don’t want to go around accusing him of something, okay? Maybe that photo was from another night or something. He and Erica are friends. It’s not that weird.”
My chest tightens with anxiety. Yesterday, I slipped Erica’s bag into the welcome hut’s lost and found, but I haven’t had the guts to call her yet and tell her that it’s waiting for her. Maybe it’s because I know that once she gets it back, she’ll start to wonder where it went—who took it. Who knows about that photo of Trevor and the baby.
Millie shakes her head. “Go wait over there, okay? Or outside on the benches,” she says. “And text Mom that we’re still alive. She’s been blowing us up for the past ten minutes.”
I stomp my way out of the shop and plop down on the bench in front of the store. I pull out my phone and see Mom’s messages.
Are you girls still at the Bonanza?
Let me know asap.
I see your locations but I want to HEAR FROM YOU.
HELLO?
If you don’t respond in two minutes, I’m going to have to come down there myself.
I let out a puff of air and type fast.
Still at the Bonanza, don’t freak out!!! Millie just has to read the whole store before we leave.
Mom responds immediately.Ha. Ha. Home by four.
I drop onto the wooden bench and a bead of sweat forms on my forehead, the heavy heat of summer burning my scalp. I should have brought a hat. I stretch my achy legs out and catch a big whiff of wet sand and deep-fried food from Hot Diggity. Yep. It’s definitely summer.
The street is lined with the same type of security guards we’ve seen at the Club, plus Pelican Island police officers. From my perch, it looks like they’re all scrolling on their phones, trading pieces of gum back and forth. Not sure how they’re going to keep us safe, butsure.
