Chapter 11 Harper #2
Dean muttered something and looked away, while Xander and I exchanged smiles, the three of us falling deeper, somehow, into friendship in that moment. But for Dean’s sake, Xander changed the subject.
“We’ve got a good crew. Dean is the best of the bunch—of course,” he said, not letting him off the hook completely. “Kai and Henry are pretty decent. But I’d say Orion is the only other guy I’d trust.”
Dean nodded. “Orion’s a good guy. Like, heart-of-gold good.”
Dammit.
“Really? What’s he like?” I plucked a blade of grass and tried to sound casual as hell. “I mean…out of curiosity.”
I looked up to see Dean watching me. I glanced away, more blades of grass dying swift and merciless deaths.
Shut up, shut up, shut up.
“He’s funny as hell,” Xander said. “Pretends he has an ego, but it’s all show.”
“Aye, he’s a king amongst the Richies but would throw down for us Benders in a heartbeat,” Dean said. “Class distinctions mean nothing to him.”
I felt him looking at me, but I refused—refused—to meet his eye. I had grass to pluck, after all.
“Agreed,” Xander said. “If it weren’t for Orion and Dean, I’m not sure I’d last very long on crew.”
“Cool,” I said, and cringed so hard I nearly gave myself a stomach cramp. By now I had a nice little pile of grass sacrificed to my mortification.
The rest of the lunch conversation moved on to other topics.
I waited for Dean to bust out with an anecdote about Orion being a recreational arsonist who liked to set fire to Atlas Hall now and then.
Or perhaps how he’d once gone on a tri-state killing spree and used his parents’ influence to get away with it. No dice.
Face it. He’s a good guy too.
Here I was trying to keep Orion at arm’s length, and every single thing I knew about him only made me want to draw him closer.
When the lunch bell rang, I jumped up, brushed all the grass off my skirt while avoiding Dean’s eye, and practically ran to history. With Orion. Again.
We didn’t sit next to each other—that privilege belonged to Tessa Carlyle, a pretty, auburn-haired gal who was a big deal in the Drama department.
She sat in the back with Orion while I sat toward the front, my attention split, half listening to Mr. Callister drone on about Mesopotamia and half listening to Tessa whisper-giggle at every witticism that fell out of Orion’s mouth. Apparently, there were a lot.
What did you expect? That you were the only one who recognized how gorgeous, funny, and charming he is?
I rolled my eyes into my history book. If my inner voice fawned over him, why wouldn’t every girl in school do the same?
***
“I can’t stay,” I said, huddled on the aluminum bleachers that had been set up for the inaugural regatta that would take place a few days after the Halloween festival. “I have to pick up my little brother at four thirty.”
“It won’t be long now,” Emery said, leaning forward.
“Remind me why we’re out here again?”
“We’re here to support my boyfriend and our friend,” Emery said, shielding her eyes and looking out over the Bay.
The rowing crew was out of sight, around a bend in the Bend. Their coaches stood on the dock several yards ahead of us, stopwatches in hand, as they watched and waited.
“It’ll be Tucker’s first regatta as a senior and Xander’s first for CHA. It’s a big deal.”
“Hm,” I said, hunched in my old jacket, scanning the horizon for Orion and pretending I wasn’t as eager to see him as Emery was to see Xander.
“You mean to tell me you aren’t having fun, wasting your afternoon freezing your booty off out here with me?” Emery teased.
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “More fun than I can handle. And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
“What secret?”
“That the glamorous Emery Wallace is actually kind of a dork.”
She giggled, nudged my elbow and, not for the first time, I marveled that this girl was my friend.
That I had gotten her all wrong. When I’d met Emery, I was sure she was just another Richie without a care in the world.
The Queen Bee in a hive full of drones who worshipped her.
But she was kind, sweet, and a talented artist with a tyrant for a father, hell-bent on cramming her into a little life she didn’t want.
And she’d listen to you just like you listen to her. Tell her about Orion. Get it out so it’s not chewing you up inside.
But then Emery shocked the hell out of me by telling me she’d applied in secret to UCLA and how Xander had offered to marry her so she could detach from her parents’ money for financial aid.
I blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“But I don’t think I could go through with it,” she said. “I don’t want to get married unless I mean it. Not until I’m older and can actually do it right. Because it’s important to me. And anyway, if I go through with all this, my dad will disown me for sure. I wouldn’t have a family.”
“Are they really worth keeping?” I asked gently. “I know that sounds terrible, and I don’t pretend to know what it’s like to have the kind of pressure they’re putting on you. But if our own family is no good for us, it’s okay to build a new one from scratch.”
She smiled sadly. “Easier said than done.”
I took her hand. “Xander believes in you, or he wouldn’t have made that offer. And I think, deep down, you believe in you.”
“I’m trying.” She smiled. “In any case, I don’t have to worry about it right now.”
“Emery—”
“So!” she said brightly. “Who’s your date to the Halloween festival?”
I started to argue but there was no arguing with Emery once she put on her Everything Is Okay smile.
“As of right now, no one,” I said.
“Any prospects?”
For one wild moment, a fantasy bloomed in my mind of Orion turning to me in chem, no barriers, no caste system, no protective defenses standing in the way…
“I’m waiting for a particular someone to ask me,” I said softly, without thinking.
Emery bounced in her seat. “Oooh, who? Tell me! Someone I know?”
“No, forget it,” I said, coming to my senses. “It’s not going to happen. Not in my lifetime.”
Ask me again, Emery, so I can tell you. Ask me so I can say his name out loud and you can confirm everything Aria and Elowen told me—tell me he’s a manwhore, a heartbreaker who takes pity on the occasional Bender, and then I can finally stop thinking about him.
But Emery bit her lip, thinking. “Okay, how about Dean?”
“We’re just friends.”
“What about Xander?” she blurted.
I frowned, confused. “You think I should go with Xander. Your fiancé.”
“Oh my God, stop. And why not? You’re in the math club together. You’re both super smart. I think you’d make a cute couple.”
“You do?”
“Of course!” she said, her smile too wide. “You’re both my friend, and I want my friends to be happy.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say no.
I could just imagine all the Richie girls in their fishnets, corsets, and glitter while I looked like a frump in a suffragette sash and long skirt.
And Orion would be there, looking devastatingly handsome in his costume, even if he came as the Toxic Avenger or put a bag on his head.
I should stay home, get a jump on my NoSci entry…
Fuck that.
This school was not going to erase me. Plus, if I went with Xander, maybe Emery would finally snap and admit she’s in love with him. It would be a strategic kindness.
Petty, but supportive. That’s a thing, right?
“Sure. I’d go with Xander if he asked me.”
“Great,” Emery said, looking like it was anything but great. “I’ll talk to him.”
“If you insist.”
“I do.”
Aria, Elowen, Sierra Hart, and Delilah Winslow approached. That was my cue to exit stage left.
I gathered my stuff and slid off the bleachers. “See you, Em.”
“Oh, okay. Bye.”
I could feel the dark stares of Elowen and Aria stabbing me in the back, but I kept my head up and walked away casually. I was done letting them get under my skin, but that didn’t mean I was going to spend one second in their space.
I still had time before picking up Dash and a brutal ten-page history paper on ancient Mesopotamia coming up, so I went to the library to do some research. When I came out, the light was fading. Autumn was moving toward winter, and the days grew shorter.
I headed to the parking lot, which was almost deserted, and stopped.
My car was gone.