Chapter 7
June
“Melissa and I are going to Canada for three days.”
“Sure, Mom. I’m guessing Melissa’s all biceps and pecs,” I shot back tactlessly.
I was still sitting at the table to eat breakfast, but I would’ve rather drowned myself than be forced to listen to my mom’s lies.
My eyes darted from one side of the hallway to another, intent on chasing her frame as it spun from the living room to the kitchen like a top. At seven in the morning I could barely lift my arm to bring food to my mouth. I didn’t know how she could always be so lively.
“June, I don’t like insinuations.”
She walked into the kitchen, filling the room with her Dior perfume. I grimaced.
“Then have the courage admit it, dear April. And to think you don’t have the guts to do so at your wise age.”
She walked to the counter to grab the iPad that she couldn’t live without, but not before glaring at me through narrowed eyes. So that was how to hit her where it hurts.
“June, don’t call me by my first name! Besides, I told you, what had barely even started is already over.”
She fiddled with her blond bun then checked in the fridge to see if there was even the minimum amount of provisions necessary for my survival.
“It ended in your bedroom,” I muttered with my mouth full. My mom almost tripped.
“Young lady! Since when are manners optional in this house?” she yelled, putting both hands on her hips.
“Since you started dating James Hunter’s dad!” My exclamation exuded frustration and bitterness, feelings that I really felt more about myself. The truth was that I wasn’t upset with my mom or with Jordan. I was upset with James, or rather, with myself for letting myself get dragged into this mess.
“That’s true. I was at his house the other day. But we ended it. I need time for myself now,” she declared, waiting for my reaction.
“What an epic love story. Four days, right?”
“June!”
Her admonishment hit me like a ton of bricks. I got up from the table, put my bowl in the dishwasher, and left home without saying another word.
>> > <<
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 James would 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.
“I don’t have them.”
“Yeah, you do. You’ve always had the same phone.”
“I told you, Will, I don’t have them. Quit bugging me,” insisted James. William burst out laughing, but my back was tight as a drum; every muscle was frozen.
“Are you afraid I’ll read your texts with Taylor, Tiffany, Sammy, Becky or . . . what was Marvin’s cousin’s name? Did you ever ask her?”