Chapter 11
June
I was in my bed, and my head was full of questions.
A few moments ago I was sitting on the landing with James, intent on making sure those two thugs wouldn’t come back. I leaned my head toward him to give him a kiss on the cheek, but before I could reach him, James turned right toward me, showing me his outlined lips.
“Good night, princess,” he said, throwing me off.
I got up at the speed of light. I threw the blankets on the couch and scampered upstairs.
How could I sleep now?
First William with that story, then those two criminals, and now James. I’d never seen him so upset as when Austin threatened me.
No, I wouldn’t be able to close my eyes.
I scrolled on my phone and stumbled upon James’s profile picture. His head was bowed while he turned a vape pen on. He wore a white shirt, accentuating his fit body. Why’d the outside of him have to be so beautiful while the inside of him was so hard to understand?
I opened Will’s chat. No new messages. I didn’t know what to think. James had talked about friendship.
What if he was right? What if it was because of Will?
Finally, I fell into a tormented slumber.
The next day, I woke with a start. I’d slept so badly that I felt even more tired than I had last night. I walked downstairs reluctantly. James’s scent diffused across the living room made the our chat resurface in my mind.
My eyes darted to the couch. He wasn’t there anymore. But his hoodie was.
>> <<
“Will.”
I ran after him in the hall, but it didn’t look like he was slowing down.
“Hey,” he greeted me, aloof.
I stared at him furtively. “You didn’t text me yesterday.”
“Did you do it, June?”
Okay, we weren’t together, and our relationship wasn’t official, but we definitely needed to talk.
“Listen, Will, at halftime how about we—”
“James told me about last night.”
William stopped paying attention to the books in his locker and turned toward me. I sensed his regret.
“I’m sorry if I put you in danger.” He sighed remorsefully. So then he wasn’t mad?
I told him what happened. A feeling of lightness, almost relief, washed over me when Will said, “He told me that he slept over at your house.”
“Yeah. He slept downstairs on the couch.”
“You don’t have to go into detail.”
The ice had just frozen over in his eyes, and I sensed a clear uneasiness in him.
“No, no. Of course, I know—”
As upset as we both were because of the incident with Austin, I noticed that this was creating tension between Will and me. Maybe I should’ve given him an explanation; after all, I’d called his best friend, not him.
“Will, after what you told me last night, you were shaken up, and I didn’t want to worry you even more. That’s why I called James and—”
“Where the fuck is Marvin? Why isn’t he at school?”
Jackson’s baritone echoed through the half-empty corridor.
“What’s going on?”
Will’s expression immediately changed when his friend came up to him and whispered something in his ear. Then a voice came from the speakers.
“Hunter and Cooper, in the principal’s office. Now.”
“Fuck,” yelled Jackson, clenching his jaw as he fiddled with his lip piercing with his teeth.
“What’s going on?”
“The principal is back,” griped Will, with his head bowed.
“Look, I’m leaving before James raises hell,” announced Jackson, walking away.
“What’d you do, Will?”
And the hint of concern that I felt turned into full-blown worry when I saw William break into cold sweats. He covered his face with both hands and then looked at me.
“We’re in deep shit.”
“What’s going on?” I insisted.
“No, June. This time you have to stay out of it. Really.”
I stood in the hall, staring at my locker confused. It was getting hard to organize all my thoughts: William’s coldness, Jackson’s worry, James’s words yesterday. I didn’t know who I could trust anymore.
I jumped in place when the bell rang at the end of the period and the hallway flooded with students. I caught sight of Poppy’s blond head among the crowd. When she approached me, she muttered an aloof hello, so I closed my locker and said absentmindedly, “Everything okay, Poppy?”
“Yeah, you?”
She wasn’t saying much. What was going on?
It was only when I saw Amelia’s face and Ari’s behind her that I understood: They were pissed at me.
But I didn’t feel like taking the time to understand why right then. They ignored me, so I decided to do the same. I wasn’t going to put in the effort to like people who couldn’t even be honest with me.
“Let’s get to class, Poppy.” Amelia’s words sounded like a slap in the face because she uttered them loudly and intentionally.
Ignore her, June.
“Poppy, move it,” she demanded.
“But the teacher’s not in the classroom!” Poppy whined.
“I know, I just don’t like the people in the hallway.” Amelia doubled down. My neck tensed up. Not giving in when someone antagonized me wasn’t my strong suit.
“The feeling’s mutual,” I shot back.
Ari’s eyes widened and Poppy muttered something, but Amelia was the only one to come toward me with her arms crossed and a challenging stare.
“Oh really? Let’s hear why?” she asked skeptically.
“For the same reason you have an issue with me—in other words, none. I didn’t do anything to deserve to be treated like this.”
Amelia’s eyes narrowed into two emerald-green slits.
“June, you turned your back on me despite me being the only one here to accept you. Don’t you think that’s a good enough reason for me to turn away from you when I see you?”
“I didn’t turn my back on you, Amelia.”
“But you’re always with them,” she prodded, glancing at the corner of the hallway where William and his friends usually hung out.
Why weren’t they back? Were they still in the principal’s office?
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t be around them, and maybe I’ll start believing what you tell me.”
My quick response irritated her; I understood that from how she curled her mouth in disappointment.
But then footsteps behind me startled me.
“Everything okay here?” Brian. Damn it.
It was harder to talk when he was there. He didn’t make me afraid, but he certainly embarrassed me.
“Hunter and Cooper to the principal’s office.” The voice from the speaker repeated the announcement.
“Finally,” Ari gloated under her breath as Amelia and Brian exchanged a knowing look.
Amelia raised an eyebrow and aimed at me again. “I’m the one who needs to give you a good reason? You can’t figure it out for yourself? Do you know why the principal was out for almost a month?”
“Blaze didn’t tell me much. I know that they attacked him,” I stammered, confused. “But what does that have to do with it?”
“Ask your boyfriend,” Amelia jabbed, as her thin mouth curved into a disdainful smile. “Or maybe I should say your boyfriends.”
“Amelia!” interjected Brian.
“I only told the truth,” she said shaking her raven head. “You should be more discreet when you do things behind your boyfriend William’s back.”
All of my good intentions to ignore her had just gone to hell.
“What the hell are you talking about? How could you think something like that? Will and I aren’t . . . what did you find out?” I asked, out of breath.
I was trying to stay calm, but it wasn’t easy.
“If someone at the party told me you went into a bedroom with James, what do you think I should think? That you were putting face masks on each other?”
My jaw dropped. “What are you getting at?”
“You’re exaggerating, Amelia. June isn’t that kinda girl.” Brian came to my rescue, but I didn’t feel grateful.
I couldn’t stand gossip, let alone unnecessary judgment, especially when it was expressed unfairly.
Then again, who did they think they were? Poppy and Ari were anything but saints, and Amelia had skeletons in her closet too. I’d made my mistakes, but I wasn’t going to put up with them chewing me out.
“So what if I did? What I do shouldn’t concern you. Do you want to know why I’m with them, Amelia? At least they don’t keep hiding things from me like you guys do! I gotta go to class now. Bye.”
I turned away from them, but Amelia stopped me from walking away.
“Do I hide things from you, June?” she said with a cutting voice.
I turned my head and looked Brian right in the eye. Suddenly William’s words came to mind.
I’m not like James. Then James’s words came to mind. Ask Amelia and Brian.
“Okay, so tell me one last thing.”
This time I faced her fearlessly; I didn’t care if her brother was right next to her.
“What happened to the swim coach?”
The question echoed around us. It almost seemed like the chatter around us stopped too. I had to take a step back because Amelia’s expression got darker, like I had just taken a step into a place that I should’ve never set foot in.
Poppy and Ari turned to Brian, but his normally bright eyes seemed as dark as stone then.
“Who told you that, June?” asked Poppy.
“Will or James?” demanded Amelia with such a faint voice that it seemed almost unrecognizable.
And if I was angry a few moments ago, now I was clearly confused.
Amelia’s eyes welled with tears.
“James told you that, didn’t he? He still has the gall to talk about my dad?”
My throat went cold. I opened my mouth, but not a single sound came out.
“Amelia . . . ” Brian tried to calm her down, but I saw her burst into tears before walking away, surrounded by her friends.
“Brian?” I called his name, but he shook his head.
“Sorry, June. We gotta go.”
What were they hiding?