Chapter 37
June
Poppy, Amelia, and I had been sitting on the café love seats at Tropical for around ten minutes. Amelia ordered Coke Zero for everyone, even though I preferred regular Coke.
“Will’s here!” Poppy exclaimed, yanking my jacket sleeve.
“June, where are you going?” Amelia’s question was veiled with a reprimand when she saw me stand up.
“To see Will,” I replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Are you kidding? He’s the one who should be coming over here to your friends. You shouldn’t be the one always going over to him and his friends.”
“That seems so—” Underhanded.
“Don’t simp,” she commanded.
“You’re all good at telling the others that . . .” commented Poppy.
I decided to follow her advice, even though I hated playing mind games. And after a little while, William joined us.
“May I?” he asked before sitting next to me.
Amelia nodded, then gave me a conspiratorial look.
William ignored her and put his arm around me. “Did you really end up in the principal’s office today?”
“Vice principal’s office. But how come this school doesn’t seem to have a principal anymore?”
“Of course there’s one. But what’d he say to you?”
“Apparently since I threw a ball in Blaze’s face the other week and I tried to slap James today, I have to be kept under control.”
William laughed. “I don’t know about Blaze, but I bet the latter deserved it.” I laughed, but the carefree moment was short-lived as the rest of the vice principal’s words came to mind.
“Then he gave us an assignment to do together. Imagine.”
William scowled, and his smile hardened suddenly.
“With James?”
At that moment, the main door flew open, and the subject of conversation appeared with a new girl.
The cold air from outside touched the nape of my neck and ran down my spine as I furtively looked him up and down.
His hair was combed back, giving him a more adult, sophisticated look, highlighting his cheekbones.
Of course he was wearing his signature leather jacket.
With his arm around the girl, he swaggered around the place until he reached our table.
I don’t know why, but a voice that sounded an awful lot like my mom echoed in my head.
June Madeline White.
“Yeah, but I have no intention of doing an assignment with him. I’ll do it alone and put his signature on it,” I replied after a bit of a delay.
“June, we still have to talk . . .” stammered Will.
When I saw James’s eyes turn toward us, my stomach did a flip.
“Look, let’s have fun tonight, okay?” I said to Will, kissing him on the lips. When we pulled away from each other, James was still standing there, but he didn’t pay any attention to us.
“Drinks for everyone, on me,” he announced, throwing his wallet at William.
Will headed to the counter, and James walked away.
I took advantage of William’s absence to slide next to Amelia.
“What are you thinking, June?” she asked, seeing how pensive I was.
“How’s your brother?”
“Are you trying to steal my thunder?” She burst out laughing.
“Meaning?”
“Answering a question with another question. Careful, I’m an expert at that. I know why you’re doing it.”
“I didn’t mean to dodge the question.”
“You two are cute together, really,” she continued, jerking her head at William, who was waiting in line.
“We’d never kissed like that, in front of everyone.”
She smiled. “Chill. It wasn’t anything scandalous. In fact—”
“In fact what?”
“Well, Will seems like a pretty reserved guy to me.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I grumbled.
“A bad thing? It is. In fact, it’s very bad,” she answered, pointing at James Hunter, leaning against the counter with his hand on a girl’s butt.
I recognized the girl from the other night. Someone had told me she was Marvin’s cousin. “Who’s that?” Amelia asked.
“Marvin’s cousin, Melanie. But tell me about Brian, how is he?”
“He’s not one to express his emotions. He looks like he’s doing great, better than you’d think, but knowing him . . . Oh, speak of the devil.”
Amelia raised her arm at the door. Blaze and Brian had just walked in. Brian said hi to her quickly and stared at me for a few seconds.
Then he smiled at me, but his expression got dark after a moment. William walked up behind me with a round of bubble teas.
Brian sat with us, and I appreciated the fact that even though he didn’t talk to Will, they at least managed to sit at the same table without biting each other’s head off.
“Where’d Blaze run off to?” asked Amelia, taking a sip of tea. Brian looked at her furtively, not happy to smell the vodka spiking his sister’s drink.
“Did you sit here to control me?” she yelled at him.
“Me? I’m actually here for June.”
The dark-haired guy turned around while Will squeezed my side even tighter. Amelia tried to pass me the vodka-filled water bottle, but I turned it down. “No, thanks. I don’t drink.”
“Jamie, why don’t we go dance?”
I heard Marvin’s cousin’s voice getting closer and closer until she reappeared with James. He narrowed his eyes at Brian.
“I’m not feeling it. I’m going to vape,” he replied briskly. Disappointed, Melanie sat down with us.
“Girls, come on! At least, you guys,” she blurted, blinking her thick fake eyelashes.
Poppy jumped at the speed of light, followed by Amelia, who chugged the rest of her drink all at once, to her brother’s fury. “I’m in. I need air. June?” she asked, holding her hand out to me.
“Um, okay.”
I kissed William on the cheek and followed the girls to the middle of the dance floor.
“Any news from Ari?” I whispered in Amelia’s ear, as we tried to make our way through the crowd.
“Do you think she’s ignoring me?” she sighed, furrowing her forehead.
“Okay, enough bullshit. Who would you bang?” Marvin’s cousin pointed at the table where we’d left the guys.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Other than James, obviously, otherwise there’s no competition,” she added, giving a flirty, mischievous glance at the meathead who was about to leave.
“Why’s Hunter beat up like that again? Jesus.” It seemed to occur to Amelia right then that James’s eye was black and blue and his lip was more swollen than usual. “Do you know anything about it, June?”
I shook my head. Lie number two.
“If I was his dad, I’d start thinking about the eulogy I’d give at his wake.”
“So who would you bang? Just go by instinct, otherwise it doesn’t count,” insisted Melanie, swaying her hips to the beat.
“Depends on the point of view. If we’re just talking about looks and not character . . . but hold on, face or whole body?” Poppy’s eyes widened.
“Why are you talking so much? Say a name and that’s it. It’s not like you’re marrying them tomorrow!” Marvin’s cousin teased.
“Jackson,” she answered all in one breath.
“Um, well played. Yeah, me, too, probably,” the brunet answered, putting a finger on her lips.
“Considering that Brian’s off-limits since he’s my best friend’s ex, not to mention my other best friend’s brother. Even then, now that I think about it . . .”
“Poppy!” Amelia rebuked.
“Jackson. Definitely Jackson,” she rushed to conclude.
Jackson had a quirky sense of style, but he was definitely a good-looking guy. Shame he had a bad temper like his friend.
“I don’t know. Jackson’s really cute, but—” I muttered, “he’s not William.”
Marvin’s cousin giggled and put a hand on my shoulder. “You really like the good guys, don’t you.”
My eyes caught James walking back in. I swallowed.
“Yeah, I sure do.”
“So given that you guys don’t seem to have understood a damn, listen to this,” Taylor began without anyone asking her opinion.
“White’s the only one scoring tonight.”
“Why?” asked Marvin’s cousin.
“Because Jackson doesn’t like what’s between our legs, wake up!”
“What are you talking about? He went to bed with Tiffany, and he’s always with Sammy . . .” Amelia’s voice faltered.
“Tiff’s my best friend. And trust me, she doesn’t even know what Jackson’s member looks like.”
Taylor jerked her head at Jackson, who was now sitting on the couch in James’s arms.
“Are you saying that Jackson’s gay? How do you know that?” Amelia seemed shocked and had now completely forgotten how to dance.
“Even if he was, so what?” I interjected.
“Becky went out with him a bunch of times,” the girls continued in disbelief.
“James sleeps with them. Jackson’s never been with a girl,” explained Taylor with a little smile of someone who knew a thing or two.
“Cite your sources, then,” insisted Poppy.
But she just looked at us and didn’t say anything else. She started to leave, so I grabbed her by her arm before she could walk away.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Taylor didn’t answer.
“What’d Jackson do to you?”
“Nothing. But rumors started swirling just when a busybody like you got to school. Isn’t that a bit odd?”
I blinked several times. I was particularly confused. “Who knows what’ll happen when they find out you told everyone why Ari dumped Brian.”
“I didn’t say shit.”
Taylor narrowed her eyes. “White, you’re the only other person besides me who knows about James and Ari. Remember one thing: What you do or don’t do doesn’t matter. All that matters is what others think, what they make of who you are. Welcome to 2025.”
I suddenly realized that I had stopped breathing.
“Have a good night, honey! My boyfriend’s waiting for me.”
Taylor pushed a long lock of hair behind her shoulders and left, strutting on her three-inch heels.
“I don’t believe a word she said about Jax. She’s a liar,” said Poppy once Taylor was out of earshot.
“I really hope so,” said Amelia. “A few days ago I heard her say something that I didn’t like at all.”
At that point, Amelia shot a concerned look at her brother, who was still sitting at the table bored and sipping a juice.
I tried not to, but I couldn’t help but look at Taylor’s slim figure, sitting on James’s lap glued to his neck like a vampire. Her long shiny hair fluttered onto her shoulders while one of her legs was between James’s thighs.