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Marie was in jeans again, but she was wearing Nathan’s shirt.
Kota’s eyes fell on me. “What’s wrong, Sang?” he asked.
“What are you wearing?” Nathan asked, his head tilting. “What’s with the t-shirt?”
Derrick gazed at my shirt, looking puzzled. “I think I have a shirt like that.”
“I think it is your shirt,” I said, closing the gap between us to stand closer so I wouldn’t be overheard by Danielle or Marie. “My sister traded clothes with Danielle last night.”
Derrick’s tan cheeks tinted. “I was wondering where she got the skirt. I told her it’s too small.”
“Danielle’s going to get into trouble at school,” Kota said, touching the bridge of his glasses with his finger. A displeased frown formed on his face. “There’s no way the teachers will let her stay. She’s way out of regulation.”
“She took all of her clothes,” Luke said. “All those blouses and skirts, and left Sang with barely anything. She tried on all of it. What’s she’s wearing now was the closest in size and it barely fits.”
“Hey,” Nathan said, his blue eyes fixed on Marie. “Isn’t that my...” He turned, squaring off his shoulders.
I grabbed Nathan by his arm. The girls had started to notice we were looking at them. “Yes,” I said through my teeth. “And that blue shirt Danielle’s wearing is Luke’s. Don’t say anything. If we make a big deal about it...”
“I don’t give a fuck,” Nathan said. “I didn’t give that to her.” His fists clenched and he started across the drive.
“I’ll get it back,” I said, stepping in front of him. Out of desperation, I pressed a hand to his chest. This seemed to distract him and he looked down at me. “Give me time. If we tell her it’s yours, or if we try to force this, Marie could tell my mother things we don’t want her to know.”
He narrowed his eyes at the two of them but they seemed disinterested. His jaw set, his glare crushing. He grabbed my hand from his chest, holding on to it as he turned away. It felt like his squeezing my hand held back the fury bubbling under the surface. Did he feel so strongly about that shirt? I didn’t realize. I vowed to steal it back and hide it the first chance I had. If he liked it, I’d give it back. I wouldn’t want it ruined or held over our heads by Marie.
Kota stepped up next to us. “They didn’t leave you anything?”
“Just a bunch of jeans and t-shirts,” I said.
Luke followed, dropping our things at his feet and straightening out his hurriedly put together clothes. Derrick stepped up next to him, looking uncomfortable and out of place.
“I’ll try to bring them back so you can go through them,” I told Derrick. “I’m sorry about this.”
He shrugged. “That shirt was old anyway. I don’t think it fits any more.”
“Can’t you do something about her?” Nathan asked. “She’s your sister.”
“I don’t know. I’ll try talking to her.” He kept looking over at his sister, maybe wishing he had stuck with talking to them. He seemed nonplussed about it.
I hooked fingers into the jean shorts and readjusted them on my hips. “We’ll get through today and figure it out later.”
“Do we have time to change?” Nathan asked. He looked to Kota. “Can’t we get something for her? Does Jessica have...?”
The school bus turned the corner, heading in our direction.
“No time,” Kota said. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket. “Maybe if we catch the guys before they leave.”
When the bus got there, I fell into the seat next to Kota and Nathan slid in next to me. Luke fell into the seat next to us. Derrick trailed to the back, not sitting near his sister and not sitting close enough to us to be considered ‘with’ us. I found it strange. The guys may not have been openly popular, but they were good looking and nice and dressed well. They seemed to get along well with one another. Why did it feel like Derrick didn’t really want to be associated with them in public?
At the school, Kota, Nathan, Luke and I were the last to get off the bus. We trailed Marie and Danielle out of curiosity. Boys hooted the moment Danielle walked into the crowded cafeteria. She stared ahead with a scowling smirk and swinging her hips a little more. Marie crushed her books to her chest, looking out of place next to Danielle in her t-shirt and jeans.
“Oh yeah,” Nathan mumbled next to me. “Holler at the girl who doesn’t know what dress size she is.”
Kota checked his phone again. “Let’s get out to the parking lot,” he said. “Gabriel says to meet them at Victor’s car.”
Nathan took the violin case from me. I followed after Kota, putting my hand on my hip so I wouldn’t lose the shorts on the way out. When I was falling behind them because of how I had to walk to keep the shorts up, Kota came back for me. With his cheeks tinted, he wrapped an arm around my waist, hooking his thumb into the belt loop and hanging his hand on my hip. We walked together like this, trying to look casual together. I think I was blushing more at feeling his hand on my waist than I was about the clothes I was wearing. Still, I felt so out of place next to them in their nice slacks and shirts with ties.
Cars were still pulling into the lot and we had to make a slow crawl toward the back where Victor had parked his BMW. Victor and Gabriel were leaning against the car’s trunk waiting for us as we approached. Gabriel looked intense but the shadows under his eyes were gone. I was happy Luke and I didn’t bug him last night. At least he got some sleep.
“Oh my god,” Gabriel said, his bright blue eyes sliding down my clothes. “You weren’t kidding.”
“Can you help?” Kota asked.
He nodded. He curled his fingers at me and then had me spin a little in front of him. “Motherfucker. Alright, hang on.”
He opened the passenger side door and took a seat with his legs stretched out. He pulled me by the hips until my wais
t was eye level with him. “Okay, you guys make a barrier. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m molesting her.”
I blushed and watched the guys crowd themselves together to make a wall. With the car door open, I was blocked on the other side, too. Gabriel reached for his book bag and pulled out a pair of scissors. He started cutting at the shorts, hooking his fingers up into them, pulling at the crotch a little to straighten it out.
A wave of heat washed over me. “Gabriel...”
“Just give me a minute,” he said. “I’m going to make this into a skirt. It’ll still look like shit but it’ll be less shit. And why the hell did Danielle steal your clothes?”
“Attention,” Kota said. “And she got it.”
“Fucking ugly,” Nathan said.
Luke’s lips twisted, frowning and staring out into the parking lot.
Victor stood sentinel with his arms crossed over his chest. His fire eyes blazed. “Why don’t I just go get her something?”
“We don’t have time,” Kota said. “The closest store is a Wal-Mart and you won’t make it back by the first bell.”
“That’s what we’re doing this weekend,” Victor said. “I’m taking her for clothes.”
The definitive way he said it made it sound like they were planning something to do with me that weekend and this was the confirmation. “No, guys,” I said softly. “Don’t...”
“You need clothes, Sang,” Victor said in a sharp tone. “You’re going.”
I was turning a little to say something to Victor but Gabriel slapped me on the thigh. “Stop wriggling,” he said. “I’m going to cut you on accident if you do that.”
I stood still, blushing and hoping anyone passing by wouldn’t notice. Gabriel worked at cutting out the shorts. He folded them to make a hem and he used some tape inside his makeshift cuff. He also managed to tape up the inside of the skirt at the waist so it hung tighter. “Nothing a little duct tape can’t solve,” he said. “Now we need a shirt.”
