Page 7 of Crew Girl

“Anyone running for the hills?” asked Perry, not bothering to look up from his phone, which was in selfie mode, as per usual, tweaking his platinum-blond hair into a state of perfection before hitting the quad. Job done, he extended his phone. “Team photo! Strike a pose.” Perry did, no one else. Also, as per. Perry examined the picture and gave it a satisfied grin. “No wonder I have the most followers of anyone on the team.”

Josh watched his girlfriend in action. She and Amber were sidling up to someone he hadn’t seen before. A girl around their age with blonde highlights. Judging by her lack of fear when Brit approached, she had no clue that this exchange would pretty much establish her social status at Easton. In, out, or, like Juliet Morny, an outlier. Kind of like Cam, but a billion times richer. Juliet lived her life so far outside the proverbial box that she and Brit had an unspoken “let’s not go there” deal.

Queen Bee was about to sting.

“Want to get front-row seats?” asked Ryder.

Josh grabbed his arm, held him back. “You play Amber. I’ll do Brit.”

Ryder put on his version of an English accent, nothing at all like his girlfriend’s, but it did the trick. “Hi there, New Girl. Are you lost?”

Josh put on Britney’s chirpy voice. “We’ll help you, New Girl.” She wouldn’t unless, by some freak turn of events, she proved useful. “I’m Britney Garner, student council president. Garner like the senator.”

New Girl didn’t go into raptures. Mistake number one.

“Anybody know her name?” Josh asked.

“Teagan.”

Josh caught his double take short. How the hell did Cam Dillinger know New Girl? It didn’t sit well, Cam having an edge on Easton intel. That was his domain.

Ryder, oblivious, was being Amber again, rabbiting on about how she was chair of the dance committee when Josh’s phone rang.

Perry.

What the—? Ah. Genius. He put the call on speaker. Perry had sidled up to the girls, his back to them, and, future spy-in-training that he was, called the guys so they could tune in to the actual conversation.

“You’re probably super intimidated by the school’s whole vibe,” Britney said in a warm, friendly tone Josh knew well. “You’ll get used to it. Everyone’s pretty chill.”

If your idea of chill was Lord of the Flies Extreme Edition.

New Girl—Teagan, apparently—looked relieved. “Nice to know it’s not just yacht bros and pretentious horse girls.”

A couple of the guys blew low whistles.

“New Girl’s got balls,” Baloo said, impressed. Even when it came to his sister, Baloo was like Switzerland. He didn’t take sides. Stuck to doling out bear hugs as and when. Hence the nickname.

“Hmm.” Britney’s smile dropped temperature. “I’m captain of the equestrian team.”

“Which is very impressive,” Teagan backpedaled.

She’d learn soon enough that there was no backpedaling with Brit. Once there was an X on your back? You never got rid of it.

A helicopter flew over, drowning out the conversation. Students arriving from Boston or New York.

When he looked back, The Britney & Amber Show had a new cast member: Juliet Morny.

“Hello there, New Girl. I’m Juliet, your school-appointed first-day buddy. Come with me.” She hooked her arm in Teagan’s and steered her away, throwing a look at Perry that said she was on to him. All of them.

“Uh oh.” Crabcatcher covered his eyes. “Liam.”

“I thought we’d left him in the boathouse counting his crypto cash,” Quaid said.

Not when there was a new girl to impress. As gifted as Liam was at raking in digital coinage, a blindfolded penguin would’ve made a better cox. But he was their guy and what he lacked in talent he made up for in confidence. A confidence that had flourished when Easton went co-ed a couple of years ago. A mind-bender considering his arsenal of cringe-tastic lines he used to impress the “lay-deeez.”

Liam fake-bumped into Juliet. “Hey, Juliet? How ’bout you hook me up with the fresh meat?” Liam strutted past in a way that suggested he thought she might enjoy the one-man parade.

Juliet looked disgusted. So did New Girl.