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“Are you guys coming?” the boy standing next to Kyle eagerly blurted out to Maddy and Gwen. He had long hair and glasses, and Maddy thought his name was Simon.
“Dude, of course they are.” This came from Tyler, with whom Maddy had been in government class sophomore year. With every school year he seemed like he’d gotten a little “edgier”: he was wearing black skinny jeans and a little too perfectly ripped-up Vans. “Hi, Maddy,” he added as an afterthought, waving slightly even though he was only five feet away.
“What are you talking about?” Gwen asked.
“Ethan’s having a party later this week,” Kyle said, clapping his hand on the shoulder of the last of the boys, who hadn’t spoken yet.
“Yeah, you should come. My mom’s out of town,” the guy said, stepping forward slightly.
Maddy realized she recognized him, but not from school. He sometimes came in to eat at the diner. They’d had a few brief conversations at the restaurant—he had recently moved to Angel City, to somewhere up the hill from the restaurant, and he’d come in and eat sometimes when his mom was traveling for business. Today he was wearing a navy T-shirt, cargo shorts, and sandals, and as her gaze reached his face, he smiled at her. But that wasn’t what caught, and held, her attention. It was his eyes, which she hadn’t really noticed before. Dark hazel and expressive, they pierced out from under sandy-colored, beach-boy hair. It was almost as if they were talking to her all by themselves.
“The party’s going to be amazing,” Simon said. In an almost reverent tone: “He got a keg.”
“Er . . . hey,” Gwen said to Ethan, flipping her blond hair the way she did around cute boys.
“This is Ethan. He’s new to this beautiful institution,” Kyle said, motioning to the cracked paint and dingy hall of Angel City High. “E, this is Gwen and—”
“It’s Maddy, right?” Ethan interrupted, still smiling at her.
“Yeah, she’s Maddy,” Gwen answered for her. Maddy elbowed her friend.
“We know each other already,” Maddy said, feeling a little shy. “So you’re going to school here now?”
“Yeah,” he said, “Just transferred a couple weeks ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, joking.
“I know, me too,” Ethan said, and laughed.
“So are you guys coming on Friday?” Kyle asked. “I know Gwen will. But, Maddy, you should definitely come too. It’ll be fun. I promise, no SaveTube and no ANN.” Kyle looked at her and gave her a flirtatious smile. Confused, Maddy glanced down.
“ANN,” Tyler repeated with scorn, rolling his eyes. He was “alternative,” and part of that was being against all the Angel glamour and glitz—although Maddy sometimes suspected that if someone offered one of the alterna-kids the chance to become a famous Protection, they’d still do it in a heartbeat.
“Yeah, come to the party,” Ethan said.
“Oh, um, the weekend . . .” Maddy said, stalling. In truth, she had no idea what to say. Getting invited to parties was Gwen’s thing. Whenever Maddy wasn’t doing homework or working shifts at the diner, she usually just listened to music or curled up with a good book. Parties were pretty much unknown territory for her. She thought about the stack of college applications waiting for her back home. The weekend would be her only time to work on them.
“I’d like to,” Maddy finally said. “But I have college apps, so . . .”
“So that means no, right?” Ethan said, sounding downcast.
It was Gwen’s turn to elbow Maddy. She gave her a look and turned to Ethan.
“It just means she might have some other stuff too,” Gwen said, improvising. “She’s pretty popular, you know,” she added. Maddy felt her cheeks beginning to flush.
“Well, if you want to come, I can give you directions,” Ethan said.
“Ma
ybe she should get your number?” Gwen offered. Simon and Tyler slightly snickered under their breaths. Now Maddy was sure she was bright red.
“Yeah, totally.”
Maddy fumbled in her bag for her old phone as Ethan slipped his iPhone out of his pocket. The two exchanged information, Maddy awkwardly asking Ethan to spell his last name, McKinley, while the other boys stood there watching. Maddy couldn’t believe how embarrassed she felt. “The party should be cool,” Ethan said as he slid his phone back in his pocket.
“Um . . . okay,” she said. “Thanks?”
“Keep it quiet, though, he doesn’t want the whole school coming, you know?” Kyle added. Maddy could’ve sworn he winked at her. “See you guys later.”
