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Chin up, I met her step with one of my own. “Make me.”
I knew we’d come to blows one day, but I’d have preferred it not to be in the middle of the school hall. I couldn’t really risk a suspension this close to graduation. No way in hell would I back down to her, though.
A few students ambled through the doorway. We stared each other down for a while, before she took a step back, raising a hand and flashing some god-awful talons in my face.
“Like I’d waste my acrylics on you.” Her eyes roved up and down my body with contempt. “Got them done special for my boyfriend’s birthday party tonight.”
The barb struck exactly where she’d intended. But I’d be damned if a single part of me showed it. I was aware of the party, a small gathering for Reno’s eighteenth, which he would have just ignored. But with all the shit life had thrown at him, it was especially important to celebrate the good. I'd overheard the guys talking about it in a conversation. Given its abrupt ending and their remorseful expressions when they'd noticed me, apparently it wasn’t something they’d intended for me to hear.
Safe to say, I wasn’t on the guest list. I hadn’t planned on going. I’d made efforts to talk to him the past few days, continued to text him, and blatantly refused to lay down and die, but I’d drawn the line at showing up to a party he didn’t invite me to. So no, I’d had zero plans to attend.
Until now.
I flashed Raya my brightest smile. “Thanks for letting me know, I’ll be sure to dress up real nice.”
“Oh, hell no, that wasn’t an invitation, bitch.”
Twisting the combination on my locker door, I brushed past her, deliberately bumping her with my shoulder. “Oh, it wasn’t? Sounded like one.” I peered back at her, shooting her a wink. “See you there.”
Damn, she was mad. Her face was as red as her big fake fingernails.
Twenty-Seven
Riley
Standing in front of the narrow, full-length mirror on the back of my bedroom door, I ran my hands down the front of the short, black, form-fitting dress, nervously smoothing out invisible creases. I’d curled my dirty blonde hair in tousled waves that hung well below my shoulders now. I rarely wore a lot of make-up, but I’d spent over an hour contouring and highlighting, creating a smokey eye with thick, winged liner, after watching about four hundred YouTube video tutorials. I wasn’t a natural, far from it, but the result wasn’t too bad. I looked like an older, edgier version of myself.
I also looked like someone who was about to wimp out.
Three messages and one call from Liss sat unanswered. I’d made a knee jerk decision, because of my confrontation with Raya earlier today, which I highly regretted now. Pulling my eyes from my reflection, I snatched my phone off the bed, grimacing as I read Liss' most recent text.
Liss: On my way. Don’t even THINK about bailing. I’ll hunt you down and haul your ass there over my shoulder...
Awesome. Apparently, my rash decisions didn’t come with a cooling-off period. Sinking down onto the edge of the mattress, I bounced the phone against my bare thigh, nervous energy coursing through me.
I rode to and from school with Liss most days. My mom had agreed to let me use her car on the days she didn’t need it, but I held a very real, and not altogether irrational, fear that I might hit some unsuspecting pedestrian and kill them, so I rarely took her up on that offer. During the ride home this afternoon, I’d regaled Liss with the details of my encounter with Raya. She’d exploded into an expletive-laden rant, which culminated in her declaration to attend the party with me as the uninvited plus one to my uninvited self. Suffice to say, I’d spent the rest of the afternoon lamenting my poor choices and regretting opening my big fat mouth. A horn honked, and I groaned, debating ignoring it. Ten seconds later, it honked again.
“Jeeeeeez Louise.” I dragged my butt up and stepped through my bedroom doorway.
Grabbing a small purse and stuffing my phone inside, the horn honked once more, the sound obnoxiously louder and more prolonged.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, you dragon,” I muttered under my breath, eyes scanning the room as I carried out an extended mental checklist. Considering all I needed was myself, my phone, and my keys, all of which I had in my possession, some might say I was stalling. My best friend, it seemed, fell into that category.
Her honk dragged on as if she’d hopped up and sat on the damn thing. Yanking the door open, I shoved my head around it and squinted my eyes at her. “Really?”
She grinned, shrugging her shoulders with a chuckle before holding both hands up in a protestation of faux innocence. “What? My hand slipped.”
I rolled my eyes, slamming the door closed behind me before locking up.
“Man, you’re impatient,” I huffed as I slumped inelegantly into the passenger seat.
“I’ll work on that,” she assured me, winking a perfectly made-up eye in my direction. I fought back a smile. “You wanted to back out.”
It wasn’t a question. I didn’t answer it. Instead, I inhaled a long, calming breath, gently shaking my head and repeating the phrase don’t kill best friend, over and over.
Liss pulled over just in front of the square patch of grass that ran parallel to the narrow pathway leading to Leon’s detached clapboard house. It took me less than a second to spot Raya and her gaggle of groupies standing on the front porch, directly in front of the door, as if they'd taken it upon themselves to act as event security.
“Ten bucks says they don’t accept our fake IDs,” Liss quipped.
