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School had ended over an hour ago, so the hallways were mainly empty. I felt like my voice echoed as I whispered, “Seriously?”
Shaking his head, Devonlin looked down and scuffed the floor with his giant foot, his dark skin gleaming. “Knew a kid who tried to get his mom to stop working for Nova. My friend beat her pimp up and tried to keep her safe, but he let his guard down. They beat the fuck out of him. Put him in the hospital for months and made an example out of him, ‘yah know? No charges were ever brought, no one was ever arrested.”
My lips felt numb as I whispered, “That’s terrible.”
“It is, and you need to stay out of it. You see that guy out there; you turn the other way. He’s got a thing for PAWG blondes.”
“Um, what?”
He blushed as he stammered out, “Uh, you know. Um…”
“No, I don’t know. “
Rubbing the back of his thick neck, Devonlin grinned and said, “I gotta go, see you around, Ms. Holtz.”
“Wait,” I yelled at his retreating form. “You tell me what PAWG means!”
From further down the hall, a group of teenage boys burst into laughter and one yelled out, “It means Phat Ass White Girl.”
With my face no doubt as red as a tomato, I turned and marched down the hallway, wondering if I’d just been insulted or complimented.
With a low sigh, I rubbed my forehead then tried to find patience as I listened to my younger sister, Winter, complain about my parents on the phone. At seventeen, she had a flair for drama a mile long, but was also as nice as could be. She was a much better kid than I’d been, that was for sure. Instead of sneaking out to go to a party, she’d stay home and happily spend hours hanging out with her small circle of friends. She had a serious boyfriend, and I know they’d had sex. She was open with me about stuff like that, but overall she was a great kid.
Just a little dramatic…then again, what teenager wasn’t?
“Mom said I have to go on college tours with her!” Winter grumbled as I sat on the back porch of Mark’s house on the hillside, watching the sparkle of the city that stretched into the distance like a field of stars.
“Just a couple local ones. Come on, we all had to go through this with them. Mom loves that shit.”
“But you guys were interested in college. I’m not.”
“I thought your grades were good?”
“They are, but that’s not the point. Mom seems to think if I don’t go to college I’m doomed to a life of teen pregnancy and working two jobs at minimum wage. She seems to think college is some magic ticket to success, and that’s not true. Besides, Paul didn’t go to college, and he’s got a great career.”
Paul was my sister’s older boyfriend, nineteen, who worked in heating and cooling for his dad’s company. They’d been dating since junior high and were disgustingly cute together. I had to admit, Paul was the perfect guy for her. He was sweet, kind, and patient, but strong in a quiet way. You could tell by how he looked at her that he thought the sun and moon rose and set on Winter.
I sucked in a deep breath of the cool night air, inhaling the slight hint of sage coming from the trees surrounding the backyard. The lit belowground pool shimmered like an aquamarine jewel as the gentle breeze blew over the water. While Mark’s place wasn’t as flat-out pimped as Leo’s—that man had some insanely expensive taste—I couldn’t deny the luxury surrounding me. As beautiful as his house was, and as welcoming as Mark could be, this place just didn’t feel like my home. Weeks of living here, and I still felt like I was a guest in his house.
I needed to get a place of my own, but there was no way I could afford the kind of security I had at Mark’s. The house was a luxurious fortress, and I felt safe here, even if I wasn’t entirely comfortable. I had a fleeting, aching memory of the last time I felt safe, in Ramón’s arms.
Trying to suppress a pang of longing, I rubbed my heels against the soft fabric of the lounge chair I sprawled in, watching my glittering toenail polish sparkle in the low light. “So, just tell her you don’t want to go.”
“I tried that. Dad’s even on my side, but Mom is determined to keep me from ‘throwing my life away on some foolish fantasy.’ Well, my fantasy isn’t foolish; it’s my dream. I’m going to make the most beautiful floral hair jewels you’ve ever seen!”
“Floral hair jewels?”
“Yes,” she breathed with a whisper filled with happiness. “Floral hair jewels. It combines everything I’ve been learning, and gives me the chance to grow some of the most beautiful orchids in the world. I’m going to start small—local weddings, prom, stuff like that—but I’m going to do live tutorials while I put the floral arrangements together. I plan on making the bulk of my income from advertising on my videos.”
