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I really did feel so bad for her. These girls got roofied at their parties, or because of them?
As much as Maria didn’t want them to know, Archie and the guys would know who were at those parties. Maybe they’d know who did it. I also had a hard time believing Jeremy wouldn’t have done or said something. He tended to keep an eye on things, but they’d been…
…missing me and out of control.
In the car, I checked my phone. The guys were being suspiciously quiet. Then again, they knew I’d be with Rachel, so maybe they were giving me space.
Turning Maria’s story over in my head, I sat there for another minute. I wanted to talk to them about it in person, not over the phone, and I had to figure out how to ask without giving Maria away. She’d trusted me with something very personal, I wasn’t going to betray that.
Me:Nails done. Now off to get my hair and face fixed. Gonna grab some drive-thru for lunch. You guys behaving?
Jake:Hell no. Behaving is highly overrated. Besides, I’m stuck at the parade with Bubba who says hi, btw.
Coop:Jake hit me with mayo earlier when we made sandwiches. So I’ve had a facial. Also, Sis wanted to borrow the Black Beauty books, I didn’t think you’d mind.
Archie:Your apartment is in one piece. Coop and I brought his game system over and set it up. I promise, we will not turn your living room into a game room. Much. When do you think you’ll be back?
I shook my head.
Me:Sorry about the parade, J. Hi back to B. No, C, I don’t mind if she borrows the books. Please tell me mayo didn’t get squirted anywhere else. And A, why do I not believe you? Also? I think 2 hours? I’m hoping less. But she has to deal with my hair.
Archie:Because you are as smart as you are sexy. Have fun, babe.
Jake:Baby girl, you always look great. Definitely eat though.
Coop:See, I’m smart, I knew that.
Me:You’re all nuts. Driving now…
I setthe phone on the other seat and started the car. Weirdly, even with all the crap that happened at school, with the girls, my mom, and the nuttiness with the guys—I still had them. They still had my back.
Who had Maria’s back in all of this?
Sharon had been right about one thing, if Maria had told Jake, he would have done something about it. Whether it got them back together or not was irrelevant. Jake protected the people in his life. Chances were he’d kick that guy’s ass.
And the guy would damn well deserve it.
I was glad Maria trusted me enough to tell me and cared enough to warn me. But I almost wish I didn’t know, because now I had to wonder—who all had been at the party, and who’d done it?
Chapter Twenty-One
When It Isn’t Like It Should Be
Archie
Hot glue stung like a bitch, but we both kept an eye on the time. “Jake better move it.”
“He texted,” Coop said from where he was adding the ribbons to the other wheel. Like me, he had a glue gun and hissed periodically when he caught the glue on his fingertips. “They were almost out, but he found red mums for us to match her dress, and a white one for her.”
“Good.” The video Coop found insisted we could do all kinds of things for the mums and the typical length was to land it somewhere between her waist and her knee with the ribbons. We’d gone with red, white, and purple. The school colors and a little addition. Jake added his football jersey number to a gold football trinket that we were adding, along with trinkets for Homecoming and senior year. Coop had found a cat charm, and I’d picked out one of a couple dancing.
The whole point was to make it senior year special for all the things she’d never done before. It hadn’t really occurred to me until we’d started on this that Frankie had never had a mum, and even when we hit Homecoming last year, she hadn’t done more than show up for an hour before she left.
Sometimes, I felt like a real asshole. The looping purple ribbon I was doing would edge the mum, then we’d build them all together with mine on top of the ribbons Coop was stringing.
“This thing is gonna weigh a ton,” Coop said as he held it up.
I shrugged. “That’s why it said to safety pin it and use that to attach it to the dress. We can always take it off if it’s too heavy for her. But she gets to have it for the pictures.” And our arm garters would all coordinate with hers. Red mums against the purple of our school colors while hers was a white against the purple.
