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Melody shoots me a glare before spinning on her heels and walking away with her posse.
“Why’d you do that?” I ask immediately, not beating around the bush.
“Are you moving into our house?” Neo asks.
“I…don’t know. I haven’t decided.”
“Well,” he draws in a breath, expression stoic, “if you do, you’ll be under our protection. If you don’t, may the Lord have mercy on Melody Higgins’s soul.”
“Why would she need mercy?”
Jagger chuckles. “Because she’ll be coming for you and you’ll tear her to shreds.”
I look down, biting my lip and trying not to smile. That almost sounded like a compliment.
We finish eating and I leave well enough alone. Neo was semi-normal today and while I don’t trust his intentions, I’ll take a win when I get it.
The rest of the day goes by fairly quickly, but as more time passes, the more I start to wonder about Crew.
Wherever he is, I hope he’s okay.
* * *
“I think I owe you a thank-you,”Riley says as we walk down the trail to The Ruins. “Had you not set our uniforms on fire, we would have frozen our asses off tonight. Thanks to you, we got to wear our warm-ups.”
I want to laugh,but I still feel so bad about that. “I’m glad you’re not mad. Those guys come up with the most awful games. If you even call themgames.It feels more like hazing to me.”
“It’s almost over, babe.”
“Yeah. Almost,” I say quietly.
Riley reads my expression and I know it’s obvious my thoughts are getting the best of me. “Still worried about Crew?” she asks.
“Something just isn’t right. It’s not like Crew to miss a game. Back at Essex, he never even missed a practice.”
“Maybe so, but is it really our problem?”
She doesn't get it, and I’m not surprised. I’ve kept Riley in the dark about so much. Maybe it’s time to give her a little insight into my relationship with the guys.
“There’s something I have to tell you, Ry.”
Her head turns, eyes snapped to me as we keep walking. “This sounds serious.”
“It is. Well, sort of. Not really.”
She chuckles. “It is, or it isn't’?”
“It is. You see,” I begin, “I lied when I said things with the guys were good back home. My problem with them is not just the games I’m forced to play. It goes beyond that.”
“Whoa. Hold up,” she says, stopping me while scoping out our surroundings. Her voice drops to a near whisper. “You have bad blood with them?”
“Why are we whispering?” I whisper back. “It’s not like the whole school hasn’t seen how they treat me.”
“True. Go on.”
“Yeah. There’s bad blood,” I continue. “Do you remember me telling you about Neo’s sister, Maddie?”
“I remember.”
