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I internally flinch at the mention of his name but paste on a smile. “So I’ll see you there tonight?”
His asshole friends are high-fiving now, but I block them out.
“Uh, yeah, I guess.” His gaze rests over my shoulder and a trickle of awareness shoots up my spine.
Sure enough, when I glance behind me, Conner is standing at the table I just left, watching me.
“Are you two—“
“Nothing.” I smile wider, smothering the flash of pain I feel. “We’re nothing.”
“Yeah, well I guess I’ll see you tonight then.”
“Hey, Kenny,” one of the other guys says, “if Aaron won’t take you for a ride, I’m more than happy to—“
Rolling my eyes, I walk away, leaving Aaron to slap his friend upside the head.
“Slut,” someone coughs, and my eyes snap to the table Lylah and Marissa are sitting at. Anger courses through my veins, but I know I need to keep my cool, so I flip her off with a salty smirk.
Eat that, bitch.
Their gasps roll off my back as I exit the cafeteria out of the other door so I don’t have to survive one hundred and one questions from Hadley and Remi.
Besides, Conner is with them now. And something tells me their table isn’t big enough for the both of us.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Hadley asks me for the twentieth time.
“I need to do something. I can’t just sit in this room, forever wallowing. It’s just a party—what’s the worst that can happen?” She gives me a pointed look, and I shake my head a little. “You need to learn to relax,” I say.
“I know what you’re doing.”
“Me? I’m not doing anything. Sterling Prep is my new home, I might as well try and fit in.”
“So this has nothing to do with the fact that Conner’s been talking to Aimee Simson?”
“Aimee who now?”
“Cute little blonde about yay high.” She holds out her hand, one of her brows arched.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The conviction in my words masks the pit in my stomach.
“They’re just friends. She’s a junior and Conner’s been helping her with math.”
“Good for him.” I shrug, sifting through the limited choice of clothes I have for tonight.
I bought a few new outfits when Hadley dragged me to the mall last weekend, but I didn’t want to take more from James Jagger than absolutely necessary.
Settling on a denim skirt with a black crop top and a few bangles I managed to score from the only thrift store in Sterling Bay, I start changing.
“Umm, do you want some privacy?”
“I’m not hiding anything you haven’t already seen.” I shimmy out of my school skirt and pull on another. It hugs my ass and sits high on my thighs, almost too high. Once I have the crop top on, I stand in front of my mirror. It’s been a long time since I showed my stomach. Warren never liked me to show too much skin whenever we went out, which was less and less recently.
“Kenny?” Hadley asks, her eyes catching mine in the mirror.
“I’m good.” I force a smile, swallowing the lump in my throat. Warren isn’t here. He doesn’t get to say what I wear or who I talk to.
“You don’t have to do this,” she adds.
