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“Stay away from The Vault,Becca.”
The door clicked shut.
I walked up to the house with barely disguised fury. Who did he think he was? Trying desperately to school my expression, I went inside, ready to placate my no-doubt anxious mom.
But all I could think was, Evan could keep his cryptic advice and go to hell.
CHAPTER5
I didn’t hearfrom Scarlett all weekend. When Monday rolled around and I left for school, I’d traded my pristine white sneakers for the old track sneakers I’d found in one of the boxes in the spare room. I also decided to leave my Tiffany bracelet at home.
Instead, I opted to wear some five-dollar sunglasses I’d picked up from the convenience store around the corner. I’d even bought a few chunky bracelets. Mom’s face had been a picture when I’d shown her, and she’d asked why I wasn’t wearing my charm bracelet again. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth. That it made me stand out for all the wrong reasons.
It was some kind of weird metamorphosis: shedding the final fragments of my old self—the one clinging to the last pieces of her life in Montecito—and transforming into the new Becca. The Becca who partied in backstreet clubs and danced for guys who treated her like an annoying younger sister.
As I walked the few blocks to school, finally shaking Mom’s insistence on driving me, I caught my reflection in a store window. If my old friends could see me now, they wouldn’t recognize me. Back in Montecito, it was all about who you knew, the designers you wore, and how many thousands your daddy had in the bank. I’d never taken that for granted—at least, I didn’t think I had—but it was my life, and I’d lived it. From what I’d seen of Credence so far, having money meant a small house with a modest yard and a functional car in the driveway if you were lucky.
The sidewalk grew busy with kids heading to school. I didn’t make eye contact with any of them, hidden behind my convenience store glasses. Something had changed in me. After staring at my cell phone for most of Saturday, willing it to bleep, I’d had an epiphany. I could wait around for my classmates to get to know me, to accept me, or I could carve out my own destiny in Credence.
* * *
SpottingScarlett and Lilly at the end of the hallway, I started to cut my way through the morning chaos. A few heads turned my way, but I ignored them. I’d almost reached them when a guy stepped into my view. Evan’s back was to me as he said something to Scarlett, but I didn’t miss the way she scowled at him. Her gaze flickered over his shoulder, widening at the sight of me standing there. Watching them. Evan tensed and turned slowly, his stormy eyes landing on me.Some of my new resolve slipped, but I didn’t allow myself to retreat. I held my head high as I approached them. “Hey, Scarlett, Lilly.” I smiled, forcing myself to add, “Evan.”
He grumbled something before walking away. I ignored him, but Lilly had other ideas. “New girl, what was that?” she said.
“Huh?” I stared at her, clueless.
“You and Porter? That was some serious sexual tension.”
“No, it wasn’t.” I glanced back, searching him out while I rolled his name around in my head.Evan Porter. Of course, he was gone. Something I was beginning to realize he was good at—disappearing.
“Whatever you say. How do you two know each other?”
I cocked my head at Scarlett. “We don’t. He’s in a few of my classes.”
“I’d stay away from that one. He’s all kinds of screwed up.”
He is?
“But oh-so-hot.” Lilly stifled a giggle, and Scarlett groaned. “Oh, not you too. What is it about him that has you all foaming at the mouth?”
Lilly shot me a knowing look, and my lips curved into a smile. I couldn’t help it. Evan was… Well, he was freaking gorgeous, even if his mood swings gave me a serious case of whiplash. Lilly dipped inside her locker before slamming it shut. I jumped, startled, and the two of them burst into laughter.
“So tense, new girl.” Scarlett looped her arm through mine and started dragging me down the hallway. “What did you think of The Vault? It’s off the hook, right?”
“You should come hang with us tonight,” Lilly added, falling into step beside me.
“At The Vault?” I asked.
She laughed. “No, we only go there on the weekends. Tonight, we’ll be at Rogues.”
“Where’s that?”
“Lilly,” Scarlett hissed.
“What? I thought she was good people.”
“She is. But you know the rules.”
