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“I don’t see any sluts here except you, Kendall.” Jay barked a laugh while Lilly gasped beside me.
“You weren’t complaining last year, were you?” She arched her eyebrow, and a slow smirk spread across her face.
“Fuck off, did I touch you.”
“Jay,” Lilly hushed. “Don’t let her provoke you.”
He went to speak, anger rolling off him, but I stepped forward, looking her dead in the eye. “What do you want, Kendall?” My voice was surprisingly calm. Nothing like the vortex whirling in my stomach.
“Not much really. Just you… gone.”
“Not happening. I don’t know what your problem is, but I go to school here now. You don’t have to like me, but I’m not going anywhere.”
“Becca.” I heard Malachi, the clipped warning in his voice, but the adrenaline pounding in my ears drowned him out. My whole body trembled with nerves, anger, and frustration, but I couldn’t break. Not now. I had to show her that she couldn’t intimidate me.
“You should ask yourfriendswhat happens to people who think they can fit into a place like Credencewhen… they… don’t.”
“Whatever, Kendall.” I turned my back on her, clutching the tray in my hand for support.
“You don’t get to turn your back on…” Kendall’s voice trailed off, and I glanced back to see what had silenced her. Evan had walked into the cafeteria and joined the line. But it made no sense; he wasn’t even looking in our direction. “I guess I’ll see you around,Becca.”
The way she hissed my name was like nails on a blackboard. I tried to catch Evan’s eye, but Jay and Malachi crowded us until we’d paid for our lunch. It crossed my mind to go to him, but he hadn’t wanted to talk this morning, and I didn’t want to stick around and eat with Kendall’s eyes burning holes in my head, so I followed my friends out of the cafeteria.
Away from Kendall.
Away from the judgment of my classmates.
Away from Evan.
* * *
Scarlett was waitingfor me outside of class, and she offered to drive me home. It was the perfect opportunity to ask the question that had been bugging me ever since Kendall mentioned her that night at Rogues.
“Who’s Ami, Scarlett?”
Scarlett’s hands tightened on the wheel, and I knew whatever she had to say wasn’t going to be good. “Kendall O’Hare really needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.” She let out a deep sigh. She paused for a moment, and I thought she wasn’t going to tell me, but then she began speaking. “Ami Walters moved to Credence in ninth grade. She was real quiet, and her daddy got a job up at the Port. A lot of local men were overlooked for that position…”
I didn’t need her to say it. I knew the second the words left her mouth.
“Kendall’s daddy was one of them.”
“Ten points to the new girl. Ami and Malachi hit it off. Quiet attracts quiet or something. Anyway, they became fast friends. He liked her. We all saw it. Over time, Ami became one of us.”
“What happened?”
“At first, she hid it from us. The notes, the threats. Kendall even pushed her around a couple of times, but Ami never said a word.” Scarlett’s mouth turned down at the corners. “And I didn’t push her. I figured if she needed our help, she would ask. But then Kendall’s daddy lost his job, and things got worse. She started targeting Ami out in the open. Spreading lies, vicious rumors.”
It all sounded so familiar.
Too familiar.
“It became a full-time job trying to keep her out of Kendall’s claws. She was losing weight and not sleeping, the girl was a wreck. Didn’t have your fight, that’s for sure. Malachi tried to comfort her, but it tore him up, seeing someone he cared about hurt like that. He struggled with it. We all did.”
“They were together?”
Scarlett shook her head. “No. Ami wasn’t interested in him like that. They were best friends.”
A buried memory knocked at my conscience, but I couldn’t quite grasp it.
