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“What I’d like to know is how they got a skunk in the first place? I mean, how? Where? And what am I supposed to tell my dad?”
Anger mounted inside my chest, and I lifted my head. “There’s no way I can drive this until I get rid of the smell. I may as well sign my death sentence now. I’d stink to high heavens at school if I even set foot in here.” I glanced around me, then down at my clothes. “That is, if I can even get the smell off me in the first place.”
Scarlett sighed but said nothing, which is how I knew I was doomed.
I stared out into the darkened parking lot of the car wash, gritting my teeth, thinking of Topher and his friends still gathered around a table at Mary's enjoying their ice cream, or whatever it was Royals ate at 10 p.m., while I sat here ruminating in a pool of skunk urine.
Just the thought made my eyes twitch.
“Didn’t Topher put those dead fish in Brady O’Toole’s car last year?” Scarlett asked, and I knew what she was thinking. The skunk in my car had Topher’s name written all over it, further evidenced by his convenient absence at the scene of the crime. This wasn’t the first time a prank like this had been played on someone from our school.
Maybe it’s what he and Gabby were whispering about. Maybe it’s what he found so funny. Heck, it was probably the reason he told JT to leave me alone—not because he was defending me, but because he had something better up his sleeve. Why refer to verbal insults when you could play the ultimate prank on someone instead?
My anger ebbed for a moment as humiliation took its place. What a fool I was, to even think for a moment he was different than I’d thought.
“So what do I do now?” I asked, throwing my hands up.
Scarlett’s mouth flattened for a moment as she stared at me in silence before she nodded like she made her mind up and stabbed a finger toward my chest. “I’ll tell you what you’re gonna do. You’re going to do whatever it is you need to do to get the stink off of you. Then, you’re going to let me take your car to my dad. You know he has connections. He’ll hook you up, and I’m sure they can do something to get the smell out—”
“Scarlett—”
“You can tell your dad that mine saw the car and offered to have a friend fix the taillight at cost. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Then you’re going to waltz into school on Monday with your head held high because you have nothing to be ashamed of. And when those jerks say something to you, you’re going to let it roll off because you have a wild card up your sleeve. You hear me?”
I frowned. “What wild card?”
A grin spread over her perfectly symmetrical face. “Topher, remember? Did you forget already?” She sighed and shook her head like I was the most exasperating person in the world. Stepping toward me, she reached down and plucked my phone from my pocket. “I suggest you get texting. Julie isn’t going to earn the king’s trust by sitting around and waiting for it.”
I grinned and grabbed the phone. Of course. How could I forget? I let my guard down for one second, thinking maybe Topher was different than he let on and look at what happened?
Well, not again.
He could act like a decent human being all he wanted and talk about how much of a jerk his father was and how great his GPA was and act like he was being nice to me, but I wasn’t buying it. Not again.
I opened our texts and typedWhatchadoin?,then hit send.
Operation Dirt Retrieval was underway.
Chapter 14
PENELOPE
Istoppedinfrontofmylockerjustbeforelunch,tookonelookatthepictureofaskunksomeonetapedtoit,androlledmyeyes.
So original.
I tore the paper off and rolled it into a ball, then tossed it behind me when Scarlett appeared by my side. “So, how’s the rest of your day going?” she asked.
I glanced over at her. The optimism in her expression was admirable, given the moment we rolled into the student parking lot, JT and Mikey made it a point to zero in on me and ask where my new ride was.
“It mustreally stinknot being able to drive yourself to school,”JT said before they laughed like a pair of hyenas.
So hilarious, they were.
All in all, though, it hadn’t been too bad. Other than obnoxiously sniffing the air every time they passed me in the halls, asking “What’s that smell?” and the skunk photo on my locker, they’d left it mostly alone. Still, that didn’t stop me from eyeing Mikey as he approached, practically burying my head in my locker in the hopes of going unnoticed.
When he strolled by without so much as a glance in my direction, I breathed a sigh of relief, and the ball of muscle fisting at the base of my spine released.
“What?” I asked.
