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Begrudgingly, I got up and went with them to dance. Xander laughed at me, getting up to go hang out with other non-dancing people. Lucky.
To be fair, I liked dancing. You don’t grow up in a Mexican family and not know how to dance. But it wasn’t exactly the impression I wanted to leave with April. Although, I didn’t know why I cared so much. She clearly didn’t care about me.
But here I was, girls on either side of me, swinging my hand through the air like I was throwing a lasso.
When the music changed to a slow song, Deena put her arms around my shoulders. “Wanna dance?”
Her words were already slurring.
“Are you sure you don’t wanna go home with Kenz? Have some ice cream? Chocolate frosting? WatchDirty Dancinga few times?”
Deena giggled. “You are so sweet, Diego. I don’t know why I didn’t notice that before but—”
“Um, I have to go pee,” I rushed out, stepping away from her. I practically ran to the darker part of the beach, hoping she wouldn’t follow me. I didn’t want to give Deena the wrong idea.
My heart didn’t slow until the sand became wet under my feet. I let out a long breath.
“Are you following me?”
I turned, seeing April’s outline farther away from the waves. “I didn’t even know you were here.”
She was quiet for a moment. “So you signing up for CNA classes had nothing to do with me.”
My eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and now I didn’t understand how I could have missed her creamy legs standing out in the moonlight. I drew my eyes up and focused on her face. “Get over yourself, Adams,” I said. Angry at her for being so rude. Angry at my mind for being so damn distracted by her body.
“You’re the one who thinks you own the beach, and you want me to get over myself?” she snapped.
I barked out a laugh. “You’re still going on about this? It was one day.” She needed to let it go.
“One day can change everything,” she replied, her tone serious.
“Clearly, because the day I found out you were going to Emerson, my year changed for the worse.”
Her mouth fell open into an angry half-smile, and she looked away. “You are, without a doubt, the most arrogant person I’ve ever met.”
“As arrogant as the one saying I’m stalking her?”
She narrowed her eyes at me, coming so close I could smell her perfume. Sweet, like honey, but sharp like ginger. “You can just leave me alone.”
“You want that?” I asked, looking down at her, seeing all of her curves.
Her throat moved with her swallow. “Please.”
“At least now I know you have some manners.” I backed up a few steps and returned to the party.
Eleven
April
I staredopen-mouthed at Diego’s back as he walked away from me. He had on a thin white T-shirt that showed far more of his muscled physique than his school uniform did. Sand lifted from his feet in small bursts with each step.
Feeling embarrassed for staring, guilty for being rude to him, I turned back toward the water and plopped in the sand. The ocean was a big rolling black mass except for the white caps where the waves broke.
“Hey,” Sadie said.
I glanced over to see her walking toward me, two red cups in her hands. She handed me one and sat beside me. For a moment we were quiet until Sadie took a drink from her cup and said, “Beer is awful.”
I took a drink of mine and cringed. “You’re right. It’s terrible.” I laughed as I tried to mouth away the taste. “Why do people act like this is so cool?”
