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“Ella,” Peach scolds her. “What the fuck, we’re enjoying a girls’ lunch.”
“Oh, shut up. You love Wren.”
“He’s a dick,” Peach grits.
The boys join us, and we expand out our circle. Wren is already tanned, his olive skin easily darkening in the sun. Chester sits next to me, his thigh touching mine. I’m not wearing any tights with my uniform skirt today since it’s so warm.
“Are you girls allowed to talk to us now?” Chester asks as he grabs my paper bag. “What’s in here?”
At every single party we’ve been to, the pledges weren’t allowed to talk to anyone. It’s been driving us crazy.
“Yeah,” Ella grins. “We’ll see what else they come up with tonight.”
“Philly Cheesesteak,” Chester chuckles. “Is it still your favorite?”
I nod unenthusiastically. “You can have it. It’s your favorite, too.”
“Nice. Thanks, Alex.” He grabs it, tearing the brown paper before biting into the sandwich.
“How long would you guys go without answering a text,” Ella asks. “Like, if you’re dating someone.”
Wren shrugs. Of course, he doesn’t date. He’s just waiting for Peach to marry him.
“I don’t know,” Chester says with a full mouth. “If I’m busy with exams or something, and we’re notofficial,then I might not reply for a few days.”
“More than four days?” She cocks an eyebrow at him.
“I guess, yeah.”
“See,” she exclaims as she slaps my thigh. “He might just be really busy.”
“Oh, come on,” Peach groans. “He’s ghosting you, and you know exactly why.”
I do, though I refuse to accept it. It hurts too much. He was different with me.
“Our rooms are right next to each other. We share a wall, and Iheardyou.”
Peach knows.
I gulp, and my eyes dart around to everyone. Peach’s red hair is in a long ponytail today, the sun reflecting in it. She’s a powerful woman. So tiny yet so damn powerful. She takes shit from no one, and I always feel like a stupid little girl next to her.
“I don’t get it,” Ella says. “What happened?” she asks Peach, then twists to me. “What happened, Alex?”
I bite my lower lip, looking down at my lap. In my bag, I press my thumb into the sparkwheel of the lighter.
My eyes dart to Peach, and she shakes her head at me, disappointed that I won’t say anything. I don’t have the courage to do so, but I know she will, so I just look at her and wait.
“God, you’re a baby.” Her eyes are on me when she says, “She had sex with Xi. He got what he wanted, then he disappeared as he does with every other girl. We warned her, and she didn’t listen. Now she’s sad.”
“What?” Ella and Chester gasp simultaneously. “No, you didn’t,” Ella adds.
“What the hell?” The shock in Chester’s voice makes me look down again. He’s only too aware of the number of times I turned him down when we were together.
He wasn’t the one. He wasn’t rough enough. He didn’t make me feel the things Xi does. He didn’t take shamelessly like Xi did.
“I guess our baby girl is not a virgin anymore,” Ella says in disbelief.
I stare directly at Peach. “You were right. Happy?”
