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"Huh?"
"I'm going with Dani Salazar to your homecoming." He winks at me. "Gotta love it when a girl asks a dude from her rival school whose nemesis is her brother. Classic."
The restraint lifts and I'm suddenly free. I stumble out of the seat with my body protesting and spot Trey, who's leaning against a railing waiting for me. He's still on the phone. Bonk passes him, but Trey doesn't even notice.
Unbelievable.
I walk past my boyfriend, trying not to show any signs that my body is less than thrilled with me right now. Trey and I don't fight or argue much because we decided a long time ago we didn't want a relationship full of bullshit and drama. This is unfamiliar territory for me. I don't even know what to say, so I say nothing.
"Monika, wait up!" I hear Trey call after me.
I keep walking. But what if Trey wasn't talking to Zara? What if his mother got in a car accident or his dad had a heart attack? What if his sister got sent back to rehab?
Ugh, I don't want to be a cold, rigid bitch.
I stop and face Trey. "I'm sorry. What was the call about? Was it an emergency?"
"No," Trey says. "It was just my cousin Darius hitting me up for some money."
"Are you kidding me?" My eyes go wide with annoyance. "You left me to ride on that... that death trap for Darius?" The dude is a gang-banging drug dealer who hit on me more than a few times when we were both at Trey's house. I never told Trey. If he knew, it would hurt him so much.
"Sorry, baby."
"Don't baby me, Trey." I start walking toward the exit.
"I don't want to fight about this," he adds.
"Things are changing between us." I hold back what I really want to say, because I don't want us to argue.
When we're in the car, he turns to me. "I'm really sorry."
"Me too."
He turns on the ignition and heads back to Fremont. When we're almost home, Trey turns off the radio. "Will you go to homecoming with me, Monika?"
I give him a sideways glance. He's asking me now? In the car? While he's driving? I muster a "Yeah, sure."
He runs a hand through his hair. "It's obvious you're distraught. My plan was to ask you while we were on the roller coaster."
"Really romantic, Trey."
"Jet gave me the idea," he admits. "It sounded good when he said it."
"You took Jet Thacker's advice, a guy who brags about being an emotionally unavailable male version of a slut?" I cross my arms and settle back in the seat. "That figures."
"Okay, I get it. I fucked up big-time." He takes my hand and squeezes it gently. It used to make my heart flutter when he did that, but now I'm just numb. "I'm under a lot of stress and I made a bad decision. I'm sorry."
"Stop saying sorry. I'll get over it." I give him a small smile as he pulls into my driveway. "Just call me later," I tell him.
I walk up the brick path to my house, then glance back to see Trey drive off.
But he's not driving away. Instead, he's busily texting someone. At this point, I don't even care who it is.
Chapter Fifteen
VICTOR
Trey called me this morning and said he was taking Monika to Wild Adventures to ask her to homecoming. I told him he was making a mistake, but he was still going through with it.
I'm in my room, attempting to sleep even though it's the middle of the day. I'm trying to forget that Trey is asking Monika to homecoming right about now.
Listening to music isn't helping.
Staring at the ceiling isn't helping.
The door to my room creaks open. I don't want to deal with Dani, who's been bugging me all day to drive her to the mall. "Get out--"
My words are cut off when I catch sight of sexy curves in a loose tank top and jean shorts that reveal long tan legs that can only belong on the girl who invades my thoughts.
It's Monika.
"Hey," she says, slapping a hand over her eyes when she notices I'm only wearing boxer briefs. "Dani let me in and said I could come up here. Obviously I didn't know you were practically naked. I'll just, um..."
"It's cool," I say, quickly reaching down to pick up a pair of pants from the floor and slipping into them.
"It's two o'clock in the afternoon, Vic." She still has her hand over her eyes. "Aren't you up yet?"
"I was out late," I say, kinda freaked that Monika is in my room. It's not like she's never been in my room, but the entire day she's been on my mind and I've been feeling stupidly depressed and weak. "You don't have to cover your eyes anymore."
She peeks through her fingers. "Okay. Sorry I barged in." She tilts her head to the side, revealing a tiny crescent-shaped birthmark below her ear. "So I have to talk to someone, and Ashtyn is with Derek, and Bree, well, I love her but she's kind of an airhead. To be honest, I need a guy's opinion, and you're the closest guy friend I have. I would've called, but you never answer your phone, and I know how you hate to text--"
"It's cool." I look around my room at the clothes and Gatorade bottles scattered on the floor.
"You're a mess," she says, surveying my room as she makes a path to the chair by my window.
I take in the sight of her honey-brown skin and chocolate-brown hair, a stark contrast to her light green eyes. Just the sight of her makes my heart race and my groin twitch like a freshman looking at some hot senior girl.
I play it cool, as always, and sit on the edge of my bed. "I thought Trey was takin' you out."
"Oh, he took me out all right." She lets out a long, slow breath. "It ended up being the date from hell."
I hate that a part of me actually loved hearing that. "Hell? Come on, it couldn't have been that bad."
"Oh, really? First of all," she says, massaging her wrists as she talks. "We went to Wild Adventures. I hate roller coasters, but Trey wanted to get me over my fear of them, which was a bad idea. Then when I actually got on the damn thing called The Blitz, your boy ditched me."
What the hell. "No he didn't."
"Yes he did."
Usually Monika is understanding and calm, but there are these moments when she gets so passionate and hyped about something that she gets all animated. This is one of those times. It's fun to watch her transition, like she's giving herself permission to take her halo off. "And get this," she adds. "Who do you think I was strapped into the death trap next to?"
"Hit me with it."
She crosses her arms, making her boobs stand out even more than usual. Damn, this is torture.
I swear this is a test.
I suck at tests.
"The person you despise most in the world," she says.
Only one person comes to mind. "Matthew Bonk?"
She nods.
Holy shit. That pendejo is my number-one enemy. "Damn."
"I know, right?" she says, sitting forward in the chair. "He was smoking weed on the ride. Oh, and get this. He said some crazy shit about going to Fremont's homecoming with your sister Dani."
"Yeah right." My sister doesn't even know the guy.
"And you know what my boyfriend was doing the entire time I was forced to be strapped in next to Bonk? He was talking on his phone and never even got on the roller coaster."
Trey is my elmero mero, the guy who'll always have my back. I've got to admit it's hard juggling my friendship with Trey and Monika, especially because of the feelings I have for her. I get Monika. I know what she likes and what she hates. But as she said, Trey is my boy--my teammate and best friend.
"Who was he talkin' to?" I ask.
"He said his cousin Darius. Can you believe that? I mean, I wouldn't be mad if it was an important call, but Darius? The guy who borrows money from Trey without any intention of ever paying him back? Darius doesn't care that Trey is poor and doesn't have money to throw away."
Trey wouldn't turn down anyone in need, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
It's hard to have this conversation. It's not like Monika and I never talk or hang out. We do. But she's usually not bashing Trey.
"Maybe you should talk about this with Ashtyn or Bree," I tell her.
"You know Trey the best, Vic. Have you noticed he's been acting weird? He says it's stress, but there's more."
"Like what?"
She shrugs, as if she's not sure about anything. "I don't want to tell you. I need you to talk to him."
"He's fine. Just cut him some slack." I can't relate to him when it comes to school and grades and stuff.
She frowns, completely defeated. "Can you at least talk to Trey and kinda maybe sorta check on him and see if something's up?"
