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Ben nodded. “I heard about that fight. A lot of those guys are heading over here afterward. We were warned to double our inventory, triple it with some bottles.” He finished up, and I had no idea what was in the drink. He’d poured blue stuff, pink stuff, some purple stuff, and it came out looking yellow. Topping it off with an orange, he handed it over. “Voila. My own little cocktail.”
“Thanks, Ben.” She sipped it, and her eyes rolled back. “Ohhhhmygawd. This is amazing. What do you call it?”
He smiled. “Right now it’s Ben’s Bender, but don’t let the name fool you. It’ll just cause you to want to go on a bender. But not you ladies because you’re underage and you shouldn’t be drinking, am I right? I’m right. Now get out of here before my conscience gets the best of me. All these people, I don’t know. I don’t know how old they are, but you and her, I do know. Get out of here and be the normal rebel high schoolers I know you are.”
Theresa laughed, taking another sip. “See you, Ben. Give Gem a call sometime.”
He held a hand up, already filling another order.
“Gem?” I inclined my head. “And him?”
Theresa laughed, ducking out through a side door to the side of the house. “It’s not like that. I mean, it would be for Gem. She had a huge crush on him, but Ben’s not like that. He looks like a stoner, but he’s the hardest working kid I know. Ask her about him and enjoy the blushing fireworks. It’s a whole Fourth of July show.”
We walked around the house, and she spotted the guys, who hadn’t moved from the pool table in the front yard.
She sighed. “They’re going to be talking the whole time. We might as well go have fun somewhere else until we want to go.” She looked my way. “What are you thinking?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you typically do at parties? You know, hide in the kitchen? Hide in the basement? Flutter around like a butterfly? Party tricks? Karaoke? Or do you find a Playstation and join the gamer room?”
“Honestly? I used to find my people, sit, and laugh with them the whole time.”
“You’re one of those people.”
“What people?”
“The ones who make others come to them. Those kind of people.”
I thought about it. “I guess. Maybe? But I know I’m not the fluttering around type. That shit makes me nervous.”
“Okay.” She looped our arms again, and we turned around. She pointed at a bonfire where some people were sitting around. One guy was strumming a guitar. “I know those guys a tiny bit. They’re cool. If we’re going to sit somewhere, that’s where we should go.”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
Theresa was right. The bonfire people were cool.
I was one of those people, I guess.
It was an hour later when Theresa decided to find Kunz because, though we were having fun, it was time to head back. She went to the front while I went inside to use the bathroom.
I was just coming out when a girl pushed past me, almost flattening me against the wall. She tore down the hallway to join her other friends, who were all waving for her to hurry her ass up. As they shoved through the screen door, I expected it to bang shut, but it didn’t because other people were pushing out too.
I went with the herd, wondering what the hell was going on, and then saw a crowd starting to form outside. I checked my phone to see if Theresa had texted me, but she hadn’t, so I pushed through to see. When I got there, a few feet back from the edge of the crowd, I paused, because a guy was in Malik’s face.
I had déjà vu from the cafeteria because Scout was standing behind the guy in Malik’s face. And just next to Malik was Kunz, who was glaring at Scout. But this time, Scout looked indifferent.
I looked through the crowd for Theresa, but couldn’t find her.
Me: Where are you?
I took a pic of my location and sent it to her in a second text.
“This has nothing to do with you, Winslet,” Malik yelled. “Why are you in my face about it?”
The guy stepped back, and he was big—like Hulk big, bodybuilder big. He drew back a hand and pointed at Kunz. “I’m in your face because it was your buddy making noise about Raiden.”
Malik eyed him warily before casting a look in Kunz’s direction and then Scout’s. He rubbed a hand over his jaw, taking a step back. “I can’t answer on that matter.” He spoke to the guy, though it was obvious he was asking Kunz to step in.
He just leaned back against the pool table and dug into his pocket, pulling out his phone.
