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“Is that a bad thing?” Girls are always so into astrological signs when I could give two shits. Edie goes on and on about it, boring me straight into a nap every single time she starts talking about compatible signs and who she can and cannot date. Like she actually chooses a guy based on what his sign is.
What a bunch of shit.
“Leos are notoriously obsessed with themselves,” Daisy tells me.
I laugh. “Are you implying I’m egotistical?”
“I never said you were.” Daisy averts her gaze, and I can literally feel the stress coming off her in waves. She’d rather be anywhere else but here.
Sitting next to me.
Another jab in my ribs from Cadence, her elbow sharp like a weapon and I’m immediately irritated. When I turn toward her, she offers a sweet smile and holds up her phone. “Want to take a selfie with me?”
“No.” I turn back to Daisy, who’s still staring off into the distance, her shoulders stiff. Like she’s afraid she might accidently bump into me. “When’s your birthday, Daze?”
“How do you know who I am?” She still won’t look at me.
“Our class isn’t that big.” I shift in my seat, leaning toward her so my shoulder bumps into hers. She moves, her entire body turned away from mine. “Plus, we’ve been in…competition now for a few years. You do know who I am, right?”
Her gaze lands on mine for the briefest moment before she looks away. “Archibald Lancaster.”
JJ laughs again, and I scowl at him, shutting him up with a look.
“Arch,” I correct her. “And you never answered my question.”
“I did,” she protests, meeting my gaze yet again. “I know who you are.”
“But you didn’t tell me your birthday.”
“Oh.” She shrugs, seemingly uncomfortable. “It doesn’t matter.”
“So you don’t have a birthday?”
“I’d rather not acknowledge it.”
JJ and I glance at each other, both of us intrigued. “Why not?”
Those golden eyes lock onto mine and I swear her lips tremble before she speaks. “Because it’s the same day that my mother died.”
TWO
DAISY
There.That statement shut Archibald big mouth Lancaster up for about a minute. Even his obnoxious friend John, aka JJ, goes quiet, looking like he might’ve swallowed his tongue.
No one likes to talk about death, especially people my age. I don’t like talking about it either, but I didn’t know what else to say to get him to leave me alone.
Hitting him with the truth seemed like a good idea.
“Archie,” his girlfriend Cadence whines and he turns to her, ignoring me completely and only then do I exhale, my shoulders slowly falling back into place, instead of being hunched up around my ears.
He makes me uncomfortable. Arch Lancaster. I know he prefers to be called Arch, but it was fun calling him by his full name earlier. Seeing the irritation flare in his icy blue gaze. He enjoyed giving me grief and it was nice to give him a taste of his own medicine.
I remain quiet, relieved when JJ turns and faces forward, leaving me alone as well. I shift to the right, my legs as far away as they can get from Arch’s sprawled stance, though I tilt my head in his direction as subtly as possible, trying to spy on his conversation with Cadence.
The perfect, beautiful Cadence who comes from a wealthy family and wears expensive Prada loafers—I only know they’re Prada thanks to the prominent triangle label right on top of her shoes—and a full face of makeup every single day. I always wonder what time she gets up in the morning and how long it takes her to get ready.
Way too long, I bet. A full face of makeup for me is mascara and a tinted lip balm, though I’ve always loved watchingGet Ready with Mevideos when I’m bored, which is often. I don’t have a lot of money to spend on cosmetics, so I don’t really buy them, though I wish I could. I’d give anything to get all dolled up in a fancy designer dress and go to the city. I follow some of the girls in my class. The exceptionally rich ones who are already living a glamorous, jet-setting life, and the majority of us aren’t even eighteen yet.
