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“I only need your knowledge of the players, not your boring suggestions about embracing whatever stupid Kumbaya shit you have in your head.”
“Noted.”
“What about the boys? I know there’s only one Dare, but anyone with Dare energy I could feed on for a while?”
“I don’t believe we have any outright psychopaths—present company excluded, of course—but there are definitely some assholes.”
She flashes me a smile. “I’m not a psychopath.”
“You tried to kill a girl over a pair of shoes.”
“It was a shirt, and I wasn’t committed to killing her over the shirt, that was just an idea. I wanted to kill her because—” Cutting herself off, she visibly pushes it away. “No. We’re not talking about Dare’s vanilla cunt-cake anymore. She doesn’t matter. Dare and I are end game. I’m not looking for a replacement king, just a pretty puppet to pass the time with until he gets bored and comes back for me.”
“As long as you’re staying realistic.”
“You’re as vanilla as she is. I wouldn’t expect you to get it.”
I don’t care what flavor she thinks I am, so if I’m meant to be insulted… I’m not.
“Anyway, the boys.”
“Let’s see. There’s Arden Prince. He’s very wealthy and very attractive if you’re intoassholes, which you clearly are. Arden may be the hottest guy in our grade and definitely the most popular, but he’s a player and he’s kinda gross. I don’t know if he has Dare energy. I didn’t know Dare the way you guys did. Flowers don’t wilt and die when he walks into a room, so my gut instinct is that he doesn’t, but he is definitelyawareof Dare and his whole legend-aura. Arden is accustomed to being at the top of the food chain, so being overshadowed by Dare after all the evil shit he pulled last year… I do think he feels a sense of competition with him. He’ll definitely ruin some unsuspecting woman’s life someday.”
“Mm, sounds yummy.”
“Then there’s Malek Atwater. He’s an established member of the elite around here. His dad’s some famous football player. He’s as rich as God, but with the fidelity of Zeus, so… Malek’s home life can be rocky. He’s also an asshole. I would say Arden is sneakier, but Malek is an in-your-face asshole. Wholly unapologetic about how terrible he is and does not try to hide it.”
Anae appears to consider. “Eh, I’ll have to form my own impression when I meet him. Guys like that can be more trouble than they’re worth. I’m happy to hear there are some contenders, though. Anyone else?”
Landon Atwater.
“Nope,” I lie. “I mean, they have a friend group, there are other guys in it, of course, but those are probably the ones you would be most interested in.”
“Have you fucked both of them?” she asks, glancing at me. “Which one’s better in bed?”
“Um, no,” I say a touch awkwardly. “I haven’t had sex with anyone. Certainly not either of those jerks.”
She makes a face like she finds me thoroughly disgusting, but the feeling is mutual, so I don’t take offense. “This house is swimming in virgins. I hate it.”
“This isn’t advice I would ordinarily give someone, but maybe you should be less yourself when you’re trying to make new friends this year.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m not an idiot, Parker. I know I have to wear a mask around the normies. I don’t care what kind of impression I make onyou. You’re irrelevant.”
She is endlessly delightful, isn’t she?
“Anyway, I should probably be getting home. My mom will need help making dinner.”
“Fine. Put together a guest list and we’ll go over it tomorrow. No poor people, no pity invites. I want a top tier guest list, only the best of your grade. You only get one chance at a first impression, so do not fuck with me on this.”
“I get it,” I assure her as I gather my things.
Hannah shoots me an apologetic look, but I flash her a reassuring smile. It’s not her fault Anae hijacked our study session, and it doesn’t bother me when Anae is a bitch to me—I just can’t stand by and watch her be horrible to Hannah.
Chapter Three
Parker
Despite my stalwart enthusiasm at the start of the day, I’m dragging a little by the time Hannah drops me off at home.
