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IMANI
The next morning, I sat at the kitchen island and drank coffee with Mom as we waited for the girls to come over for a girls’ day. She scrolled through a Redwood news article on her phone and looked over at me.
“Did anything happen last night at the game?” she asked. “There was a police officer who was kidnapped and had his car stolen. They tracked it to an abandoned house out in the woods but couldn’t find the officer anywhere.”
My entire body tensed, my stomach tightening. Mom probably thought that this was Poison’s doing. Hell, everyone would probably blame them for this anyway, but this had nothing to do with them. This was all Akio.
“I didn’t hear anything about it,” I said, sipping my coffee.
Mom side-eyed me and raised a brow, knowing that I knew something. Thankfully, she didn’t push it, and I was damn grateful. I didn’t really want to get into it. She knew that Akio wasn’t like his parents, and if she found out that he had done this, then she might have a hard time trusting him too.
“How’s Dad?” I asked.
“He’s still feeling a bit under the weather, but he’s better than he was,” Mom said. “He must’ve eaten something upsetting the other night.”
The doorbell chimed, and I jumped out of my seat to get out of this conversation. I wanted to talk to Mom, but something didn’t feel right at the moment. What if Akio’s family had bugged the house and were listening to everything we were saying?
After placing my coffee cup in the sink, I walked to the front door and pulled it open to see Allie standing on the porch with Nicole.
She smiled at me, then stepped into the house and pulled Nicole in with her. “Morning, Mrs. Abara!”
“Morning, Allie,” Mom called back.
I closed the door behind them and eyed Nicole as we walked up the stairs to my bedroom to prepare for the other girls. We all needed some time to relax after what had been happening with each of us at Redwood. We were all dealing with our own shit.
But I hadn’t invited Nicole.
Shit might’ve happened to her, but she had hurt Allie so badly, so many times. I didn’t like the bitch one bit and didn’t want her here with Allie. While I might’ve felt bad for her, I … ugh, I didn’t want her to take a stab at Allie again.
So, as Nicole entered my bedroom, I pulled Allie to the side. “What the hell is she doing here?” I asked. “I thought we hated her?”
Allie shrugged her shoulders. “She doesn’t have any friends.”
“She has the entire cheer squad.”
Frowning, she grasped my hands. “Just for today. If it doesn’t go well and she doesn’t fit in with us, then we don’t have to hang out with her like this anymore. I promise. I … please. I need to do this one thing for her.”
After staring at her for a couple more moments, I sighed. “Only because you’re my best friend. If you weren’t, I would’ve thrown her out the second that she stepped onto my driveway.” I pointed a finger at her. “But don’t make me regret this.”
She wrapped her arm around me and rested her head against my shoulder. “Thank you.”
The doorbell chimed again, and Mom answered the door. A couple moments later, two sets of footsteps ascended the stairs. Maddie and Vera appeared in the hallway and smiled.
“I hope you don’t mind us coming. I really needed to get out of the house, and Vera needs to take a break from writing those smutty stories of hers.”
With long, silky hair and bright brown eyes, Vera blushed and glared playfully at Maddie. “Can you not?” she said to Maddie, narrowing her eyes and pushing up her glasses. “I don’t need the entire world knowing.”
I rocked back on my heels and stared at Vera. “You babysit Ana sometimes for João with your boyfriend, don’t you? What is his name again? Blake? Blaise? Is that his name?”
“I do not hang out with Blaise,” she said, her thick Latina accent coming through.
Because I loved the drama, I smirked and ushered them down the hall to my bedroom. “Sure you don’t. I bet you don’t even like him either, like Maddie doesn’t like her brother’s best friend.” I wiggled my brows at Allie. “And Allie over there hates her stepbrother.”
Allie rolled her eyes playfully at me. I grinned at her wickedly, then peered over at Nicole, my smiling dropping a bit.
I didn’t want her to be here, but the least I could do was try to make her feel invited. So, I asked, “Do you hate anyone, Nicole?”
Nicole placed down her bags of makeup and sat on the bed, looking between me and Allie. Her lip curled into a half-smile, the expression on her face seeming like nobody had asked her something like that before.
“Maybe …” She glanced down at her freshly manicured nails and smiled wider. “I have my sights on one boy, but he’ll never date me. He’s way too smart, and he makes me feel like such a fool sometimes.” After a moment of silence, she unzipped her makeup bag. “So, makeovers?”
