She threw the paper towel away. “What’s it to you if we are?”
Allison went to say something, but I held up my hand. It would be nothing but wasted energy. And this was my fight, not hers. I didn’t know what Marina had up her sleeve. I didn’t know what she was trying to do. But I didn’t want Allison caught up in it. I wanted her to enjoy her senior year.
Not be dragged down by a decision I’d made in a moment of weakness.
“What do you want, Marina?”
She giggled. “I just want to hear it from you. That’s all.”
“Well, then you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
She snickered. “Figures. You’ll freely talk about your mother hoeing around. But you certainly don’t want to talk about you doing it.”
Allison took a step forward. “That’s enough.”
I turned around, pressing my hands against her shoulders. I leveled my gaze at her as Marina threw her head back with laughter. I shook my head. The last thing we needed was some girl fight where we pulled at each other’s hair and eventually got expelled. Michael had almost blemished his perfect record with the fight against Clint. I wasn’t about to let Allison throw her acceptance to UCLA away because she wanted to claw this bitch’s eyes out.
“Let me handle this,” I whispered.
Then I turned around to face Marina.
“I’ll ask you again. What is it you want?”
Marina leapt for me, getting into my face. “I’ll tell you what I want, you little slut. I want you to know your place. I want you to know exactly where you stand with a man like Clint. You’re nothing compared to him. He’s got the world at his feet, and you’ll be drowning in squalor. Fucking men in an effort to pay your bills. Whoring around like your mother does. We already see you turning into her. You look like her. Smell like her. Talk like her. Walk like her. And soon, you’ll fuck like her, too. The town mattress, ready for a good ride whenever you’re drunk enough.”
I shrugged. “Too bad I don’t drink.”
Marina scoffed. “Just like Clint beat the snot out of your friend, I’ve got no problems beating the snot out of you. Or your little friend behind you. You think you’re tough, but you’re nothing, Cleaver.”
I grinned. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was coming from a place of jealousy.”
She paused. “So the two of you are fucking.”
I shrugged. “Why do you care if we are?”
Marina lunged at me and I heard Allison squeal. But I held my ground. I didn’t flinch. I didn’t blink. And I sure as hell didn’t move. Marina ran her eyes down my body before moving along beside me, brushing her shoulder against mine.
“I’ll be watching you, you piece of trailer trash,” she said.
I snickered. “I’d have to live in a trailer for that title, Marina. Or do you not know the difference between a house and a trailer?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get Clint to educate me this weekend at my pool party. You know, once he’s done making out with the girls in the hot tub. That’s his favorite pastime. And it really is a treat to watch once those girls get to grinding in his lap.”
I bristled at her words as she left. I heard her giggle fade down the hallway, her heels clicking against the tiled flooring. I slowly turned around to Allison, who was visibly trembling with anger. The embarrassed tinted blush of her cheeks had turned to a full-on crimson rage, her fists clenched at her sides.
“Allison, breathe. She’s not worth the effort.”
She shook her head. “She is an absolute, raging bitch.”
My eyebrows rose. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you use that word.”
“Well, it’s true. Marina’s nothing but a—a sleazy, good for nothing rollercoaster boys can have a good ride on before bouncing to the next one!”
I giggled. “Wow.”
“What?”
I paused. “I kind of like this side of you.”