Kass: Good, I think? Thanks again.
Luke: Don’t worry about it. Hey, you going to the party tonight?
There’s a party tonight?
Kass: What party?
Luke: At Bianca’s.
My cousin ambles inside the house before I can reply. All smiles, she waves at me. I’m glad she’s in a good mood. I know being the new kid hasn’t been easy on her. Especially the part where she got branded as “the girl who called out Haze Adams” in her first five minutes at Riverside.
“Hey, stranger. What are you so happy about?” I say and finish my cereal.
“That obvious, huh?” Her smile widens.
“As obvious as an elephant in yoga class.” I laugh, pushing to my feet and dropping my bowl in the sink. “Come on, spill the beans.”
“Fine,” she gives in. “I’m going to a party tonight. Who knows? I might meet people who see more when they look at me than the girl who looked Haze Adams in the eyes.” She snorts, recalling her ridiculous first day.
I find a bit of irony in her desperation to forget about the Haze fiasco. She’s nowhere near done with him. I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I accidentally overheard a conversation between her and Kendrick last week. Okay, fine, I snuck downstairs specifically to listen—tomayto, tomahto.
They were arguing, not giving a single fuck as to who could hear. They’re lucky my mom agreed to cover her nurse friend’s night shift and wasn’t home to witness their shitshow.
I found out Winter followed Kendrick, Will, Blake, and Alex to some meeting with Haze. Let me tell you, in that moment, I facepalmed myself so hard I almost gave myself a concussion.
They caught her spying, and from there, all hell broke loose. From what I could gather, her presence pushed Haze to make some sort of deal with my brother regarding their next fight.
I hurried back upstairs midconversation, but I did hear one of them say Haze insisted the prize be Winter. Whatever it is, it can’t possibly end well. She’s been hanging out with the guys at school since. Probably to keep Haze at bay.
“Someone invited you to Bianca’s party?”
“Yeah. Blake.” She nods.
Did she just say Blake?
As in my ex who dumped me over text two weeks ago Blake?
My face must give me away because Winter asks, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I didn’t know you were that close with Kendrick’s friends, that’s all.”
She steps forward. “Kass. Seriously, what is it? Did I do something?”
“No, of course not.” I refuse her eye contact. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Kass?” She raises an eyebrow.
She’s not going to let this go, is she?
“I didn’t think he’d move on so fast,” I admit.
“Wait, what?” She frowns. “Who are you talking about?”
I can’t bring myself to resume, unsure if carrying down this path is a good idea. This has been a secret for so long.
Oh, to hell with it.
She would’ve found out eventually.