I know now that my sister is not as much prettier than me as she is flashier. She’s a bit like Dia in that sense. Ash is the very definition of femininity. She wears flattering dresses, the right makeup to accentuate her God-given beauty, spends thousands on a hair mask for her golden locks to be just the perfect amount of shiny.
She wants people to be looking at her.
Me? Not so much.
I felt so overshadowed by my sister as a child that I eventually embraced my “Casper the Ghost” status and committed to being invisible. I wore oversized sweatshirts and boyish jeans for most of my childhood. I still do to this day. I didn’t bother with my hair, let alone pretty dresses.
What’s the point? It’s not like anyone’s going to notice.
“She single?” Theo shoots his shot.
I bite back a smile.
“I’d get you a date with her, but she’s not doing charity this time of year.”
Finn, Dia, and Lacey snicker at my comeback, and I feel like that proud kid who made the whole class laugh. This has to be the first time, since the day Dia told me we’d be eating with the jocks moving forward, that I’ve felt I might sort of belong with these people.
I mostly stood by and kept my mouth shut before, but with wicked Brie gone, and Xavier-the-bully missing in action, I’m starting to realize I don’t entirely hate their company.
“Hot damn, Vee. Didn’t know you had it in you.” Finn holds his hand up for me. “Up top.”
I laugh, high-fiving him seconds before Dia loops her right arm around my neck and pulls me in for a side-hug.
“You’re ballsy, Harper. I respect that,” Theo says as he sweeps his dark, almost black hair away from his emerald-green eyes.
“But…?” I anticipate.
“I’d respect you even more if you gave me your sister’s number.”
I scoff. “Nice try, lover boy.”
Theo and Ashley together wouldn’t last a day. Theo loves the ladies too much, and Ashley’s way too smart to be seduced by a guy like him—although I suspect from her current and past boyfriends that a fit, green-eyed hottie like Theo would be exactly her type.
We play for thirty more minutes before I excuse myself to the bathroom. My phone rings as I’m washing my hands, and I step out into the kitchen to check the caller ID.
Mom.
I also have three unopened texts from her.
Mom:Where are you?
Mom:Ashley has to be at school at seven a.m. sharp tomorrow. Early lesson. And you’re driving her. She can’t be late.
Mom:Aveena???
It’s barely eight.
I stay out later than usual once and she’s all over my case, terrified that I’ll disrupt her perfect schedule. I’m sending the call to voicemail when the back door swings open and Xavier bursts into Theo’s kitchen.
By no means am I excusing his behavior earlier tonight, but Finn wasn’t lying. Xavier does look like he’s having a grand time navigating life right now—note the sarcasm.
I wonder why he came back. Strike that—I wonder why he left at the mere sight of me. Last I checked, I’m not the one who dumped paint balloons on his white dress when we were kids, nor did I butcher his entire family with an axe, so I’d appreciate if he took the hostility down a notch.
“Still here?” he drawls when he notices me.
“Still a presumptuous asshole?” I snap back.
I expect him to double down on the nasty replies, to crush me with spite, so you can imagine my surprise when he clamps his mouth shut, the corners of his lips twitching into a small smile. His pale eyes rake over my face for a second too long, and I squirm under his undivided attention.