Until Hadley chimes in.
“Don’t mind her. She’s a bitch when she drinks.” Hadley’s smile is full of apologies, but I’m too focused on her gorgeous, natural ginger hair to reply.
“Please, she’s a bitch when she breathes,” Lacey counters, and Hadley and I chuckle. I always thought Hadley Queen was amongst Easton High’s most down-to-earth and somewhat “normal” cheerleaders.
Her mom owns a convenience store downtown. They’re comfortable but not rich like Lacey or Brie. And definitely not gross rich like Finn. She quit the cheerleading team last year to help out her mom after her twin brother passed in the one and onlyholdup Silver Springs has ever had.
Word on the street is that she won’t be here much longer, though. Her mom put the store up for sale after the incident. She couldn’t bear to work where her kid died any longer.
“You go to Easton, right?” Hadley asks.
I nod.
“But you didn’t grow up around here, did you?” She says it as a fact. I bet she knows every person she went to kindergarten with like the back of her hand. Small-town perks.
“Yeah, my family moved here freshman year.”
“Fascinating,” Brie huffs out.
I thought maybe Brie would abstain from treating me like shit since I know her darkest secret and could ruin her life, but nope. Still a bitch.
“You guys want shots?” Lacey ignores Brie.
Without awaiting our response, Lacey leads us to a room that seems like your typical man cave—flat-screen TV, reclining leather chairs, sports posters, and minifridge in the corner.
“I think I left some Jell-O shots in here.” Lacey flings the fridge open and pulls out a tray of cherry-flavored shots. “Shit, we’re missing one.” She distributes the shots amongst us until we’re down to the last one. “Go ahead.” Lacey inches the tray closer to me.
“Don’t you want it?”
“Nah, you live with Finn. Trust me, you need it more than I do.” She laughs, and I blink a few times, the room spinning.
Man, my tolerance is crap.
“Actually, I’m good.” I force a smile.
“Is she above drinking or some shit?” Brie lets out defensively.
“What? No, I—”
“Jesus, Lace, where’d you find this girl?” Brie releases a scornful laugh, which results in every girl in the circle staring at me. Why do I feel like I’m failing some kind of test right now?
“I…”
“Come on, don’t be a prude,” Brie pushes me, and I feel like they’re deciding whether or not I can sit with them ever again. You’d think my armor is made of glass by how fast it crumbles under their scrutiny.
In the snap of a finger, I abandon my convictions and grab the Jell-O shot. The girls cheer me on as I tilt my head back and down it in one go.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Lacey sneers, throwing her arm around my shoulder for a hug.
Axel Fletcher swings the door open the next second. “Fucking finally,” he says when he sees us. “Randall, Queen, you’re up for beer pong. Last chance.”
“Shit, coming.” Hadley drags Brie with her, following Axel back to the kitchen.
“I want to dance!” Lacey says as soon as the girls are gone and guides me back to the living room. We dance away the next hour, passing her bottle of rosé back and forth and making up dance moves so ridiculous my stomach eventually starts to ache from laughing.
“I have to pee so bad,” I confess, my gaze combing through the room for the bathroom. I spot a long line of drunk kids spreading down the hallway and groan. “Ugh, this is going to take foreverrrr.”
In case that wasn’t clear, the “tipsy” ship has sailed for me.