After that day, at least the guys cleaned up after themselves, and I no longer had to go pick up their empties every day. It wasn’t a big deal. I hardly knew they were there, aside from the occasional splashing when they played pool games and shrieking when they were teasing the girls. I barely felt the pit of emptiness inside me, the loneliness and fury that I wasn’t included in the fun going on in my own backyard.
But a girl’s got her pride.
And who needs a tan anyway? It’s not like anyone’s going to see it.
Now that school’s started, they come over less often. Apparently, social status is forgotten over the summer. Everyone from our block hung out, plus a few of their friends who had vehicles and could come over. Since I was new, I didn’t realize that the summer group wouldn’t be the same once school started. I just knew I didn’t belong.
Once school starts, I’m startled to see everyone splinter off into different groups. Maddox and all the guys from the football team are top-tier popular, including Tommy, Billy, Michael, and Daniel. I didn’t even realize one of the most popular girls in school was hanging out at my pool all summer, but Keisha’s head cheerleader and pretty much the queen bee of FHS.
I’m just as surprised by those who aren’t popular. Reggie, Jeff, and Lennox are more feared than adored, since they don’t play football and are widely known for their gang affiliation. Lexi has a reputation as a slut, as do her two closest friends, and people make disgusting comments to her every day in our shared classes. I feel bad, but I’m too busy trying to keep my own head above water to defend her.
I never thought I’d be on the popular group’s radar, but Keisha and the cheerleaders scoff and give me dirty looks, and the football players oink at me and call me a pig, like I called the cops, or a rat, like I ratted them out. Really, I didn’t do anything, but they must have heard from the North brothers that I was in the house but refusing to come out and join the fun. Most of the people who give me shit weren’t even at the party.
I ignore it, ignore the whispers, the comments. There’s not much I can do about them. Responding will only give them more ammunition. And if Lee’s fists don’t break me, a few words sure as hell won’t. I’m on my own, and I’m fine with that. They might need a crew, their flock of crow brothers, but I’m a murder of one. I focus on my grades and pick up some babysitting work on the side, since a few neighborhood moms remember me from the party.
A month into school, a coach gets fired for sleeping with a student, and it’s all anyone can talk about. I’m just relieved that the focus has shifted away from me. I’m not magically forgiven, and my best friend is still a bird, but hey, at least people don’t actively go out of their way to mess with me anymore. They seem to have forgotten I exist, and when they remember, they just call me a name and move on. They no longer give me shit, knock my books from my arms, or write nasty things on my desk.
A few weeks later, the North brothers find me at my locker one afternoon. I turn away when they walk up, studiously focusing on which books I need for the rest of my classes.
“You’re hard to find, you know that, little girl?” Maddox asks, leaning against the locker next to mine like a towering wall of lickable muscle. Damn, he’s a waste of all those good looks.
“Maybe it’s a sign that you should stop trying,” I say with a shrug.
“We haven’t been looking,” he says, crossing his arms and frowning down at me, like he’s pissed that I called him out for being the one to seek me out. “Trust me, we’d have found you if we had been.”
“Whatever,” I say, closing my locker and turning away. He’s probably used to girls falling all over themselves, chasing him to the ends of the earth. Fuck if I’m going to be one of them.
“Vení, don’t be like that,” Lennox says, giving me a smile that should be illegal, as it’s clearly a weapon of mass destruction.
“What do you want?” I ask with a sigh, pretending I’m not affected. Sure, his smile is as lethal to me as any other girl, but I know what hides under it. “Now that people aren’t relentlessly tormenting me, are you here to dig up some more ammunition to make everyone hate me again?”
“This one’s got some bite to her,” Maddox says, tilting his chin back and looking down at me with a smirk, totally unaffected by my fury. “Good thing we didn’t fuck her. She’d probably bite our dicks off.”
I turn away and start down the hall. Lennox falls into step beside me, giving me a smile that makes me nearly buckle, damn him. Maddox is on my other side, though, so I resist and try to be as unaffected as him.
“You can’t still be mad at us,” Lennox says, touching my elbow to recapture my attention.
“You mean because you ignore everything I say and refuse to stop trespassing in my backyard, so I can’t even use my own pool in peace?” I ask. “Or because you told everyone I was a pig and a rat who broke up your party? Nah, I’m not mad. It’s fine. Totally copacetic.”
Maddox just chuckles, the sound twisting down into my lower belly in a way that infuriates me even more.
I get to my class, but Lennox grabs my arm firmly and pulls me aside before I can go in. “I just wanted to let you know we’re planning an end-of-season party,” he says. “It’s getting colder, so this is probably the last chance to use the pool this year. We’ll help you drain it and cover it up for winter afterwards.”
“Are you crazy?” I demand. “You can’t have a party there.”
“Actually, we can,” he says. “We’ll help you clean up this time. Promise.” He pressed a hand to his heart, smiling so his dimples show, waves of dark hair tumbling over his forehead. God, it really is criminal to look that good.
Maddox clears his throat and gives me a cool look. “And if you fall down any more stairs after this one, we’ll take care of those, too.”
My heart stops. I look up at him, squeezing my hands into fists so he won’t see them shaking. They always come over when Lee’s at work, so he doesn’t even know they’re using the pool. I’ve gotten backhanded a few times since then, but nothing like the post-party ass kicking. The guys didn’t even see me those days, so there’s no way they could know.
Right?
“You’re going to fix the loose boards on the back steps?” I ask carefully, using the pain in my palm from my nails biting in to anchor me and keep me on an even keel.
“Sure, little girl,” Maddox says quietly, his gaze so intense it makes me squirm. “If that’s what we’re still going with.”
I swallow past the trembling mass of fear in my throat and stare at the wall behind him. “Thanks.”