I laughed out loud. “Dude. You came in here and basically took over the school. You could get any girl you want.” Dropping my voice, I continued, “Including Astrid Covington. Why are you hitting on desperate internet chicks?”
Preston glanced down the table at Astrid, who was busy giving her pom-pom minions a lecture on the importance of eyebrow plucking. “Astrid is made of plastic,” he said. “And anyway, it wasn’t like that. I met this girl playing online poker, not whoring around a dating app. She seems cool, so I want to meet her.”
“Are you even sure she’s a chick? Maybe you’ve been playing poker with some dirty old man.”
“I’ve talked to her on the phone, Maximus. It’s no big deal.”
I craned my neck to get a glimpse of the phone in his lap. “I know you got a picture on there. Let me see her.” Just then I heard Parvati’s distinctive bell-like laugh over the dull roar of cafeteria conversations. I turned in the direction of the noise. She had finished talking to the sophomores and was standing in line at the cash register with her usual tray of wilted spinach and soy milk. The guy in front of her said something and Parvati laughed again.
Preston followed my gaze. “She really has you whipped, doesn’t she?” he asked abruptly.
“What? I—” It had been over a month since the fake party at Preston’s house, but things between Pres and Parvati still seemed a little tense. I didn’t want to say anything that would make the weirdness worse. I watched her bat her eyelashes at the elderly cashier, who in turn flushed red and dropped the change all over the counter. “It’s not like that . . .” I trailed off, because it kind of was. We both knew it.
A smile quirked at Preston’s lips. “Do you think she’s all in lurve with you too?”
“No idea.” I knew she was into me, but Parvati wasn’t exactly romantic. “Why? Did she say something?”
“No.” The fluorescent light reflected off Pres’s polo shirt, making his blue eyes look almost gray. “But even if she did, it’s not like you could believe her.”
“Come on. She doesn’t lie to us.” Just everybody else.
Preston slipped his phone into his pocket. “You don’t think so?”
Damn it. I bet he did have a thing for Parvati. Maybe she called him out on it the night of his “party,” so he hooked up with some online girl to feel better. That would explain everything. Parvati and I never should have had sex at his house. Maybe you never should have started dating her, if you thought he liked her first.
No. Not fair. He knew her first. He had his chance.
I sucked down a gulp of soda. “So what’s this mystery woman’s name?” I asked, eager to change the subject.
“Violet.”
“Sounds hot.” I raised an eyebrow. “She’s not some lonely stripper, is she?”
Preston grinned. “God, I hope so.” He cast a look back over his shoulder. Parvati was grabbing napkins from the condiments station. “So you’ll do it?” he asked quickly. “Just between us? I figure the fewer people who know, the safer it’ll be.” His jaw tightened. “Sometimes I feel like you’re the only one I can really trust.”
I nodded, but it wasn’t like Parvati would rat him out. Pres just didn’t want her to think he’d gone all rebound with some fugly internet girl.
“I’ll tell my parents we’re going to camp out at the beach this Saturday,” he continued. “I’ll meet you there and even help you set up the tent if you want. Once it’s dark I’ll sneak off.”
“Wow, that’s really going all out,” I said. “Do you want to bring the boards and actually catch a few waves before you go?”
“Nah, we’ll have enough stuff as it is. Besides, the water gets cold at night, and the current can be a bitch.” His face tightened as he said this, as if he was remembering some past fight he’d had with the ocean.
I had only seen him struggle once: during his second surfing lesson. Against my advice, he went after something a little too epic, wiped out, and almost drowned.
I was on the beach at the time. I saw the surfboard shoot out from beneath Pres’s feet and watched him plummet into the water. He was no dummy—he made for the shore immediately. But he couldn’t escape the series of waves that crashed over him, slamming his body around like a washing machine and pushing him toward the ocean floor.
I left my board on the beach and raced into the surf, swimming deep beneath the surface to avoid the churning waves. I managed to get a grip on one of Pres’s ankles and pull him out of the impact zone, but not without nearly getting in trouble myself. Panic had apparently set in, and Preston fought me as I tried to rescue him. We’re lucky he didn’t drown us both.
Later, as we knelt in the wet sand, gasping for breath and coughing up seawater, I realized he’d split my lip out in the surf.
“Sorry, Max.” He pulled his rash guard over his head and held it to my mouth to stanch the bleeding. “I’ve never felt like that before—I guess I lost it a little.”
“Felt like what?”
“Like I was really going to die.” Preston looked back at the ocean for a moment, at the two pieces of his broken board still bobbing on the waves. Then he turned toward the parking area. “I owe you one.”
“No worries. Life-saving is included in the lesson fee,” I joked.
We never talked about that day again, but it felt like the moment I stopped being Preston’s surf instructor and started being his friend.
SIX
December 3rd
WHEN THE WEEKEND ROLLED AROUND, I did my usual detention and then met up with Parvati and took her to the overlook.
“What are you doing tonight?” she asked as I pulled the car into the lot.
I paused for a second, not wanting to lie to her, but not wanting to betray Pres’s trust either. “Camping,” I said finally, parking close enough to the edge of the cliff that we could look out over the churning water. “On the beach. I’m meeting up with Pres.”
“Cool.” She nestled her head under my chin. She smelled different. Like cinnamon. Maybe she was using a new shampoo. “Ouch.” She pulled her face away and I could see the beginnings of a shark’s tooth indent on her cheek.
I tugged the pendant over my head and tossed it into the center console. “Sorry.” I stroked her cheek with one hand, but she didn’t respond. I was kind of surprised she hadn’t started groping me yet. If there was one thing I could normally count on, it was that Parvati would make the first move. “You okay?”
“Why? Because I haven’t pounced on you?”
Did I mention she was a mind reader? Just one more CIA-worthy skill.
She tilted her head up so she could look at me. “Maybe I’m bored.” Her lips twitched. I knew she was messing with me.
“You saying you’re not into me anymore?” I gave her my best pathetic look. “I figured it was too good to last.”
She smiled—not the slanted lips she gave people at school, a real smile that made her eyes get a little crinkly. “Do you know why I like you, Max Cantrell?”