“No reason to tell you anything like that. They’ll kick you out of their inner circle sooner or later. They did to Kat, and she only got back with them when we split.”
“Poppy, Wren and Reeve wouldn’t drop her.” I’d figured she’d once had other friends, and they’d been the ones to let her go.
“Not Reeve, but Poppy and Wren. She was hanging with me, and I was getting her into trouble. They thought she would drag them down.”
How dare they treat her that way!
Uh, you might have to drop her, too.
Oh, yeah. Guilt ate at me, a cancer without a cure.
“Ali,” Frosty began. “Listen. I—”
“Not now,” I interrupted. I had no idea what he planned to say, I just knew I couldn’t withstand another upset.
“All right. But later.”
“Later.” We parted ways, branching in different directions down the hall.
After surviving second and third blocks and making Ms. Meyers happy with my full attention, I found Kat in the cafeteria at her usual table. The others weren’t with her. She was spinning a green apple on the tabletop. Today she wore a tank top and a pair of skinny jeans. I must not have ever seen her in a tank before. For the first time I noticed the pucker of scars on the inside of her elbows.
Scars that reminded me of track marks.
No way Kat did drugs. Just no way. I’d never believe it.
Her skin was paler now than it had been over the weekend. Shadows formed half circles under her eyes, and her lips were chapped. I eased beside her. “Hey, you. How are you feeling?”
She gave a jolt of surprise, her hand fluttering over her heart. Then she smiled at me, that perfect, wily smile of hers that drew me in, welcomed me and always put me at ease. “A little tired. Frosty must have sucked the life out of me when he sucked on my tongue. That, or he infected me with a flesh-eating bacteria.”
“Gross!”
“No. Fun.” She traced a heart around the apple. “He’s passed me three notes today already, asking me to go out with him this weekend, and he’s even vowed to tattoo my name on his butt if I say yes.”
“Are you guys officially back together?”
“Hardly. He hasn’t suffered enough.”
I had a feeling she wasn’t as interested in his suffering as she was in protecting her heart. “So where are the girls?” I’d be nice, I decided. They’d wised up and gotten back into Kat’s good graces. That’s all that mattered.
“Reeve is with Bronx, is my guess.” She motioned to Cole’s table with a wave of her hand. “Notice he’s missing from their crew.”
“He could have gone home with Cole.” Because I seriously doubted Reeve’s dad had lifted the no-dating-slayers ban. “But…” I leaned in and whispered, “I saw them kissing at the party.”
“What?” she squealed, clapping excitedly. “And you’re just now telling me? I should hate you forever!”
“Sorry. I meant to.” I couldn’t tell her much, but I could tell her that. “Cole distracted me.”
“We’ll have to tease her mercilessly, of course.”
“Of course. I already warned her.”
“Did she look like she was enjoying it? Did he look like he knew what he was doing?”
“I only caught a glimpse.”
Kat locked on something, or someone, just beyond my shoulder and nibbled on her lower lip, excitement falling over her features like a curtain. “Here comes Reeve. No Bronx. The other girls are with her.”
The moment they sat down, their bags dropping to the floor, their food being spread out over the table, Kat was squirming in her seat, the secret clearly too much for her to contain.
“Where have you guys been?” I asked.
Reeve wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. “Nowhere.”
“Chasing after Bronx,” Poppy said with a toss of her red hair, at the same time Wren said, “Having her heart torn to shreds. Now will someone please tell me what’s so special about the losers at this school? Or why all my friends chase after them, knowing their futures will be compromised?”
“Will you please tell me why you’re so annoying sometimes?” Kat settled down, her excitement draining. “What’d he do, Reeve?”
Wren humphed.
“He found out I was going out with John, threw a fit, led me on and then told me to get lost, that’s what.” She tossed a bag on the tabletop and dug through the contents until she found a candy bar. “I don’t understand him.”
At least he’d spoken to her.
“Boys,” Poppy grumbled.
Having troubles of her own? “Have you picked a candidate for your attention yet?” I asked, recalling how she liked to wait a few weeks to check out the entire sea. See? I could be nice.
Wren buffed her nails, still clearly upset with Kat. “She has, and she was turned down flat.”
“I was not! I haven’t given anyone a chance to turn me down. You’re the one who got dumped.”
“For the last time, I dumped him.”