I rolled my eyes at his last comment. "Of course, she's the slutty one, not you."
"Hey now, I never said I was a perfect angel. Hopefully, she learned her lesson to assume guys want a relationship. Plus, I got mine, don't worry. Cora ratted my ass out to my aunt who then made me come over so she could give me some moralizing speech. So I now try to steer clear of pissing off my cousin's evil girlfriend. That little shit is vicious when she's mad. As for your second question, Piper is not my girlfriend, like I told you yesterday during Health."
"Fine," I moaned. "Friends with benefits, fuck buddies or whatever you guys call yourselves," I lifted my hand up and waved in a "who cares" gesture.
We pulled into the parking lot. "Sorry babe, but Piper is no friend of mine. Her and I, let's just say we have an agreement."
"An agreement," I repeated. "So what? You give her a ride to school then she rides you later type of agreement?" I asked, turning to unbuckle my seatbelt.
His shoulders shrugged. "Not necessarily in that order, but it works. Would you like to try it?"
I scoffed. The nerve of this jackass. "Heck no. I'll pass on that and I think you forgot to pick up your little sex arrangement this morning."
"I told her to drive herself. If I take you to school, I won’t take Piper. She was being a bitch to you for no reason yesterday and I didn't like it." I looked away from his gaze, opened the door and got out without looking behind at him still in the car. Curiosity itched at my brain. Why would he even care if Princess Piper was a bitch to me or not?
SO FAR, I had survived Atlanta for two full weeks. I could already feel the light change shifting in me. Sure, I still noticed the eyes watching me as I walked down the hall but it was for a different reason now. In Indiana, I was the new girl whose boyfriend got murdered. In Atlanta, I was just the new girl. Nothing more, nothing less.
Keegan had become my daily ride back and forth to school. Every morning, he greeted me with my new favorite drinks sans Piper. Our conversations were normally limited to school or upcoming plans for the weekend. Well, his upcoming plans since I never did anything. Ever. I had steered clear from participating in any social events since I'd gotten here, opting to spend my time hanging out in my bedroom. I did bring up the idea of getting a job to my aunt and uncle, but they shook their heads, telling me it wasn't needed. After insisting I wanted to do something to reciprocate for all they were doing, we decided I would watch Sophia a few days a week for them. So that had become my life. School, my room and Sophia.
“Daisy,” Cora said, peering at me from across the lunch table. "Lane is having his legendary Halloween party this weekend and your attendance is mandatory." She clasped her tiny hands together and I unwrapped my sandwich. "I will not take no or any other excuse I know you're trying to conjure up in that pretty little head of yours for an answer."
I bit into my sandwich, taking an extra large bite to bide me some extra time before mumbling some bullcrap excuse. I hadn't been to a party since the weekend before Tanner died. The memory of that day would forever burn into my brain. Tessa and he were having their annual pool party at their house while their parents were away visiting their aunt in Texas. Tessa and I had "borrowed" her parent’s rum, mixing it with pineapple juice. We had declared that our favorite drink during freshman year and drank it at every party since then. I remembered how Tanner's eyes never left me, watching me dance around the pool to old school Britney in my bikini. See, I used to be fun.
After finishing off the bottle, I made it my mission to give him an awesome lap dance, but drunkenly failed. He was appreciative of my efforts, though, because he flipped me over his shoulder, smacked my ass and yelled that he was going to marry me to the entire party. He carried my drunken butt away from the party, to his room, where we spent the rest of the night together.
Gulping, I lifted my bottle of water to my lips to wash down my sandwich. "Yeah um," I struggled for the right words. "I'm just not into parties." I played with the plastic bottle in my hands, moving it back and forth.
“Daisy, girl, you’re coming,” Lane chimed in. “You’ve been here for two weeks and have opted out of everything we've invited you too. I'm beginning to think you really don't like us." He folded his hand across his heart, feigning a frown. He was right. The three had been constantly inviting me to Cora’s tennis matches, Lane’s football games and different parties, but I always declined. “Plus,” he added, turning the frown upside down; “it will make Cora happy if you go. When Cora is happy, I’m happy.”