“Is that the psycho you’re talking about?” Eureka asked Brooks. “Why don’t you protect me? Go kick her ass.”
Maya stopped at the door to the bathroom. She flicked her braid to the other side and looked over her shoulder at them. She made the bathroom look like the sexiest spot on earth. “Did you get my message, B?”
“Yeah.” Brooks nodded, but he didn’t seem interested. His gaze kept moving toward Eureka. Did he want to make Eureka jealous? It wasn’t working. Not really.
Maya blinked heavily, and when her eyes opened, they were on Eureka. She stared for a moment, sniffed, then slipped inside the bathroom. Eureka was watching her disappear when she heard a tearing sound.
Brooks had ripped the flyer. “You’re not going to this party.”
“Don’t be such a drama queen.” Eureka slammed her locker door and spun away—right toward Cat, who’d rounded the corner, hair wild and makeup smudged, like she’d just been interrupted in the Maze. But knowing Cat, she might have spent an hour perfecting that look this morning.
Brooks grabbed Eureka’s wrist. She twisted to glare at him ferociously, and it was nothing like wrestling when they were kids. Her eyes were exclamation points of anger. Neither of them spoke.
Slowly he let go of her wrist, but as she walked away he called, “Eureka, trust me. Don’t go to that party.”
Across the hall, Cat extended her elbow to Eureka, who slipped her arm through. “What’s he yapping about? Hopefully something lame, because the bell rings in two and I would much rather gossip about Madame Blavatsky’s latest email. Hot.” She fanned herself and dragged Eureka into the bathroom.
“Cat, wait.” Eureka looked around the bathroom. She didn’t have to kneel down and search to know Maya Cayce was in one of the stalls. Patchouli was pungent.
Cat plopped her purse on the sink and pulled out a tube of lipstick. “I just hope there’s a real sex scene in the next email. I hate books that are all foreplay. I mean, I love foreplay, but at some point, it’s, like, let’s play.” She glanced over at Eureka in the mirror. “What? You’re paying good money for this. Madame B needs to deliver the goods.”
Eureka was not going to talk about The Book of Love in front of Maya Cayce. “I didn’t … I couldn’t really read it.”
Cat squinted. “Dude, you’re missing out.”
A toilet flushed. A door lock clicked. Maya Cayce exited a stall, pushing between Eureka and Cat to stand before the mirror and touch up her long, dark hair.
“Do you want to borrow some of my bitch gloss, Maya?” Cat said, rummaging through her purse. “Oh, I forgot. You bought every tube of it in the world.”
Maya kept smoothing her braid.
“Don’t forget to wash your hands,” Cat chirped.
Maya turned on the tap and reached over Cat to get some soap. As she lathered her hands, she watched Eureka in the mirror. “I’m going to the party with him, not you.”
Eureka nearly choked. Was that why Brooks had told her not to go? “I have other plans anyway.” She was living in a bruise where everything hurt all the time, one pain exacerbating another.
Maya turned off the faucet, flicked her wet hands in Eureka’s direction, and left the bathroom like a dictator leaving a podium.
“What was that about?” Cat laughed when Maya Cayce was gone. “We are going to that party. I’ve already checked in on Foursquare.”
“Did you tell Brooks I saw Ander yesterday?”
Cat blinked. “No. I’ve barely talked to him.”
Eureka stared at Cat, who widened her eyes and shrugged. Cat stammered when she lied; Eureka knew that from years of them getting caught by their parents. But how else would Brooks have known she’d seen Ander?
“More importantly,” Cat said, “I will not let Maya Cayce psych you out of the best party of the year. I need my wing girl. Are we clear?” The bell rang and Cat moved toward the door, calling over her shoulder, “You have no say in the matter. We shall dress to attract the crows.”
“We’re supposed to scare the crows, Cat.”
Cat grinned. “So you can read.”
20