Jane twists and pulls the gold bangles on her wrist, her mouth twitching.
“He’s right,” says Justin. “I, for one, have always wanted to have my Prom pic taken with a monkey in a tux.”
“It might not be the end of the world to have the werewolves and vampires at Prom because everything else they have is worse,” says Laura.
Justin’s eyes widen and he slaps the table. “Hey, maybe once we get to Prom, we can steal the cutouts or something. We could decapitate them or hide ’em in Shandy’s locker.”
“Good idea, Conner,” says Brian, standing up and shoving his phone into his pocket. “As much fun as this is, I have things to do. Twilight Memories is fine. Dress the cutouts in boxer briefs for all I care. Everyone agreed?” He looks to Molly who is cross-armed and crinkly faced.
“Well, the color scheme is pretty complimentary so … fine. I guess,” she says.
Jane’s hand comes up. “Hang on. I don’t think we should just give up like this.”
“I’m in,” says Sean.
The rest of us nod.
Except Jane who glares at Kallie. “Obviously I don’t matter all of a sudden. So fuck it, do whatever you want.”
“Agreed,” says Brian. “It’s all set. Twilight Memories. I’m off to meet my boyfriend who’s home from college tonight. No more time for high school shit.”
“Call me tonight, Moll, or anyone else who cares about anything,” Jane slaps the table in front of Molly and sashays out of the room.
“Sure, I’ll call you.” Kallie laughs.
Molly stands, “She’s in a crap mood lately so we should go easy on her.”
“Thanks for the tip, Molly. I’ll see what I can do,” Kallie turns to Todd. “I told Bree I’d ride with her today, okay?”
I shrug. “Yep, let’s go.”
Sean squeezes my shoulder sending a warm flutter up my neck as we all part ways.
“Getting hot in here,” whispers Kallie as we walk to our locker. “Thanks for covering. I’m just tired and not in the mood for hanging out with anyone today.”
“So, I don’t count?” I smile. “Good to know.”
“You know what I mean. Ugh. Speaking of someone who doesn’t count. What the hell is she doing? She was such a bitch today. I’m going to say something.”
Jane’s down the hall by the library doors, hovering over someone, and talking all over the place with her hands.
Kallie flips her hair behind her shoulder and moves ahead of me.
“What are you gonna say?” I take long strides to keep up.
“I’m asking what her problem is with you and why she was being such a bitch in there.”
We get closer and Jane’s so engrossed in her bitching that she doesn’t see us to the left of the giant column near the library entrance.
Jane’s voice is almost pleading. “But there’s nothing I can do. It’s not my fault he’s trying to apologize.”
The other voice says, “Yeah, but he’s your—”
“Shut up,” Jane hisses. “Please. I’m not talking to him and I have nothing to do with any of it. I just need it to go away. He’s not part of my life anymore. At all. Ever.”
And a familiar voice with the same bite, “Please. You’re just worried about people finding out.”
Jane lowers her voice, “You’re not the only one it happened to, you know.”
Maisey Morgan looks past Jane’s shoulder and meets my eye. Jane spins around following her gaze.
“What the hell?” Jane’s face reads red hot horror as her fingers flare in and out of her palms.
“What the hell’s your problem?” Kallie shoves Jane in the shoulder. “You better not even be talking about my boyfriend.”
I grab Kallie’s wrist, squaring off in front of Jane. “You need to leave Maisey alone, she didn’t do anything.”
Maisey stares at Jane, tears in her eyes. “For the record, Janie, I never thought I was the only one, and that’s the worst part of all.” Maisey runs down the hall toward the main doors. She does a trip slash half stumble but keeps on going.
Jane steps forward. “Maisey!” She stops, takes a deep breath, and faces us. Her mouth is pulled into a tight line and her eyes look ready to release a serious stream of tears. She huffs. “Whatever. What a loser. That rat doesn’t even know what she’s talking about.”
Kallie tugs her wrist out of my grip and steps back up to Jane. “You’ve got some serious issues, Hulmes. You’ve been picking on Maisey since elementary school, grow up. Everyone’s tired of your shit. You need to stay out of our way, cause if you haven’t figured it out yet, no one actually likes you, they’re pretending. Just like you, with all your fake gold tiaras and pageant shit.”
“Screw you,” Jane says as she tries to walk past, but Kallie sticks out her boot.
“Easy there, Grand Supreme. Listen to me. If your name comes up in anymore rumors or if you try starting shit that has to do with me, Todd, Bree, or anyone—”
A librarian peeks her head out the door, “Ladies, keep it down, please.”
“Oh, get over yourself.” Jane shoves past Kallie, whipping me with her thick braid.
“Did she just bitch slap you with her hair?”
“Just let it go. I’m over it,” I say, actually relieved she’s gone.