Misfits Like Us (Like Us #11)(75)

This was just something I did for a brother.

It’s not for Luna’s dad to like me.

I’ll never let it be that.

And I’m not letting him either. Even as much as this is killing Farrow, he’s going to respect my wishes, and we clasp hands and hug.

“I’m still here for you,” Farrow reminds me.

“I’m not goin’ anywhere,” I remind him. Not unless Lo wills it somehow. I try not to think about Colin and the photo from his kitchen. We pull back and I nod to him with a smirk that feels calm inside me. “You’re the wall and I’m glue. I’m always gonna be stuck on you.”

He rolls his eyes but smiles. “And that’s my cue.” He lifts two fingers in goodbye.

“See ya.” We go our separate ways. Him in the Hale House with his family, me to the SUV.

Waiting in the car, I blast eighties rock and bang on my steering wheel. It clears my head, and my phone buzzes with a notification.

Illyana_Dallas222: don’t know what you’re up to today, but I hope it’s awesome!





I smile more. It’s not so bad. I send her a new DM, telling her I hope the same is happening for her. Awesome shit, awesome day. All that.

When I check my activity feed, I zero in on one new status.

Illyana_Dallas222 is now following a fandom: We Are Calloway





The wind is almost knocked out of me. Means nothing. But I must’ve liked the fact that she didn’t follow We Are Calloway or else I wouldn’t feel this bummed out.

She seemed different than girls I’ve slept with, maybe that’s it.

Maybe I really thought this was the start of something better than picking up girls at bars. Maybe I believed this could turn out to be something more, and now it feels…

Ruined?

It’s not ruined. Even if she’s a new fan of the famous ones, it doesn’t mean anything. Quinn’s girlfriend is practically a super fan, and they seem serious.

I try to let it go while I unspool my mic from my radio. Attaching the mic clip to my collar, I also tuck my radio in my waistband and then fit in my earpiece.

Switching through the frequencies, I start hearing some chatter from Epsilon bodyguards. “We’re Oscar Mike in five. The girl squad are about finished with photos at the Cobalt Estate.”

“Are we following in a car?” another bodyguard asks.

“Affirmative. Luna Hale is driving the girls to Homecoming. She’s chaperoning the dance.”

I go still, almost thinking I misheard that.

My heart races, and I click my mic. “Can someone repeat that? I’m about five minutes from leaving the Hale House with Xander.”

Sinclair, Kinney’s bodyguard and also the Epsilon lead, snaps back, “Open your goddamn ears, Donnelly.”

I smile. “You wanna open them for me?”

Sinclair curses on the line, and I can’t stop grinning. Partially at him and mostly at the idea of seeing Luna tonight.

Finally, Winona’s bodyguard answers, “Luna is chaperoning the dance. She’ll be there.”

She’ll be there.

I lean back in my seat, trying to catch my breath. Wondering if this is what real Homecoming jitters feel like.





20





LUNA HALE





“You’re coming to spy on me,” Kinney whispers while sticking her head between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s.

I’m manning the wheel, and Frog is muttering into her radio mic and laughing under her breath, having some sort of secret bodyguard convo next to me.

Is Donnelly in her ear? A pang of jealousy clenches my heart.

“Admit it,” Kinney whispers, stealing my attention again. I think she’s worried that I might be a big buzzkill and cramp her vibe.

I’m reminded of Moffy spying on me at The Green Room. There to protect me. I have the smallest bulge for a bicep, so it’s hard to act like I’m an awesome pseudo-bodyguard for my fifteen-year-old sister. Can’t I look out for my brother and sister, though? Would that be so hard for her to believe?

“I’m not spying,” I whisper.

“Then why are you chaperoning?” Kinney asks, clipping on a black choker around her neck. She kinda looks like a goth princess with a lacey black dress, matching elbow-length gloves, combat boots, and black lipstick. She didn’t care much about the sea theme.

My palms sweat on the steering wheel.

Chatter from the backseat thankfully draws Kinney’s gaze to her friends. All three are squished together on the seat while Kinney is basically out of hers.

Audrey, Vada, and Winona are wearing short Homecoming dresses, styled hair, and splashes of makeup. According to Audrey, boys at school asked all three of them out, but when the girls saw a sad, dejected Kinney, they declined the dates and decided to go as a girl group instead.

They’ve been giggly and smiley the whole day. I was at the Cobalt Estate when they all took photos. Aunt Rose hired a professional photographer, and the girls were having a blast doing silly poses together.

I photo-bombed them from behind a potted plant, and then Winona insisted I take some pics with them as their chaperone.

“He said it’s later tonight,” Winona says, texting.