Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(54)

“No shit,” I said.

“If you think for a second they’re not fucking anything that walks all the while flirting with you, you’re crazy,” Iris said.

“Thanks for that,” I said.

“That’s vicious,” Gi said.

“Am I wrong?” Iris asked.

I looked at Gi.

She shook her head. “No. You’re right.”

I stepped back out of the pool and turned.

Manwhores.

I hugged myself and couldn’t figure out why it bothered me so much.

They weren’t mine.

I wasn’t theirs.

We were just…

I looked back at Gi and Iris.

They were talking and laughing.

They were friends. Best friends. True friends.

And when this all came to an end, they would still be friends.

And I’d be gone again.

They’d probably tell me they’d text or whatever.

But I hadn’t heard from Ruby or Amelia in a while. Which just proved that distance and time were like an eraser in a way.

I walked from the pool through the side path that led to the beach.

I stood at the top of the beach and listened to waves crashing, catching the sight of white caps of waves hitting the shore only when the moonlight hit it the right way.

Alone, full of thoughts… ugh.

“Hey.”

Iris stepped up next to me.

“Hey,” I said.

“You know I’m a horrible bitch, right?”

“The worst.”

“The absolute worst,” Iris said.

I looked at her.

We both smiled.

“They aren’t nice guys,” Iris said.

“Who?”

“Who the hell do you think?”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

“Just hear me out, Ti. They are not nice guys. At all. Ever.”

“Then why…”

“Exactly,” Iris said. “The question is why. And it’ll always be that. They will want something. Or demand something. Or just flat out get something.”

“From me?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “From you.”

“That’s the thing, Iris, I have nothing to give,” I said. “I have no money. I don’t own anything. There’s no house. No car. No secret bank account. There’s no family. I don’t remember my father. My mother is in rehab. And if they think for a second they’re going to get something from Claire…” I shook my head. “She’s not even family to me. She was our landlady, Iris. She’s doing this as a favor. And if it came down to me or money, what do you think she’d choose?”

Iris nodded. “I know.”

“So what do they want?”

“I don’t know,” Iris said. “But you need to be careful with them. I get it. They’re fucking hot. They’re fucking gorgeous. Everything about them is so smooth and bad ass and whatever else your vagina tells your brain to think…”

I laughed. “Now you’re making me sound like a guy.”

“So? We may not have dicks that make us make bad decisions… we have something worse.”

“What?”

“Hearts,” Iris said. “It’s like our vaginas hurry to tell our mind what to think and do but stop at our heart to get that shit involved. At least with guys, they just swing their dick, forget they have a brain, and act stupid.”

“True,” I said. “So true.”

We both then just stared out to the ocean.

Iris gently touched my hand and then took it.

She squeezed it tight.

She leaned toward me. “Don’t worry, I won’t try kissing you or anything.”

“Okay. Good. My track record on turning down kisses is really bad right now.”

“Trust me, I don’t blame you there,” she said.

We stood there in silence again as my mind poured over a million thoughts. And of course my heart was involved… along with that other thing Iris mentioned.

But there was one question that stuck out.

When you have all the money you could ever have in the world… what would you want as some kind of payment?





seventeen





In my locker was a screwdriver.

Not jammed into the door of the locker, but just resting inside. Right where there always seemed to be something waiting from them. That’s what they were in my mind. Not the Rulz. Not the guys. Not even by their first names. Because I wasn’t sure which one, or was it all, of them were the ones who left stuff for me to find.

I stood there and stared at the screwdriver for a few seconds.

I casually looked over my shoulder and saw the spot where I had stabbed the wall with a screwdriver. Right through Blair’s stupid fucking invoice for her car.

There was no hole in the wall now.

Just a piece of paper hung up over the hole.

For a summer reading program.

How fun it was to read over the summer! Take a book to the beach! Read an eBook at the beach!

OMG! How fucking cool!

NOT.

I closed my locker and waited for Beth but she never showed.

I hadn’t seen her since the incident with Blair and Vicky.