Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(63)

Iris rolled her eyes. “You can tell someone needs a little fun, huh?”

“That’s your fault,” Gi said as she grabbed a pillow and threw it at Iris.

“My fault?” Iris asked.

“Yeah. I was there for a reason. But you went and got stupid and I had to keep you out of trouble.”

“Oh, please,” Iris said.

“You wanted to fuck Denny,” Gi said.

“What?” I asked.

“No,” Iris said.

“Yeah,” Gi said. “You asked him if his cast was waterproof. And it had nothing to do with swimming in the pool or ocean.”

“You wanted him to swim in your ocean,” I said.

“If Gi says so,” Iris said. “I don’t remember it.”

“What did Beth say?” I asked.

“Screw that bitch,” Iris said. “Come on, let’s get some coffee.”

I stepped back and thought about even more now.

Of course Beth was in a bad mood. She obviously liked Denny. And because Denny playfully flirted with me he got his hand broken. And there was some kind of bad blood between her, Iris and Gi. And then Iris got drunk and wanted to fool around with Denny. All the while Beth had been trying to find me.

“You coming or taking a nap here?” Iris asked.

“I would not sleep in those sheets,” Gi said.

“Nothing happened in my bed,” Iris said.

“I’m not talking about that,” Gi said. “You left a mess in the bathroom. I don’t even want to know what you did in the bed when you were sleeping.”

“Gross,” Iris said.

“Hey,” I said. “I need to get out of here for a little bit.”

“Out of here?” Gi asked.

“I’m going to take a ride.”

“Road trip,” Iris said. “Let me get some pants on.”

“Not the first time you’ve said that,” Gi said.

“Oh, you’re so funny,” Iris said.

“No,” I said. “I’m actually going to go back to my old town. My old place. Just to check up on things.”

They both froze and stared at me.

“Why?” Iris asked.

“No matter what happens here, that’s where I’m going to end up again,” I said.

“So why rush back there?” Gi asked.

“There’s just a couple of people there I need to see,” I said. “I’ll text you later. Okay?”

I raced toward the door.

I left the bedroom without a real goodbye.

I thought about the puke in the sink. And everything else…

They were rich.

I was poor.

Nothing was going to change that.

When my mother would get wasted and throw up, I was the one cleaning it out of the sink. Off the floor. Washing it down the tub drain. Scrubbing the toilet.

I was on the opposite end of the world compared to everyone at BFH.

And I needed to see my true friends again.





Nobody answered their phone.

Of course they didn’t.

They were probably in class.

Even still, Ruby and Amelia lived on their phones. Just like I did too. We all mastered how to use our phones in class without getting caught. Or we’d just fake period cramps and meet in the bathroom to hang out.

I missed those bathrooms.

With the cracked tiles and the crusted looking rust around the faucets and handles. Knowing nobody in their right mind could or would ever use the third stall. Ever.

The window that was always open, at the top of the wall, looking weird.

The bathroom was always full of smoke.

It always smelled like cigarettes and sweet pea body spray.

Just driving through those streets again brought tears to my eyes.

Of course I had to stop and see the apartment.

Here I was driving a SUV worth more than the entire building, backing into a parking spot using the fucking camera on the giant screen on the dashboard.

And I just sat there and stared at the building.

I still had the key.

I had it with me too.

I could have gone in there.

But I couldn’t imagine what it would look like or smell like.

Or maybe the key wouldn’t work at all.

I wasn’t even sure if it was still our apartment or not.

There was no way in hell Mom was paying rent. She didn’t have a job. The only way the apartment would still be ours was if Claire was forking over the money. Which to her would be nothing. Amazing how hard I scrambled to make what I could to offer for rent and bills just to barely get by. And yet that amount to Claire was probably like finding a few quarters on the street.

It made me grip the steering wheel tight.

I wanted to scream. And cry.

I wanted to know more about everything Claire had said. About watching me when I was a baby. Which I really didn’t remember. And about her comments how she wished she could have just taken me and raised me.

Why didn’t she then? She had so much money… why didn’t she just offer Mom money?

I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.

I was mad at myself for even thinking that.

Selling myself? Wanting to be sold? Like I was an avocado sitting in a box in the grocery store.