A Whole New Crowd(41)

Devon hung his head and folded his arms on his lap.
I stepped forward and kicked the bottom of the couch. He glanced up, and I gestured to his pants. “The least you could do is zip it up.”
His face flushed in embarrassment, and he fastened his pants.
Mandy’s eyes were wild. She seemed focused only on Jennica. “You’re so second class. You’re a second class friend. You’re not even his girlfriend. You’re second class in everything, even in school. I’m first. You’re second.”
Jennica’s eyes flashed in anger, and she shot to her feet. Her pants slipped down, showing a white lacy thong, but she didn’t care. “I’m not second. Not with him.” She swung her hand back and pointed at Devon. He shifted down on the couch, but she didn’t care. Neither of the girls did. Jennica added, “You’ve had him forever, but he’s been mine. He was always really mine, Mandy, not yours. How does that make you feel?”
“Horrible,” Mandy yelled back in her face. “It makes me feel horrible. I loved him. I loved him with everything I had, and I still do.”
“Mandy.” Devon started to stand.
I pushed him down.
She kept going, her voice hoarse, “He’s been with me since seventh grade. I thought he was my best friend. I thought you were both my best friends. My life fell apart a week ago and because of you two. So when you ask how that makes me feel, I’m going to answer you. It hurts like hell. You hurt me, Jen. You were supposed to be my friend and you weren’t. I’m not ashamed of what you did to me.”
My heart swelled with pride.
She said, “I’ll never be ashamed of being hurt by two people I loved. I was the hurt one and maybe I’m a fool. I thought maybe…” she trailed off, lingering on Devon for a moment. Yearning mixed with sadness flared in her eyes, but her jaw hardened. She turned back to her friend. “I’m hurt by what you did and no matter how you try to spin it, I’m not the bad guy. You were supposed to be my friend and you weren’t. That’s the truth.”
There was silence as she finished. Jennica looked away, her eyes cast down. Mandy might’ve gotten through to her. But when she looked back up, her jaw had hardened, and her mouth was strained. I sighed and stepped forward. “Stop.” Jennica’s top lip curved in a snarl. She was going to start on me instead, but I shook my head. “She won just now. You know it so accept it and walk away. Give her time, stay away from this guy,” I pointed to Devon, “and apologize when you finally accept how low of a friend you are. She’ll take you back because she’s a good friend. She’s a better friend to you than you deserve.”
The snarl left, her anger faded, and a look of defeat came over her. By the time I was done, a tear had formed, and she flicked it away.
The crowd had started to lessen. This wasn’t the chick fight they had been hoping for. It was just an emotional scene where a girl lost two people she still cared about.
It was then that I realized why I was disappointed with Brian downstairs. He was doing what I kept telling him to do and the less he fought, the more he was letting me go. It was the hardest thing to deal with, actually letting go. As Mandy began crying and Jennica couldn’t stop her own, my own tears appeared. They weren’t falling, but I felt them.
Dylan came forward and took Mandy. He told me, “I’ll bring her home later.”
I nodded.
After they left, Jennica started to say, “It’s not—”
“Shut up.” My words were harsh, but my tone was thick with emotion. I shook my head. “Look at what happened just now. You lost a friend.” I nodded at Devon. “He won’t stay with you and you know it. He’s going to try and get her back and where will that leave you?”
The blood drained from her face.
I finished, “Alone.”
“I have friends.”
“Who are friends like you. Do you really want those people as friends?”
Tray came through the crowd at that moment. He scanned over everyone and touched my arm. “Taryn, let’s go.”
“Tray.” Jennica turned to him. Her eyes were big and pleading.
He shook his head. “Don’t, Jen.”
“Tray?” Devon had stood, frowning.
Tray didn’t answer. He took my arm and led me away from them. As we left, this was the final nail in their coffin; their leader didn’t want to associate with them. He took me back through the house and around the pool. A small house was on the other side and we went inside.
I glanced around. It was a small oasis from the crowd outside.
“Come on.” He took my hand and led me to a room on the second floor. A king-sized bed was in the middle with a couch beside it. A large television was in the corner.