Pretty Reckless (All Saints High #1)(55)

Someone smacks my window, and I roll it down without even checking who it is. Knight, Vaughn, and Luna stare back at me.

“It looked like you were having an intense moment with your pussy.” Knight snaps the shoulder straps of his Louis Vuitton Supreme backpack with his thumbs, popping his gum. “Just wondered if your vagina makes more sense than you do.”

“I wasn’t talking to my vagina.” I narrow my eyes at him, wiping at them in case there’s a mist.

Knight laughs. “I swear to God, Followhill. You’re fun-sized, but that’s the only thing fun about your ass.”

Vaughn parks his elbows on my open window and shoves his entire head inside.

“Word is Penn’s sister’s in town.”

“How do you know?”

“Bailey told Lev, who told Knight, who told…” Vaughn looks skyward and frowns, mockingly doing the math with his fingers. “The entire Northern Hemisphere.”

“Spencer’s exaggerating, as per usual.” Knight hooks his arm over Luna’s shoulder, planting a kiss on her forehead. “I only told the team. And just because she’s Penn’s sister, and I wanted to cement the fact that she lives here, but he is still with his piece of crap stepdad. Get everyone’s story straight.”

“Why are you protecting Penn?” I frown. Knight is about as charitable as a used diaper. He blinks at me, his expression genuine.

“Because no one else does.”

Luna takes a step toward me and slants her head sideways. She doesn’t speak actual words, but this is her way of asking if I’m okay. I roll my eyes.

“I’m fine, Luna. I can handle it.”

“Anyway.” Vaughn spits on the ground, grabbing his helmet and sauntering over to his bike. “Watch your back. Your name’s hot, what with all the Prichard rumors. Don’t let this chick get her hands on the juicy stuff.”

My blood runs cold in my veins all of a sudden. Shit. I haven’t even thought of that. But my black book stays with me. At all times. It’s in my backpack now.

Three minutes later, I start the car and open a text message to Daddy to tell Mel to tell Via to get her ass in the car before I get my first tardy slip for the school year. Call me Petty McPetterson, but after the latest string of treacheries, addressing Melody directly is off the table. Just before I hit send, the passenger door opens and Via slides in. She is wearing one of my favorite outfits. A gray floral print maxi dress from Neiman Marcus. A far cry from the potato sack she wore yesterday.

Awaiting explanation, I eye her, long and thoroughly.

You will not lose your shit, Daria. Especially as her twin brother just deflowered you and hinted at you going steady.

“Oh, this?” She runs a hand over the dress. “Melody told me to pick anything I wanted.”

I’m surprised she can cram so much venom into one sentence. That ought to be some kind of Guinness World Record. I run a hand over my braid.

“Next time, pick something you can pull off. Ready to roll?”

She scans my body, and I instinctively suck my stomach in. She is still much skinnier and taller than me.

“You obviously are.”

I will kill you dead, bitch. You’re going to be as relevant as the Spice Girls in my school.

I kick my car and brain into drive. Via has not changed in the past four years. She is not sweet or shy and timid. She is just pretending to be those things to get in my parents’, sister’s, and her brother’s good graces. Now I have to figure out what her angle is, and how far her real persona is from her fake one. Luckily, I have a lot of experience when it comes to fakeness. My personality is basically one hundred percent recyclable plastic. The only person who can still scrape a bit of authenticity from me is her brother.

“Did you and Penn have a good time catching up?” I signal right with my blinker as we zoom past Tudor mansions and sprawling Spanish villas.

“The best.” She flicks the overhead mirror open, fluffing her hair, and I catch a glimpse of her palm. It’s been cut open, and there’s a line of dry blood.

My gut clenches.

“He is so protective and loving.” She digs inside my old backpack, taking out a makeup kit that looks familiar. Because it is also mine. I bite my inner cheek.

“How sweet,” I say distractedly, wanting to throw up as panic washes over me. I gave him my virginity. Hell, I gave him much more. She is vindictive and mad and hungry for attention and love. She has every reason to want to ruin me.

She can’t know about the Royal Academy letter.

“It’d be good to hang out with him, you know? And with Kannon and Camilo and Adriana. Oh, my God. She’s probably so gorgeous nowadays. Penn always had it hard for her.”

I smile, breathing through my nose. Her taunt is spot-on, but I doubt she knows about her brother and me. Penn is more secretive than the CIA. He’d never volunteer any information about us.

Or would he?

He hid his sister’s arrival from me, so maybe he is hiding more stuff.

“You can always check on her. Your glamorous BFF works at Lenny’s.” I pop my gum. “And could use laying off the foundation and purple eyeshadow.”

Each word feels like a knife gliding on my tongue. Already in troubled water with my mother, neck-deep into my arrangement with Principal Prichard, and drowning while trying to keep my status as queen bee, I can’t afford to open any more fronts. But Via is practically begging for a battle, so it’s my duty to show her the weapon under my cowboy jacket, so to speak.