Page 16 of Spin the Damn Bottle

I do as I'm told, and the car starts again. We remain in complete silence for all of three seconds, then Manon starts chatting, presumably resuming the conversation going on before my arrival. "So, Monique's with Laura, you know.”

I don’t know, but I don’t interrupt.

“And Laura's been into Benjamin Lawrence forever. Monique asked Benny boy if he'd like a threesome with both of them for Laura's birthday. Except Benjamin basically only fucked Monique, and now Laura's pissed at basically both of them. She's trying to fuck Rowan, because she knows he's Monique's wet dream."

I don't have a clue who Laura, Monique, or Benjamin Lawrence are, but the way Manon talks about sex, so perfunctorily, reminds me what company I’m in.

I’m certain Willow, Elisa, and Alexander don’t chat about threesomes like it’s a walk on the beach on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

"Rowan, as in Rowan White?" Melina laughs. "Good luck to her. He'll never go for a freshman."

I'd be a hypocrite by turning my nose up at the notion of unusual sexual preferences, but imagining freshmen in a threesome is somewhat disturbing to me. I hadn’t even kissed a guy at that age. When I look at freshmen these days, they’re basically babies to me.

None of the women in the car seem to share my opinion.

"A little makeup, a push-up bra, and she could manage it, if he's drunk enough." Yuki smirks. "I've done worse at fifteen."

I grimace in distaste but don't comment one way or another. "Thanks for the lift," I say, to be polite.

I'm looking at Melina, but Yuki replies, “You're welcome.”

Shit, this is her car?

“After all, I hear we're neighbors now.” She might be smiling, but her cool glare gives me the creeps. “How did that happen, by the way?”

Three pairs of eyes focus on me. They want an explanation, and I don't have one at the ready. I'm certainly not about to mention Jason in front of Yuki. He's the one who arranged for me to move to Glass, but if I say so, so many questions would follow to which I don't have satisfactory answers.

“It’s because of the fire. They’re renovating, and I think they didn’t have a room for me in the main dorm.”

Thankfully, the car's stopped in front of the humongous modern lake house, so I open the door and exit the vehicle before they question my stupid-ass lie.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I'm the first to exit the car in front of the lake house. Steps away from the entrance, I hesitate, not even sure how I'm supposed to walk in. Maybe I should have stopped by the faculty building first, so that someone could show me inside.

The three legacies bypass me and advance toward the double doors.

The lake house, as its sobriquetsuggests, is a designer mansion entirely made of reflective glass in different shades, except for the upper floor. It's impossible to see that high up from the ground, but I think the fifth floor looks like it’s made of regular glass, where the inside might be visible from out here.

This building, shaped like irregular waves, is the one place most of the students have never seen the inside of on the school campus. Myself included.

There are bonfires at the lakeside some weekends, and the legacies often throw after-parties in Glass. They invite some students from the regular dorms, but I never made the cut. Their selection extended to popular people like Brooke or some of the star athletes. I wasn’t among the worthy until Jace noticed me. My first invite was the night of the fire, and despite my initial reluctance, I would have shown up, had I not ended up at the hospital.

Yuki waves her hand to the entrance, and punches in a code on a device at the side before the doors swing on their axes.

Manon follows her in, but Melina stops to look back at me."Aren’t you coming?"

"I don't have a key card yet." Jason did talk about a key card this morning, right?

She tilts her head. "Come on in, it's cold. You can wait for whoever will show you around in a game room."

"There's a game room?"

She grins from ear to ear. "Several, actually."

* * *

I don't know why I expected this place to look gaudy. The legacies wouldn't do gaudy if it was the only way to save humanity. They'd gladly die to preserve stylishness.