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Istare at Fleur’s back in confusion. Was it something I said? I look around for Sadie so she can explain this to me, but she’s not here. I glare at the house. She’s inside with the Chosen One.
Family is a weird thing. There’s the family you’re born into and then the family you end up with. My family right now is the latter. I have a real dad who is basically a stranger to me, the dad who raised me, my mom, my not-bio sister whom I adore, and my bio cousin, who I’d like to throw into a lake and drown.
Sadie, the not-bio sister, took one look at my bio cousin and decided he was the only one for her, and since then all she’s done is follow him around like a lost puppy. I don’t get it.
“Do you want me to get you a new shirt?”
I swivel toward the female voice and clock a blonde. What’s her name? I can’t recall. Some flower I think. Violet? Lily? Rose? The last one sounds right. “Why are you still here?”
Her mouth turns down at the corners. “You said not to leave.”
I cock my head in confusion. “The hell? I said—” I break off, realizing what had just happened. Both these girls thought I meant Fleur should leave, not Rose, and the misunderstanding is why the blond girl is standing next to me and I’m watching Fleur’s hot ass disappear into the horizon.
Look at me deciphering social cues all on my own. Guess I don’t need my traitor sister after all. I tip my chin toward Rose and start to book it after Fleur, but by the time I arrive at the front of the house, the girl is already gone.
I send Smurf, the captain of the football team, a text.
Fleur digits
Not even a hello? How ya doin just raw doggin’ the chat?
If you don’t have it just say that
Man hold on there’s no number i don’t have but Fleur? There are easier, nicer, friendlier did I mention easier girls out there? Take Rose
Rose the typa girl to dump you if you got cut from the football team
Well yes but you’re not getting cut so it’s all good
I’ve more selfrespect and more game than to have to settle for someone like that
Ok ok i hear ya but Fleur? Like there’s a middle ground between Rose and Fleur. F’s got a wicked tongue and it’s not one she uses to make anyone feel good for real not even sure if she likes guys
I think of the spark in her eyes when she insults me and the kind expression she has when she talks to Sadie.
I’ll worry about that
Fine your funeral or lonely bed heh it’s a good metaphor right? Going to use that in my eng lit class and get Ms. Funnel’s panties wet
Smurf talks about Ms. Funnel more than he does about football. Sincerely hope he gets at least a little something from the good teach before high school ends. I’m worried that if he doesn’t, he might be a virgin for the rest of his life. I sign off with a salute emoji and wait for Smurf to send me Fleur’s number. Good to his word, the ten digits appear on my screen less than a minute later.
I text it immediately.
The you should go was not meant for you
Instead of an immediate response like I’m used to, the phone screen is dead. I shake the device thinking that maybe it’s broken, but no, there’s no reply. There aren’t even the three dots to indicate that she’s in the process of texting me back. I frown. This isn’t how things go for me.
I blame this on the Chosen One. Ever since I moved to this town and found out about him, he’s been a thorn in my side. Like instead of living in my own house in town with Sadie and my parents, I’m living in this glorified McMansion on the edge of town away from civilization. Dad—my not-bio one that raised me for seventeen years—says that it’s all about the land, but I really could care less. Everything requires a car around here and takes twenty minutes to get to. I like to be around lights and noise and places to eat.
I need to get out of here.
Twenty-five minutes later and one lengthy text exchange with Smurf where I threaten to end him by cutting off his dick and pasting it unicorn-style onto his helmet, I’m sitting outside of Fleur’s apartment complex. It’s one of those walk-up ones with the stairs on the outside and no entry doorman. Looks unsafe. I’m not a fan.
That said, it’s way easier for me to access her place. It’s on the third floor. No wonder she’s fit if she has to climb these steps a couple times every day. I knock hard. No one answers. I ring the doorbell. Twice. Still nothing.
Is it possible she’s not home?
I wonder where she would go. I don’t know much about her. Not where she hangs out, what she likes to eat or who her friends are. I just know she has a sharp tongue and that whenever I’m around her, she’s got flint in her eye like she wants to fight—or fuck. Either one turns me on. If I have to survive in this new town, in this new school, on a new football team, I should be allowed one treat, and I’ve decided that it’s going to be Fleur. I like her, and what I like, I get.
