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On top of the small grey lid is a red velvet cupcake, topped off with a little heart.
*
After the final bell I head to my locker to grab my jacket and I shrug it on in a pink love-heart daze. The thought of going into Tate’s house is giving me butterflies. Before final period had even ended I saw him and Madden leaving the school grounds which made me feel like maybe he was excited too. Maybe he’s making sure that he gets home before me so that everything is just right. I watched them out of the classroom window until they disappeared from view completely.
I close my locker door but I gasp once it’s shut. I take in the sly face next to me and try to calm my breathing.
“HeyRiver,” he says patronisingly, eyes narrowed into slits. His mouth is curved into a smile, but it looks more like a snarl to me.
I swallow and fumble the key out of the locker door.
“Um, hi,” I say quickly. I don’t want to talk to him. It’s Huddy, Tate’s friend with the dirty blond hair. He jabs his hand into my arm, trying to get me to shake it.
“We haven’t been properly introduced,” he continues. “Seems a bit selfish of Tate if you ask me. You wouldn’t happen to know what he’s doing after school today, would you?”
My eyes widen in shock and he sneers knowingly. When I don’t take his hand he grabs mine and squeezes it hard. I feel like my blood is going to be crushed out of my skin.
“Has Tate told you who I am?” he asks, our hands still compacted together.
I tilt my chin up. “Yes,” I say. “You’re Huddy.”
His face splits into a wide grin. “Of course he’d say that,” he laughs. He swipes his tongue out over his bottom lip and he givesme a once over. Then he leans forward and says with relish, “I think you’ll find that my name isHudson.”
I force my hand out of his and I frown nervously into his smug face.
I get it. His name is Hudson. My name is River. Whatever.
He folds his arms over his chest. “I’m not surprised that he didn’t tell you. I wonder what other things he hasn’t told you.” He cocks his head in a way that makes my heartbeat thump dangerously. Whatever it is that he’s insinuating I don’t like it. He coughs loudly, dismissing his digression for the moment, and he continues, “But what is so special aboutyouanyway?”
I’m wondering the same thing about him.Why would Hudson be one of Tate’s best friends?
“You’re just a goody-two-shoes nerd bitch who doesn’t even own a pair of straightening irons,” he says bitterly and then he yanks his fingers through a knot in my hair. I gasp at the sting in my scalp and then I clamp my mouth shut. “What the hell does he even do with you?”
He takes one pace forward and I step back on instinct. His eyes flare with the rejection and I swear his neck flushes red. He fishes something out of his pocket and flicks it at my chest. It hits off my jacket and lands on the floor, but I don’t take my eyes off him to look at it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get to know you soon enough,” he says, his voice low and menacing. Then he turns on his heel and swaggers down the corridor.
I look down at the floor and instantly jolt backwards in distress.
The item that he threw at me was a condom.
Chapter 13
Present
“I think that we out-emoed ourselves with this one.”
Kit swirls the ladle through the vat of red fruit punch, scooping up some of the skull-shaped ice cubes and then plopping them back in. A slew of punch droplets splash across the front of her white school shirt, making it look like she just went nuts with a machete, and she nods in approval.
We both stayed back after the final bell to set up the hall for the Halloween dance tonight. Yellow CAUTION tape is pinned around the room and spider’s webs laced with fairy lights are flashing from the walls. We made a DIY pampas grass corn maze in the entry, lined with flickering electronic candles and an army of bed-sheet ghosts, and we tried to carve a couple jack-o-lanterns but that shit is hard. We also listened to Drowning Pool on loop before the dance began, so there is not a single brain cell left in either one of our heads.
I watch our schoolmates under the neon lights as they acclimatise to a party on school grounds. The girls are mainly comparing costumes and dancing together, whilst the guys watch them stalkerishly from afar. When the boys start chasing their crushes around the room, I know that the dance has really begun.
“Sucks that you have to leave me here stranded,” Kit shouts over to me, emphasis onsucksbecause she’s wearing prosthetic fangs. “We did such a good job tonight.”
I agree. I feel like I’m in an episode ofThe Vampire Diaries. I kind of want to stay and watch the dance but Mitch is keeping good on his word about incarcerating me for the rest of my life, so I’m due for a pickup in around five minutes.
I sigh sadly and let her feed me an extra-large marshmallow.
