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ALLIE
“Listen …” Imani crossed her arms and glared at the Poison boys as João pulled up to her house.
Jamal had left to watch his brother and sisters while his mom was at work, so it was her, them, Jace, and me.
She eyed each one of them. “Don’t say anything to my parents. They don’t like you guys, so don’t be fucking jerks.”
Landon wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “We wouldn’t do that, babe.”
She elbowed him hard in the ribs. “I mean it this time.”
After she hopped out of the car, I followed her. “You introduced them to your parents?”
Imani glanced back at the boys and Jace. “No, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t show up while I was out at dinner with my parents and try to hit on me.” She scrunched her nose. “My mom hasn’t stopped talking about it all week. She won’t let me live this down.”
“Why don’t you ever invite us over?” Landon said as Imani pushed her key into the front door lock.
“Because you steal shit and my parents don’t like you.” She cut her eyes over to him as her upper lip curled up. “I’m not in the mood. Don’t push it, Landon.” She looked back at the other two, daring them to say something to her. But they both kept their mouths shut. She pushed the front door open. “Mom!”
“In the office,” her mother shouted back. “What do you need?”
“I need you. Now.”
“Not the first time we’ve heard that,” Landon said.
I rolled my eyes and intertwined my fingers with Jace, not wanting to spend any more time away from him. Being away from him for an entire day, wondering if he was dead or alive, had eaten me alive.
Mrs. Abara appeared in the foyer and sucked in a deep breath, hurrying over to Jace. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you?” she asked, taking him to the other room and sitting him on her white couch. It was bound to get stained, but Imani’s family was rich enough to have ten identical couches like this here within the damn hour.
Everyone looked at everyone, not knowing what to say.
Jace grimaced at me and shook his head. “I got into a fight with someone on the football team,” Jace lied straight through his teeth. “And got my ass kicked.”
Mrs. Abara blew a breath out her nose. “Looks like it.” She glanced up and noticed the Poison boys for the first time tonight. She gave them a hard and long look, then pressed her lips together and nodded to the other room. “I’m going to grab some supplies. Allie, please help me.”
I followed her into the other room, glancing back at Jace in the living room.
“Sweetie, make sure they don’t steal anything,” Mrs. Abara said, leaning in close. “Those boys are bad news. I told her not to see them. Why is she bringing them into the house? Can you try to talk some sense into her?”
I glanced back at Imani, who sat on the other side of the living room, trying to distance herself from the Poison boys as much as she could. She widened her eyes at me, giving me that what is my mom saying this time look.
“They’re just, um … friends,” I said, not sure of how to get out of this one.
Imani was way more than friends with those boys. And I had warned her endlessly not to get with any of them, but someone didn’t listen. They had caught her doing something that she shouldn’t have been, and now, she was paying for it. But I couldn’t tell her mom that.
She gathered some supplies from her bathroom closet and handed them to me. “I’m telling you, those boys had better not distract her. She is set to be top ten in your graduating class, and you know how hard it is to get to the top at Redwood with everyone having the best tutors around.”
When we walked back into the living room, Mrs. Abara started to clean Jace up.
“Allie!” Mr. Abara shouted as he walked into the room. Despite his wife’s hesitation with four of Redwood’s finest boys in his living room, he didn’t seem to mind. He squeezed my shoulder. “You think about that internship yet?”
Mr. Abara was a biochemical engineer who had been suggesting I apply for an internship at his work for months now. With everything going on, applying to colleges, and dealing with Jace drama during the summer, I had brushed it off. But I had wanted to go for it for so long now.
“Internship?” Jace asked.
“Don’t move, honey,” Mrs. Abara said to him, stitching up his head.
“We’re working on finding someone for a bioengineering internship. I know you’re going to school for biology next year. Why don’t you give this a try? A new position just opened.” Mr. Abara smiled at me. “So? What do you say? You going to apply?”
