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I chuckle and glance at Camila and Beth but they’re not looking my way. I don’t think they have so much as given me a look for the whole evening so far.
“Why has everyone gathered here before the ball when you have all the space in the world inside the house?” I ask.
“Ugh, because it’s too long to clean the big house. And I like how cozy it is here. Not much space,” he gets closer to me and wraps his arms around me. “forced to stay close to the guests.”
I giggle and jump off my seat. “I need the bathroom, too much alcohol already.”
I go to leave but he grabs my face in the palm of his hands, his thumbs in front of my ears, and his fingers threading in my hair. He kisses me long and hard, making my insides tighten and my cheeks flush.
I hear some people whisper around us. This was our first kiss in front of everyone. All his friends, other school kids. My heart is hammering in my chest and I feel patches of red spreading across my chest and my cheeks as some conversations drop silent and ‘no fucking way’s are murmured here and there.
“Be quick,” he winks.
I hurry out of the room, my body on fire from Jake and the attention we got in the living room. I do my business quickly and double-check my make-up in the mirror, silently giving myself a pep talk. ‘You are good enough’, ‘who are they to judge’, ‘who cares when you’re with someone you love’, ‘they’re just jealous’. I take one last deep breath and grab the door handle but as soon as I open the bathroom to step out, I’m pushed back inside.
“What the–”
“I just need to talk to you, Goody.” Camila closes the door behind her and locks it.
“Really, Camila? You’re cornering me in bathrooms now?”
She chuckles wickedly but doesn’t move. “You’re so scared of me, aren’t you?”
“I’m not scared of you,” I growl back. “But I know how obsessed you are over your ex-boyfriend.”
“I don’t know what’s making you so brave, but you need to calm down. I just want to warn you.”
“Warn me?” I know I shouldn’t listen to her and I should just get out of the room, but she’s got my attention even though I don’t want to admit it.
“Listen, Jamie.” It’s the first time I think she’s ever said my name. “You might think you can handle him, but you can’t.”
“Oh God, not this again.” I walk around her, but she grabs my wrist in a tight grip. “Are you for real right now?” I snap but she stays perfectly calm.
“You couldn’t handle him the night of the Halloween ball and you surely can’t handle him now. I had to save you from him, never forget that.” She lets go of my arm, but she’s not done. “You find it exciting now, the way he makes you feel. You think this is all just a bit of fun, but I can promise you he gets worse. As soon as you find comfort in the way he is he’ll push your limits further. Then further again…and again.”
“You need to let it go, Camila.”
“You think you know him, but you don’t. I was his girlfriend for two years, Jamie. He’s got this ability to make anyone feel special but we’re all the same. Do you know how often he goes to the North Shore of the Falls? How often he fucks NSF girls because he knows none of them will come to brag about it in Stoneview? He thinks I won’t know if he goes there. You, naïve little thing that you are, wouldn’t even know if he’s been to NSF parties in the last few weeks that you’ve been together and pathetically been trying to hide it.”
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. Rumors of Jake going to parties on the wrong side of the Falls is not news to my ears. But thinking he could have gone while we were together is something I hadn’t really thought of.
“I’m not saying this because I’m against you,” she insists. “I’m saying this because I’m against him. You’re in way over your head. You just don’t realize it yet, and when you will, it’ll be too late.”
I shake my head at her and hurry out because I don’t need to hear her lies and excuses to incite me to push Jake away just so he can run back to her.
As soon as I open the door, I fall face to face with Emily. Her red eyes and the way she’s biting the inside of her cheek tell me she’s about to cry but I stay frozen in place. I have no idea what has been going on in the past month. I don’t know how her relationship with Luke is; if it’s going well or not, if he’s treating her right. Nothing. I’m about to ask if she’s okay when she looks above my shoulder and snorts.
“Fucking hell Camila, let it fucking go,” Emily almost shouts. “I’ve spent enough time with you in the last few weeks to tell you: you’re seriously obsessed.”
I barely hold back a laugh as Camila’s jaw drops to the floor.
“I was the one who supported you when your little friend here turned against you,” Camila snarls. “I was the one who advised you on your shitty relationship with fuckboy-Luke. This is how you thank me?”
Emily pops a hip and rests a hand on it, rolling her eyes. I feel like she’s putting her cheerleader hat on, her bitchy popular girl personality that she always uses to defend me if other girls at school try to put me down. A smile pulls at my lips knowing she’d do anything to support me right now.
“Yeah, well look where your advice got me. Fuckboy-Luke stayed true to his reputation and we’re over. I should have dumped his ass when I said so instead of listening to your desperate girl advice. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to piss. Thanks.”
Camila shakes her head and walks past both me and Emily before joining the party at the other end of the hall.
