I reach out and touch his arm. His shirt is so unbelievably soft, and I feel his bicep underneath. It’s big and tight and cut, probably from the weeks he’s spent on crutches. I say, “I’m so sorry you got hurt at the dance.” And despite everything Leonid did to me, it feels good to apologize. Because I truly did not mean for him to be hurt so bad that his whole life might be screwed up.He shrugs his shoulders. “Shit happens, you know?”“Yup,” I say, nodding, because it is true. “Shit happens.” It happens to all of us.There’s an awkward second, where neither of us knows what to say. Leonid rustles his hand through his hair. “I should go find my friends. Hope you make it out of here alive.” He positions his crutches and goes to take a step forward, but I shift my body so he can’t. It gives me a surge of adrenaline.Put myself out there. That was Selena’s advice.What do I have to lose?“It’s, um, been a long time, huh?” The words get kind of caught up in my throat.Leonid’s head falls
You’re such a good guy,” I say, nodding. I glance over at Leonid. He’s struggling to his feet, balancing on one crutch. Rennie says to him, “Where are you going?”His face is red. “Home. This sucks.”Rennie makes a pouty face, but he isn’t even looking at her. He’s already leaving, swinging away on his crutches. “Leonid, just stay a little longer,” she pleads. “I’ll drive you home in a bit.”I call out, “Byeeee! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” and then laugh hysterically.He ignores me and lurches off into the night. As soon as he’s gone, Rennie comes over and gets in my face. She hisses, “Are you serious right now?”Before I can say yes, I am totally 1,000 percent serious right now, Alex says, “Dude, she’s drunk. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”“I do too!” I say, poking him in the chest.Rennie’s face is flushed as she says, “I don’t care if she’s drunk. She’s being a bitch.”“Takes one to know one,” I mutter.Rennie blinks. “Excuse me?”I sit up straight. “You baile
On the way to pick up Sophia , I try calling Mary’s house, to tell her we’re coming, but no one answers. Shit. Maybe we shouldn’t have let her go on her own last night. I get this nervous feeling in my stomach. What if her fight with Leonid sent her off the deep end again? What if she . . .I don’t even want to think about it.Sophia waiting for me on the front steps. She’s got on a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a hoodie, and sunglasses over her eyes. Her hair is still wet. She walks slowly up to my car, like she’s a zombie. I give her the egg sandwich. “Here.”“Oh, awesome,” she says. “You’re the best, Selena.”“Wild night?” I ask, watching her out of the corner of my eye.“Kind of. A bunch of people went to hang out in the cemetery. I got a little tipsy . . . I kept yelling at Leonid about what a jerk he is until he finally left.”I give Sophia a high five for that.“I got into it with Rennie, too. We’re officially frenemies now.” Sophia smiles, but I can tell her heart isn’t in i
Beth had auburn hair; it was long enough to put in a ponytail, but barely. She had on a ton of eyeliner and no lipstick, and a big black T-shirt with slashed arms that she wore as a dress. She looked like she was twenty-two even though she was probably only eighteen. “Look at those little hoochies in the making,” she cracked, lighting up a cigarette. Her voice was low and husky.Patrick snorted, and I lowered my eyes. Through my lashes I sneaked a peek at her. She had her legs stretched out on the coffee table even though she still had shoes on. “Let’s go upstairs,” I whispered, but Selena ignored me.“Us?” Selena said. “Look at you. Where are your pants? In the back of somebody’s truck?”Beth guffawed with hoarse laughter and took a drag of her cigarette. She looked sexy when she did it, like she was in a movie.“Excuse me, but you’re not allowed to smoke in the house,” Rennie said, her hands on her hips.Patrick tapped a cigarette out of Beth’s box. “Go play outside, little girls. W
“Well, don’t bother me,” he says. “I’m here to work, not to talk. That’s why I come here alone.”“But you asked me—”“I need this lane and I need this stuff here,” he says. “Don’t touch any of it.” Then he goes back to his exercises.Seething, I grab a kickboard from the stack and make my way over to the pool ladder at the deep end. It seems like this pool only has deep ends, no shallow ends. I start to go down one rung at a time, very carefully. The water is heated, but it still feels icy to me. I’ve already got goose bumps. This is so not worth it.And my feet are still planted on the ladder.If I were to take the swim test, I’d have to dive in and get from one end of the pool to the other two times without stopping to rest. Plus tread water for three minutes, plus float for one minute. I can’t do any of those things.I mean, I know how to doggy-paddle. I don’t know the official strokes or whatever, but who cares? I’m not going to drown in my own pool. I don’t like putting my head u
I say, “Leonid, you were wasted at the dance!”His eyes narrow. “No, I wasn’t. They did a drug test on me on the hospital. It came up positive for MDMA.Oh. My. God. “I don’t even know what MDMA is!” I cry.“It’s ecstasy. And you know that because you’re the one who put it in my drink.”“You were drunk by the time you got to Ash’s house. I saw you guys drinking out of a flask, you were drinking in the limo, you were drinking at the dance! How can you be so sure that the punch I supposedly gave you had that MD whatever in it? Because I know so many drug dealers!”At this, Leonid finally releases my arm, and I massage it even though it doesn’t hurt. I can see marks from where his fingers were. “I’m telling you, it wasn’t me.” He’s confused, he’s still angry, but I can see that he wants to believe me.Leonid’s mouth gets hard; his eyes narrow. He spits out, “Those guys you met on the beach were drug dealers! Rennie took me to their house so I could score weed for our fishing trip.”My wh
I want to push him off the bleacher. And then it occurs to me. It’s the second time he’s told me to have fun.Which is boy speak for “I’m jealous.” Leonid is jealous! Of Alex. Of me and Alex, together.It’s working. The plan is working!I pack my bag up and say, “So are we getting pancakes or not?”“I thought you had to pack,” he challenges.“I might have time for one pancake,” I say, giving him what I hope are flirty eyes.Leonid Leonid stands up, stretching. “All right. Whatever Princess Sophia wants, she gets.” But I can tell he’s happy, because he puts his hands on my shoulders and gives them a quick squeeze.Wednesday night, I’m still thinking about what Ms. Chirazo said about my college essay. Maybe I’m being stupid. I should do whatever the hell it takes to take to get into Oberlin and score some good financial aid. Ain’t no way private planes are in my future. And I don’t know why, but no matter how many beers I drink, I can’t stop thinking about Alex and Sophia jetting off to
Alex turns to me with a big grin on his face “You want to go for a walk or something? I’m not tired.”“Now?” It’s after midnight, and I’m basically in my sleeping clothes. “But we’ve got school tomorrow.” Plus, my feet kind of hurt from all the walking we did today. I’ve got two blisters coming, one on each pinkie toe. I didn’t want to wear heels, but Mom insisted because I was going to an interview. And when we were strolling around Wellesley’s campus, she leaned in and whispered, “Never, ever, ever, Sophia,” and pointed to a group of girls who were walking to class in PJ bottoms and slippers. I rolled my eyes, because yeah, right, like I would ever.“Come on, Sophia. Let’s have an adventure without any chaperones.” He groans. “This was supposed to be a trip about our futures, but I haven’t felt more like a little kid in a long time.”I laugh. I know what he means. Both our moms were completely on top of us today. They asked, like, double the questions Alex and I did on the college t