A Whole New Crowd

by Tijan

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Mandy acted like nothing had happened. I was eating breakfast when she came down. She didn’t say a word to me and headed out. I grunted. Maybe I should take that way of living? Pretend nothing happened? It felt good and I nodded to myself. That sounded good to me. It was how I was going to handle the day, act as if nothing happened yesterday. When I got to school, no one said a word to me. I didn’t see Tray or Samuel. Mandy ignored me and was talking with a group of girls I didn’t recognize. Moving around them and the guys beside them, I headed to my locker and grabbed my books. Then I headed to class.

  I took my usual seat in the back, then realized my table mate wanted to talk. She kept ducking her head down, glancing up, and would duck her head into a book again. When she repeated the process three times, I looked over at her.

  She gave me a tentative smile.

  Oh hell. “I’m Taryn.”

  A squeal escaped her mouth as she extended her hand. “Molly Keeley. I’m your—”

  “Classmate. I know that.”

  “Yeah, and I’m in your health and gym class.”

  Wait. “I’m in health?”

  “You skip for study hall.”

  “I thought I had study hall.”

  “You should probably tell your teacher that.”

  “Oh.” I sat back. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. We’re playing volleyball next week in gym too. That should be fun.”

  “You play volleyball?”

  “Only with my family. I can’t wear contacts so I have to wear those goggle things in class.” Her cheeks flushed again. “It’s embarrassing. They look like microscopes, but my mom won’t let me get new ones. They’re not ‘cost-effective.’” She ducked her head again. “That’s what my mom says.”

  “Keep your glasses.” The teacher stood up, and I leaned down in my chair. “You won’t give a shit in two years. They’ll help you find your soul mate in college anyway.”

  She laughed, her voice squeaky. “You’re not like the rumors say.”

  “That I’m a stone cold bitch.”

  “Yeah and that you screwed Tray Evans.”

  “Where?”

  She listed them off with her fingers. “In the school parking lot, in the parking lot at the diner, at one of his parties, at Rickets’ House, and in his car.”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  She giggled and then squeaked before turning away. Her face got red. I looked over and saw Tray staring back. He had knelt beside me.

  “What?” I gestured to the teacher. “He’s going to start class.”

  “We have two days.”

  “For what?” I wasn’t an idiot. I knew. I was just playing.

  He wasn’t amused. “Will you please help?”

  “I told you I would, but you didn’t spill the details. I had to hold my sister when she sobbed and asked questions. I couldn’t answer any of them.” He had helped me yesterday. Then Jace told me to stay away from him. I was getting whiplash from being pulled in so many directions. I sighed. “Let me think about it.”

  He hadn’t gotten the answer he wanted. His lips pressed together, but he stood. “Saw Jace Lanser leaving town last night. Stopped at the diner for a burger.”

  “Yeah. So?”

  He backed off, taking his own seat across the room, but it didn’t matter. The entire class was listening. “Nothing. The guy’s a loser.”

  “Keep talking and maybe I won’t help after all.” Jace was family. No one talked bad about my family.

  Mandy hushed me. “Taryn, don’t talk to him like that.”

  I ignored her. Everyone was waiting. No one spoke back to Tray Motherfucking Evans, but I just did. He didn’t shoot back and I could feel the confusion from everyone. My classmate leaned over and whispered, “You are officially my idol. No girl who’s slept with him has gotten away with talking to him like that, and he sought you out.”

  She was so excited about the last fact. I sighed. This would be the number one rumor going through school for the rest of the day. I caught sight of Mandy’s warning glare and rolled my eyes. Another day that I had saved her from the gossip mill. When she waved her finger in the air, I flipped her my middle finger. No one was going to tell me how to think, speak, or feel. If she kept trying, she’d learn like everyone else did that they could kiss my ass. When she gasped again, I was tempted to make it a double deuce and flip my other middle finger too.

  “Okay, class,” the teacher started, and I ignored my sister for the rest of the class and the rest of the day. I ignored everyone else while I was at it, not that it was a sacrifice. As the day went on, Jennica pulled her friends to the side. All of them gave me varying looks of hatred. Mandy ignored me with her sudden new group of friends and all the other girls took cues from the reigning crowd.

  I was a social leper. The only person who didn’t understand it was my table mate. When I went to another class, she saw me in the hallway and waved. Two other girls were with her. One gasped and the other grabbed her hand, pulling it down.

  The next day was the same. Mandy still adopted the same philosophy to act like nothing happened in her world. She barely talked to me at home and that same guy slept over. I wanted to ask what the deal was with him, but since she wouldn’t even say hello to me, I assumed it would’ve been a lost cause to ask. The only thing different about the day was that Samuel and Tray were missing. People noticed. Towards the end of the day, I started thinking people had forgotten about me, but nope. Jennica and her friends stopped talking the second I entered the hallway. Their hatred was still going strong.

  I shrugged. It was peaceful to me, but couldn’t help myself. As I passed by, Jennica stared at me the whole time. I pretended to scratch my ear with my middle finger again. I was fully aware how immature it was, but I enjoyed it and she had heeded my warning. No one talked about Mandy and Devon. No one seemed to notice that they weren’t standing next to each other, holding hands, cuddling, or talking even. My sisterly duty had been fulfilled. At the end of that day, as I headed to my car and saw Tray leaning against my car, I wondered if my friend duty needed to be fulfilled also.

  Then I paused and asked him, “Are we friends?”

  His arms were crossed over his chest and in that moment, I was reminded about his ‘god-like’ status around the school. Square jaw, his striking hazel eyes directed on me, and those perfect lips curled up in a small smirk. He really was gorgeous.

  He smirked. “Only if you want us to be, Matthews.”

  He had pissed me off. He had comforted me in a way no one knew how to do, and he knew how to read me. No one knew how to read me like he did.

  My nostrils flared. “I think we are friends.”

  He flashed me a grin. “Does that mean you’re going to help me?”

  “I think it means that I have to.” I snorted. “I’m sentimental like that. I tend to help friends and family whether they want it or not.” My eyes narrowed. “But is that all you want?”

  The loaded question held between us. His eyes darkened back to that amber color, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. My chest tightened and my pulse started racing. I had a strong feeling we were going to be more than friends. When that happened, I’d deal with it. I was starting not to be able to control myself when it came to Tray Motherfucking Evans.

  His eyes fell to my lips and stayed there. “I think,” he flashed me another heart melting grin, “that the whole ball is in your court.”

  “Shit.” I shook my head. “The innuendos I could make with that one word. You couldn’t have used a different word?”

  “Sorry.” He wasn’t. He was laughing.

  “Ball. You used the word ball.” I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t hold back the grin. “A set of balls. A pair of balls. A bowling ball and a pin. Ball. Just one? I think it could get lonely. I think you should add onto it. Maybe say the whole donkey’s pair is in your court.”

  He barked out a laugh. “That makes no sense.”

>   I shrugged. I was trying to slow my hormones so I joked some more. Tray stopped listening and grabbed my hand. I stopped talking. He pulled me in front of him and I stood there, feeling all girly. I had never felt like this with Brian. None of it made sense to me. He rested his arms on my shoulders, his head bent so we were eye level, and I stood in front of him. He didn’t wrap those arms around me. He didn’t pull me against his chest. My hands lifted and held onto his biceps, and I stared back at him.

  Then he smirked again. “Thank you for helping me.”

  Yep. A tingly sensation had started in my gut, but it kicked up a notch now. I wanted to curse my hormones and since I couldn’t say a smart-ass comment, I nodded.

  *

  This was my moment. This was my element. Standing on top the roof of my old school with the black night as my backdrop and the wind rushing behind me, I closed my eyes for a moment to savor the feeling. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I didn’t know what it was, or how I could describe it, but even the hairs on my fingers were vibrating. I felt alive.

  I got the blueprints for the new school from Grayley. He hadn’t been happy about getting them or handing them over. He hadn’t been his usual carefree easygoing way so I pressed him. “What’s wrong? Tell me or I’ll find some computer nerd to hack your email.”

  His eyes got big, but then he scowled. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

  “Spill it, Gray.”

  When he told me that his dad had returned to town, my senses went haywire. Grayley’s father wasn’t a good guy. He got out of prison for transporting drugs over the border six months ago. Gray hadn’t been worried. His dad chose to remain in the south, but I could see the concern and knowing the reason behind it, I asked, “You want me to talk to Jace?”

  His head whipped up. “What? No. Why would you offer to do that?”

  I shrugged, tucking the blueprints into my bag. “Because you’re a friend and Jace is family.”

  “No. Don’t do that.” He frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be leaving us behind? I mean, I heard that you had been told to stay away from Rawley.” He pointed to the blueprints in my bag. “Why do you need those? They renovated, but trust me, not much is different.”

  I shrugged. He didn’t need to know any of that, but I asked, “I noticed they upped the security. Why? I meant to ask you that at Rickets’, but you know how that night went down.”

  He sighed. “You’re not getting into trouble, are you? I have a hard time imagining that Brian or his brother would be happy about that.”

  “Leave Jace to me.” I wanted to ask about Brian, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle hearing it so I bit my tongue. “I’ll be fine.” I lifted my arm and bounced the bag up and down. “I’m a cat burglar. We always land on our feet.”

  He groaned. “You are so not funny. It’s painful.”

  I had laughed. He had laughed, but the unease lingered. It was in the bottom of my gut, and I sensed it was with him too. Gray never questioned me when I asked for odd favors in the past. This has been the first time and knowing his father was back in town, that unease was mounting. Something else was going on in town.

  Coming back to the present, I watched the guards change their positions. If my calculations were correct, they would change again in two hours for breaks. I didn’t want to be weaving through them when they would be moving around so I had to go now. Questions about Gray and his father were pushed to the back burner. Tray was waiting for me to deliver an entrance to the school and that was what I was going to do. So, with that thought, I grabbed my rope and began rappelling down the side of the building.

  The window to an art room was always left open, so I snuck in that way. Then I used the vent shafts to crawl all the way to the security guards’ room. According to the blueprints, the camera room was their headquarters. I still couldn’t believe the school had a freaking camera system, but it was the obstacle for me to tackle. Figuring out why would be for later, after Tray and his friends did what they needed.

  There was one guard sitting at the controls. I waited until the pizzas arrived. Tray promised to pay for them, put the drugs in them, and have Samuel deliver them wearing his old pizza delivery uniform. When the guard caught Samuel on the camera, he pushed his chair back and stood. “What the hell?” He was on the radio as he left the room. “Did you guys order pizza?”

  I didn’t wait to hear their answer. I dropped to the ground and hurried to the cameras. I didn’t have long. Switching off the recording, I looped it so it would continue to play the earlier feed. By the time they caught it, I hoped the drugs would be ingested or Tray would be done with whatever they had planned. As soon as I hit the button and the screens filled again, I heard voices from the hallway and darted back into the bathroom. I was back up in the vent and screwing it into place when I heard someone say, “They delivered it by accident?”

  “Yeah. That’s what the guy said.”

  “We’re not supposed to eat anything we didn’t order.”

  “Who cares? The kid said it’s already been paid for and he can’t find the right address.” His voice was muffled as he continued, “He said when they called, they could tell them it was already delivered.”

  “Yeah.” Someone sighed in surrender. “Might as well.”

  “Grab your slices and get back to your positions. Boss hired us for a reason.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Okay, heading out.”

  Mission accomplished. Instead of leaving through the art room, I waited until the guards headed back to their spots and began to move. Cameras were taken care of so I dropped to the hallway and headed to the gymnasium. Tray said that’s where they wanted to get inside first. When I propped open the back door, I turned my small flashlight on twice.

  Dressed in dark clothing, they came running from behind their cover, moving fast. As they filed past me, Tray stopped and grinned. His face was covered in camouflage and there went that same tightness in my chest. It was becoming annoying.

  He asked, “Guards can’t see us?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. You came in the right vantage point. It’s the blind spot from what I mapped out.”

  “And they should be sleeping soon?”

  I nodded. “Give them ten minutes. I can’t guarantee they all ate the pizza right away, but I heard two of them eating.”

  He nodded, then frowned at me.

  “What?”

  “Not many would think or have the guts to drug a pizza.”

  I shrugged. “The two people I call family, before Mandy’s family, are criminals. This is who I am.”

  “Tray,” one of his friends whispered from inside the gym, “come on.”

  His gaze dropped back to my lips, and he murmured, “Never thought I’d be hot for a criminal chick.”

  Oh shit.

  He flashed me a grin. “See you tomorrow. It’s homecoming. After the game and dance, Dylan’s having a party.”

  “Who’s Dylan again?”

  His grin stretched wider. “Samuel’s cousin. His parents have a house here.”

  “I don’t do dances.” Brian would’ve laughed if he knew I went to a football game in the past, but I wanted to go. Then I blinked in shock. Another shit. I even wanted to go to his party. As I headed out, I couldn’t believe it.

  I was becoming normal, but I needed to go see a certain gang leader first.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  I stood across the alley from the Seven8. I did not want to go into that building, but I wanted to see Jace. I missed him and Brian every day, but new things had come to light. His warning about Tray. Grayley’s dad was in town, and because I cared about him, I promised myself to ask. His dad wasn’t good and if he was in town, Gray would be hurt. It always happened. I tried to calm my nerves. Jace had something to do with it. I knew it. Jace was behind everything, and so he was the one I had to approach for my favor.

  The building was pumping in music, sweat, and drugs. I could hear the shouts from the crowd from where I stood. The
re wasn’t usually a waiting line, but there was one tonight, trailing around the corner.

  I crossed the road. There was no issue at the door, and I was waved in. When I started to head down the hallway, I saw Krein, Jace’s second in command, walking towards me. He grabbed my arm. “Taryn.”

  I frowned and pulled away, but he didn’t let go. “Krein,” I warned.

  He pulled me close and yelled into my ear, “He’s not back there.” Then he let me go and nodded towards the dance floor. “Follow me.”