by Ella Fields
A week was pretty good, I thought, considering. But I’d only ever been grounded once before, and that was when Dash decided I should try some pot during last Thanksgiving break outside near the creek.
I should’ve known that wouldn’t have been easy to hide, seeing as I’d laughed my ass off over nothing for an hour straight, ate everything in sight, then vomited it all up.
I hadn’t done it again since.
I sighed, the sound a pitiful gush of air, throwing my arms around my body like a six-year-old who didn’t get her own way. “This is so not freaking fair.”
“Heard that.”
I scrunched my nose, then yelled, “How’d you find out anyway?”
It took her a minute to respond, and I yanked off my skirt, throwing it into the corner of the room. “It’s Magnolia Cove, Pegs. You think you kids are the only ones who gossip?”
Touché.
“We’ll figure something out. Your birthday is soon right?” Yelling ensued in the background. “Mark, you fucking psycho, how you doing?” Laughter reached my ears, and I started swinging my legs up in the air on my bed. “Right? It’s bomb as fuck. All right, later. You there, Peg?”
“Yup.” I couldn’t exactly go anywhere else. For a whole week.
“Sorry, haven’t seen that idiot in ages. He goes to the public school.”
Great, so not only was there a party I couldn’t attend with my new boyfriend, but it was potentially one of the biggest parties to happen this year. I faked a yawn. “You should go, have fun.”
“I am,” he said, swallowing something, likely alcohol. “Wish you were here. I can’t believe you got found out.”
“I know.”
We made plans to talk tomorrow, and I hung up before chucking my phone to the end of the bed. I’d texted Daphne earlier, telling her our plan had been thwarted. She wanted to know how, and I told her gossip. It didn’t sound like she believed that, but at this point, I didn’t really care.
I switched on the Xbox, but no one was online. Playing with a bunch of strangers was fine, though not as fun. I switched it off ten minutes later and went in search of a snack.
I was in bed before ten, wanting nothing more than to sleep this night off so I didn’t have to think about Daphne, Willa, Byron, and probably Dash having fun without me.
Around midnight, I was almost asleep when the sound of cussing followed by a hard body came through the window. “Dash?”
“The one and only,” he slurred, crawling up the bed commando style.
“You reek of booze.”
“Probs because I drank a shit ton of it, probs.” He slumped down next to me. “How’s about a kiss?”
“How’s about you should probs go home?”
He blinked slowly, then laughed. “Good one, but nah, I made it here, and here is good.”
Grumbling, I tugged the duvet back over myself, well aware of the fact I was only in panties and a tank. “How was the party?”
“Pretty fucking crazy. How was the no party?”
I huffed, then paused. “Wait, how’d you know I wasn’t going?”
His brows gathered, eyes shutting. “Ah, because you weren’t there maybe?”
That had me laughing, and so did he, though it was more like bursts of drunken sound. “Quiet,” I hissed. “Mom’s already pissed at me.”
“What happened?” he asked, rolling over to face me. His fingers reached for my cheek and his entire hand fell on it, heavily petting.
I shoved it away. “She found out I was going to Wade’s, so now I’m grounded for a week.”
“Bummer.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Wanna make out?” His hand went under the duvet, finding my hip and pulling me closer. My nose almost touched his, and all I could smell was bourbon and cigarettes intermingling with his new aftershave.
“No,” I said, not sure if I meant it when his hand gripped around the curve of my hip, fitting so perfectly.
“You sure?” he asked on a whisper. “Because I’m so hard for you right now.”
I laughed, then turned my face, trying to smother it in my pillow. “God, how did we get here?”
“Well, I walked. I’m assuming you’ve been here since school got out.” I gave him a look that said that wasn’t what I’d meant. He exhaled, his warm breath fogging my lips. “Who cares? It’s a pretty great place to be.”
“It is, is it?”
His lip curled, teeth and dimple appearing. “Best not to overthink it.”
With his mouth unbearably close to mine and drifting closer, I pushed my hands against his chest. “It’s always best to overthink it when you have a boyfriend.”
His mouth snapped shut, and I could hear his teeth grind together. “He didn’t seem to miss you too much tonight.”
I sat up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dash rolled to his back, tucking his arm behind his head. The moon danced through the window, highlighting the tormented look etched upon his face and the muscles clenching in his upper arm. “Never mind.”
“But I do mind. Did he do something?”
“Other than act like a fucking idiot? No, nothing you need to worry about.”
I lowered to my back, and we both stared up at the patchy paint on the ceiling a long while.
Dash passed out before me, the sound of his snoring lulling me into a restless sleep. When I woke up, he was gone.
Peggy
After watching my phone like a hawk all day Saturday, wondering if Byron would call, I almost missed it that night when I decided to throw my phone in my sock drawer.
He was tired and hungover, so therefore, he sounded disinterested in anything I talked about. Which was understandable.
He called again on Sunday to apologize, saying he’d never drank that much in his life and that half the night was a blur.
“Oh, goodie,” Dash said, who’d also been quiet on the drive to school. “More weeds.”
I shushed him, then pasted on a smile when I walked over to Byron, who was holding more sunflowers in front of my locker. “Thank you.” I took them from him, toying with one of the luminous petals.
He slid his hands into his pockets, his tie still undone. “Open the note?”
I flicked it open and read the small inscription.
Do homecoming with me?
Homecoming was just under two weeks away, and I hadn’t even thought about it until now. Which was strange, given I’d already bought my dress.
I looked up at him and nodded. “I’d be delighted to do homecoming with you.”
He grinned, wrapping an arm behind my back. We squished the flowers between us when he grabbed my face and quickly pressed his lips to mine, pulling away before we got caught. “I’ve wanted to do that for days. And that felt more like a tease.”
I bit my lip, then unlocked my locker to grab my books and put the flowers inside. “I’ll see you at lunch?”
He tipped his chin up, winking as he walked backward to his own locker. “Count on it.”
“Damn,” Daphne said from behind me. “Someone has it bad.”
“Or someone is trying a little too fucking hard,” Dash chimed in, unlocking my locker and inspecting the card. “Homecoming?” He threw an accusing glare at me. “You said at the start of break that we were going together.”
I didn’t remember that, but maybe I had. Thankfully, I was saved from answering when Lars approached with a sucker hanging between his lips.
Daphne bristled, and I frowned as he gave her a once-over, then jerked his head for Dash to head to class with him.
“This conversation isn’t over, Peggy.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” I waved.
He stopped, his tone hard and his eyes slightly crazed. “I’m dead serious. I’m taking you. So fix whatever the hell you just agreed to with Prince Shit Shoes over there.” He flicked his eyes to where Byron was laughing with Danny, one of his teammates, down the hall.
Then he was striding away, Lars glancin
g at me over his shoulder as they walked to class.
“Told you,” Daphne singsonged.
“Told me what?”
She and Willa rolled their eyes, then started talking about what a mess some of the cheerleaders were at Wade’s party.
“So what do you want for your birthday?” Byron asked, unwrapping his chicken wrap and taking a huge bite.
I watched him chew, then dragged my eyes to the rose gardens lining the sitting area outside. Now that fall had begun to turn the heat down somewhat, it wasn’t a death sentence to sit outside and eat lunch. Thank God, because being cooped up, having people’s glares directed at you when you were simply trying to eat, wasn’t my idea of a nice break from class.
“You don’t have to get me anything, really,” I said around a bite of cheese.
“Are you kidding? Of course, I do.”
I paused mid chew, swallowing too hard. “What makes you think that?”
His brows knitted, face bunching. “Uh, because when a girl usually says they’re fine, they’re not.”
I didn’t say I was fine, but I let that be. “Honestly, I’m happy with cake. Lots and lots of cake.”
“What kind?”
I flicked some crumbs from my lap. “Caramel. Double chocolate. I’m not picky.” Those last words electrified my chest, and I quickly smothered the memory.
Byron pondered that as he finished his wrap.
“So,” I said, remembering Dash’s statement about homecoming, “about homecoming.”
“Oh yeah. I’ve already spoken to my dad, and he’s rented us a limo.”
“What?” Shit.
He nodded, swallowing the last bite and scrunching the paper. “Yeah, sweet huh? We can have it all to ourselves, or you can invite Daphne and Willa to come with.”
That was sweet. “Wow, well, thanks.”
He grinned, then popped the top of my soda for me.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about Dash, but it was clear I couldn’t exactly ditch my boyfriend for my best friend. Especially when that best friend was Dash.
Daphne and Willa joined us for the remainder of lunch, and I couldn’t help but notice the way Willa kept staring at her phone on the table. “Something wrong?”
Willa looked up. “Huh?”
“You keep staring at that thing, you’ll go cross-eyed,” Daphne said, turning the page in her book.
“Waiting on a call?” Byron asked, peering around the gardens, his knee bouncing beneath the wooden table.
“No,” Willa snapped, then shoved her phone away. “It’s nothing. Just needed an appointment, and the doctor won’t call me back.”
I didn’t believe her, but I could tell she wasn’t about to spill the truth. Not here. Possibly because of Byron’s presence, or possibly because she just didn’t want to share whatever was eating at her.
I chose to leave it alone but made a mental note to keep watch.
We headed in when the bell sounded, and Byron tugged me to him with an arm around my neck. “Did I ever tell you that those boots you wear, the way you wear them, does some really awesome things to me?”
I flushed, shaking my head. “No.” I laughed. “But, thank you?” A question. A thank you as a question. Who the hell was I?
He merely laughed, then pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Well, they do. Really awesome things,” he whispered to my skin. “I’ll text you later.”
I watched him swagger to the doors of the cafeteria, then joined Daphne and Willa outside at our lockers.
“What are you doing for your birthday?” Daphne asked. “Being that you’re grounded and all.”
“That blows,” Willa said, grabbing her fluffy pencil case and nabbing a pen from inside it. “We need to do something, though.”
“Peony is cool,” Daphne said. “She’ll let us come over and at least watch some movies, maybe spike some OJ.”
Mom had been pretty cool about the whole almost sneaking out thing, but I was most definitely still grounded.
“I’m not sure …” I trailed off as a flash of pink caught my eye. My heart pounded as I looked around the hall, but there were too many people getting their things for class to see where she was. I opened the locker and plucked the note from inside, unfolding it with a tremor racing through my hands.
Last warning.
“What the fuck?” Daphne snatched it from me. “Last warning? Who does she think she is?”
“How can you tell who it’s from?” Willa asked, sneaking a look over Daphne’s shoulder to read it, her dark eyes growing.
“I was BFFs with Kayla for years. I know her handwriting.”
I took it back, but then Daphne plucked it from my fingers. “Oh no, you don’t. Where is she?”
“Can we let it go? I don’t want any drama.”
Daphne was glancing around. “Too late for that, Pegs.”
“There were other warnings?” Willa asked.
“There was one.” I exhaled roughly, then raked a hand through my hair. “It said she’d take something of mine if I didn’t leave Byron alone.”
Daphne cackled, then gave me my books and slammed my locker shut. “Come on.”
“Uh,” Willa started. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
“Yeah,” I said, speed walking to keep up as the crowd parted for Daphne, and we followed. “Leave it alone. She can’t do anything to me anyway.”
The second bell rang, and I tensed even more.
“She can, but we’re going to make sure she won’t.”
Kayla was checking her makeup in the mirror stuck on the inside of her locker. She wound down her lipstick and capped it when she saw us approach. “Hey, ex-friend. How’s life down in the trenches?” With a whack of her hand, she shut her locker.
“A lot less miserable, thanks for asking.” Daphne held the note between two pinched fingers, her golden nails sparkling. “What’s this shit about?”
Kayla swiped a tendril of black hair from her forehead. “Oh, that? Just making sure a certain someone knows the score.”
“And what score would that be?” Willa surprised us all by asking.
I wanted to slink away into the fading crowd, preferably run home and forget this was happening.
“That when people try to take something that doesn’t belong to them, there’s bound to be”—she paused, directed her freezing gaze to me—“consequences.”
“You cheated on him, and then you broke up. Get the hell over it.”
Kayla scowled at Daphne. “I didn’t cheat. He said we were on a break.”
“Whatever. Just stay the hell away from Peggy. It’s not her fault Byron’s into her.”
Annika tittered. “Oh, you didn’t just go there.”
“I did,” Daphne said. “And by the way, it doesn’t exactly look like you care that much about him when you’ve been sleeping with half of Magnolia Cove’s male population.”
Annika and Annabeth gasped, manicured hands trying to hide their huge smiles.
Kayla growled, stepping into Daphne’s face. “Jealous? Come on, we both know you love sloppy seconds. I’ll try to make sure I leave some other scrappy, broke guy for you to ruin next.”
Daphne lunged.
Willa and I grabbed her just as a teacher passed. “Isn’t there a classroom waiting for you girls?”
“Yes, Mrs. Truncheon,” we all said at once, then disappeared to those respective classes.
Peggy
Kayla’s and Dash’s warnings plagued me, yet try as I might, I couldn’t figure out a way to fix everything.
It all came back to Byron. I didn’t want to dump him. He was sweet, nice to look at, and sent me good night messages.
I’d always wanted good night messages.
Dash had been acting weird all week. Gone were the suggestive looks, words, and the angry glares. The car rides to and from school consisted of talking about Blitz, his bikes, my birthday, and discussing some of the books he’d been reading.
Ba
ck to how we used to be.
I didn’t know why that bothered me.
“So I’ll pick you up at seven?” Dash called out the window after dropping me home on Friday. We were going out for Mexican before heading to see the new Avengers movie. Byron had made dinner reservations in town for tomorrow, so when Dash said he was taking me to the movies, I told him it’d have to be tonight.
To my surprise, and a bit of annoyance, he didn’t protest at all.
“Yep, later.” I waved and hauled my bag inside, then almost screamed as Mom and Phil popped up from behind the couch.
Phil was holding a large chocolate cake, and Mom was holding two metallic pink balloons with the numbers one and eight. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you …”
I stood there, trying to take the well-meaning assault as best I could, and smiled in relief once it was over. “Thanks.”
They both gave me a hug, and Phil set the cake on the coffee table. “Made it myself.”
“Thank God,” I joked. “Because it looks so good, and I really want to eat it.”
Mom slapped my shoulder. “My cakes are not that bad.”
Phil and I made a face, and she squawked, throwing her hands in the air as she left the room to grab some plates.
After we finished, I helped them clean up and put the cake in the fridge. “So Dash is taking you out?”
I halted in the doorway, realizing I hadn’t cleared that with her. “I’m not still grounded, am I?”
She walked over, brushing some curls from my face. I was at least half a foot taller than her now, courtesy of Dad’s genes. “No, honey.” She jabbed an acrylic nail between my eyes. “But don’t you lie to me again.”
With a wince, I gently pushed her finger away. “I won’t.”
“Come, let’s go open your presents,” Mom said, grabbing my hand and tugging me to the living room.
“What’d you get?” Dash asked when I climbed inside his car.
“Some special shampoo, a new flat iron, my own push-up bra, and a gift card to spend online.”