Page 62 of The Plan

Rolling my eyes, I reach over and pick the cherry out and pluck it off the stem, throwing it into my mouth. “Problem solved.” A small smile grows on her face, but it’s gone as fast as it appeared, and I think I imagined it.

When she looks up at me, she gazes between my eyes like she wants to say something. “Thank you,” she mumbles instead, but it’s clear she wants to say more, so when she walks off, I pull her back to me.

“Talk to me,” I say softly, and she studies me for a few seconds but then shakes her head and walks out. She’s been trying extra hard to avoid me after I told her to talk to me if she was upset about Serenity and the alley shit, but I can tell she’s upset.

August nor Hazel question the extra stiffness between us and kiss each other goodbye as we head for our cars. Since the girls came to the game together, they head in the opposite direction as August and I walk to our cars in the stadium's private parking lot.

“Can we go to the Museum of Illusion later today?” He really is still a kid. August has been wanting to go to this place for weeks now, and I’ve been saying next week for the past month.

“Who’s coming with us? And don’t say it’s just us if your menace and her little shit best friend are ‘coincidentally’ going to be there.” He’s done that shit twice now, and I don’t know if he thinks I’m just dumb or a complete moron, but I know he’s planning this shit.

“Can you stop acting like you don’t like it when all four of us hang out together?” I don’t mind it, but Vid and I are being passive-aggressive half the time, and her best friend is just aggressive.

I take a sip of my mango pineapple smoothie as we cross the street to the stadium's parking lot entrance. “It’s not that I don’t like hanging out with them. It’s certain settings we can’t be at together, and a fucking museum, where I’m sure children and fans are going to be, is not the place for the three of us to be fighting with each other.”

If other people saw the way Hazel, Vid, and I argue, they would think we genuinely want each other dead. Maybe that's how Vidand I felt once upon a time ago, but I don’t think the hatred is there anymore; then again, I don’t know what to think anymore.

For Vid and I, arguing is a defense mechanism. We don’t want to face the past, so we fight in the present to avoid it. At least, that's what Kayden, my sponsor, said. I disagreed with him because that shit sounds stupid.

As for Hazel, though, she’s just sticking by her best friend's side, and although I give her shit for it, I would do the same for August, so I guess I can’t be too mad at her. She’s extra as fuck, though.

I turn over to August because he’s taking a while to answer me, but he isn’t even next to me anymore. I turn around, and he’s holding his head like he’s in pain. I make my way to him and roll my eyes because I know he’s faking whatever injury this is supposed to be. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Brain freeze!” He sounds like he’s in pain, but I can tell he’s acting for whatever attention-seeking reason it is this time.

“The smoothies aren’t even that cold, you bitch.”

He starts running like there is a damn lion chasing him, so I run behind him instead of asking questions. I look behind us, but no one is there. “Double or nothing!” This dick. He wants to race again after losing our last one.

I should’ve known he was going to call a rematch since he didn’t pay up. He gets in his car first and speeds out about a minute before me. Cheater.

I speed out of the parking lot and zoom down the street. I notice August’s orange Lambo a few cars in front of me. I swiftly swerve between the lanes to get in front of him.

When we get to a red light, he drives up beside me. I hear an engine that doesn't sound like his roaring. I look over, and there’s a red Bugatti with pitch-black tints obviously challenging the two of us.

I don’t have a good feeling about this, but before I can tell August anything, the light switches from red to green and the two of them take off. I gain speed and follow behind them, quickly catching up.

Whoever this guy is stays a car ahead of me the entire time. August suddenly speeds past the both of us. When I pass the red Bugatti, they cut in front of me and then try to cut in front of August, but there’s another car way too close for him to get in.

“What the fuck is this asshole doing?” With August in the middle lane, I move from his right to his left, trying to get away from this dick. I keep the same speed as August and try to signal him to forget the race, but he picks up speed.

August starts getting way too close to me, and I notice it’s because that other idiot is getting way too close to him. I slow down so August can get into my lane in front of me.

Before he can move into my lane, whoever this dick is jolts into August. I slam on my brakes but hit August anyway, and his car goes spinning and crashes right into a fire hydrant, setting it off.

“Holy shit!” I rush out of my car as water fires everywhere and run to August.

“LA Dodger stars Sire Griffinand his brother August Hale get into a car crash after participating in a street race with the infamous red Bugatti.”I exit the news app and don’t even bother reading the article Jackson sent me.

It only happened a few damn hours ago, and we didn’t even speak to anyone, yet they have a whole article on it. It’s probably all bullshit.

Before I can shut my phone off, it lights up with a call.

“Thank fuck.” Lisette looks relieved as I answer her Facetime call.

“Awe, you care about me?”

She rolls her eyes as she wipes the paint from her face. “No, I just can’t remember if you updated your will since you became a millionaire. It would suck if you died before making sure to leave me something.”

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