Page 5 of Crew Princess
Taz’s entire body seemed to deflate. “I know, but he cheated on her first.”
That happened too.
Then from Cross, “They’re getting a divorce, Taz. Whether I’m talking to them or not won’t change a goddamn thing.”
And yeah, that was happening overall.
Times were now a bit tense.
Then Jordan came over and asked, “Hey. Are we going to the bonfire tonight? For District Weekend?”
District Weekend. I’d forgotten—and shit.
We had about a month left of school.
That meant prom was the following weekend.
With Cross just two inches beneath him, Jordan was the tallest guy in our school. The only one who could’ve competed was our last principal, but he was gone.
Someone got him fired…
Cross came down the last few steps, moving his sister out of the way with a gentle hand, then stepped down so he was right behind me. His voice came over my shoulder, his breath caressing me. “We are?”
Jordan drew closer, some Normals behind him. The one lounger guy had tripled so there were three of them now.
I looked, but no Z. Where was Z? A few girls had come instead.
Sunday. Monica. There was another girl too. Lilac? She had a thing for Cross. I wasn’t a fan. And I was pretty sure she loathed me. I didn’t blame her. I’d feel the same.
See. More evidence of just how far I’d come.
I was all understanding now, not straight-going-for-the-knife Bren anymore.
Work in progress. That was me.
“Yeah. Why not?” He shrugged. “Fallen Crest and Frisco switched things around. Might be fun. That Quickie’s place burned down. I heard they have a new place there instead of that one gas station. Wait. Is that where they put the new police station?”
One of the guys cursed. “Where’s the bonfire going to be then?”
More than a couple phones came out, but Cross touched the back of my elbow. “Come on.” He motioned to Jordan as well, so the three of us moved outside.
Cross walked to the street before stopping.
“Look,” Jordan started, his hands in the air.
“I’m fine with it.”
My eyebrows shot up.
Last semester, we would’ve been holding back for me. I was the one who always did my own thing, with Cross coming to find me later. But since his dad had moved out, since Cross had officially moved into my bedroom, he and I had switched roles.
Well, I was still one to do my own thing, but usually Cross was more vocal about how none of us needed to doallthe parties. His being okay with this bonfire in Fallen Crest—especiallythere—wasn’t… Then I got it.
“Your dad’s new girlfriend is there, isn’t she?”
Yeah.Anotherthing that had happened. His dad moved fast.
Cross had mentioned his dad having a new girlfriend. He’d mentioned she worked in Fallen Crest. I knew his dad had moved elsewhere, but Cross hadn’t told me where. I was surprised Cross knew as much as he did.
