June
Leaning against the outside wall at Tropical with my eyes glued to my phone, I reread my texts with William.
June: Where'd you run off to last night?
William: Sorry, June, I'm just not a big fan of pool parties
June: So, any party organized by your friends automatically makes you sick?
I grumbled as I read the text. I could've avoided it given Will's next text.
William: Actually, the smell of chlorine makes me nauseated
I reread that sentence a few times.
William: June, how about we spend the afternoon at my house?
I scrolled down to the last text.
William: Change of plans. Let's go to Tropical tonight. I'll explain everything
"Did William really stand you up this afternoon?"
Jackson's taunting voice made me roll my eyes toward the dark, starless night sky.
"Will stood her up again. Imagine how little he gives a shit about seeing her." I heard James Hunter's deep voice lord over me.
"James," the blond guy warned.
"What? I was just telling the truth," he spat cynically.
The two started vaping near me and Jackson shot me a compassionate look.
"June, he'll be here. You'll see. He's just gonna be late."
I appreciated his attempt to calm me down, but I honestly didn't believe him either. Will had been standoffish the whole day, so I doubted he'd keep his promise and show up Tropical.
"Did Will text you?" James asked Jackson.
"No, he didn't tell me shit."
The two were soon surrounded by people I didn't know. I'd seen some of them, but others seemed were new to me. They vaped and talked loudly, and I wondered what the hell they were doing there. I should've met up with Poppy and Ari and found Will, but the things weren't going the way I hoped they would.
I checked the time. It was already ten, and not a word from Will.
I glanced at Ari, who was leaving teary eyed. She looked distraught.
"Where's Will?" she asked. "Is he standing you up like he did this afternoon?"
"No, he had something come up." I tried to defend him. She stared at me, disappointed.
"Okay, yeah, he stood me up," I snapped, irritated. "What about Brian?"
"He didn't feel like coming."
Feeling down, we leaned against the wall. We could've had a fun girl's night, but Ari and I weren't friends. We didn't have much in common, maybe because I didn't know what to say to her.
She hinted at a smile, then checked her phone. "Poppy's late like always, but she said she'd join us."
"Okay."
I rubbed my forearms to warm myself up. Ari looked over at the nearby chatter. Her eyes were glued to James, who somehow managed to draw all the attention to himself in the middle of the giggling group of people. Maybe it was his childish laugh and irresistible dimples, or maybe it was the furtive glances he shot at us.
That contemptible creature and I weren't talking anymore, and I couldn't help but feel happy about that.
"I'm gonna grab another drink. Do you want anything?" Ari pointed at the empty bottle she was holding.
"No, want me to come with you?"
"It's better if you wait for Poppy here. If we both go in, we might not find each other."
Ari disappeared into the crowd surrounding the entrance.
Marvin and a girl with a black bob and inky black eyes approached me.
"Hey," she said, smoking with half-opened eyes.
"Hey," I replied, surly.
"This is June White." Marvin chortled, introducing me. "And his is my cousin."
Her legs were tattooed, she had the gift of gab, and she wouldn't take her eyes off James Hunter. He didn't seem remotely interested in her chatter, so much so that at a certain point he started to look for me.
"White?"
"Hmm," I grumbled pretending to look at my phone.
"What are you doing there all alone? Come over here."
"Come here, June," Marvin chimed in.
I would've liked to have told them that I was waiting for the girls, and I wasn't planning on being around people like that, but in the end, I gave in. Maybe they would be able to tell me why their best friend had stood me up again. And I couldn't even blame James, since he was in front of me burning what few neurons he had left in his brain.
"And Will?" This time the question came from Marvin, who was staring at me with eyes red from the weed.
"No idea," I murmured.
In retrospect, I very well could've headed home instead of subjecting myself to being there right after the girls' cheerleading practice. I was still wearing my uniform, and that stupid skirt that would've given me hypothermia. But I stayed there hoping to see William.
"Are you cold?"
Marvin approached me, apparently to put his arm around me. I backed away.
"Marvin," James called before his friend could say anything else to me.
"Do you want it or not?" He passed around what clearly looked like a joint.
Marvin began smoking close to me, and I twisted my hair in a bun, as if that could prevent it from absorbing the smoke.
"Looks like Will's not coming," Marvin declared, offering me a hit.
"No thanks."
"Yeah, it is cold," the tattooed girl interrupted, batting her eyelashes at James.
He didn't pay her any attention. Instead, he walked away. "I gotta take a break," he grumbled brusquely, before going back into the club.
I fidgeted with my phone as I thought about what to do. I didn't feel like texting Will. I hadn't heard from him since the afternoon, and even though I was upset, I didn't want to act like a clingy girlfriend. That, and we weren't even together. Or were we?
I texted my mom. I've waited a long time. Will you come pick me up?
I had two options in the meantime: join the shit show inside hoping to make it out alive or freeze to death out here surrounded by these dumbasses. Jackson made me uncomfortable, Marvin's stoned gaze gave me the creeps, and I hated James with every fiber of my being. The first option was better.
But since James had just walked inside, I decided to wait until he left. My biggest objective was to stay as far away from him as possible.
"You okay?" Jackson asked me at some point, biting his lip piercing between sips of his drink.
"Yeah," I muttered.
"You're shaking, June."
"I'm cold," the girl with the bob whined, thinking Jackson was only talking to her. He grumbled, took off his jacket, and put it on her. "Here. But make sure you give it back to me before you go home. It was personally signed by Jalen Hurts."
I thought of Blaze.
"Where's Blaze?"
Jackson raised his blond eyebrow pierced with metal. "How the hell would I know? Eh?"
I shivered. I'd never wanted my mom to come get me as much as I did at that moment. Marvin was intoxicated, Jackson was so cranky that it seemed like he had an issue with the whole world, and the chick with the bob just took the last warm piece of clothing in the immediate area.
Damn California, isn't it supposed to always be warm?
"Where are our drinks?" asked Marvin when James exited Tropical empty handed, a foreboding look on his face. He seemed angry with his flushed cheeks and messy hair.
He glared at us and then took a long hit. "Shut it, Marvin."
He grabbed the brunet by the hem of her dress and pulled her closer.
Right then I thought the girl would slap him, but she didn't. Instead, she parted her lips and sucked in the smoke James blew in her face. They'd just met two minutes ago. Why were they acting like that?
My brain went haywire at the exact moment that James's eyes trailed to my bare thighs.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and got up the courage to talk.
"You really suck."
"You always have to run your mouth, don't you? Do you always have to get in the middle of stuff that doesn't involve you?" James raised his midnight-blue eyes in my direction, and a chill went down my spine. I shouldn't have answered. I shouldn't've set him off.
"I'll talk when I want to. What's it to you?"
He stepped in front of me in the blink of an eye.
"You're always acting like an even bigger pain in the ass, Snow White, is that so hard to understand?"
"Needless to say, it's mutual."
Only Jackson chortled at my insult.
"Mmm, James?" The girl summoned him, but he shot her a look.
"I'm talking to White, can't you see that?"
"Listen, Hunter, everything was going smoothly. Can you leave me in peace for more than five seconds? I'm waiting for my mom, and then I'll be out of here," I answered quietly.
I heard James mimic me, and the girl burst out laughing.
"You're such a dick. Get out of the way!"
I tried to push him. I channeled all my strength from my hands into his chest, but it felt like it was made of steel.
"Oh really?" He looked at me menacingly.
"You don't scare me. I don't know what to tell you." I dug my heels in.
"Hey, Marvin." I didn't like James's tone of voice at all. "Wanna play a game?"
"James . . ." Jackson must've known James really well, because he seemed to see where the conversation was going and stepped in to stop him. But James didn't pay him any attention.
"What's that?" Marvin seemed intrigued.
"What do you think of White? Do you think she could be our friend?"
"James, cut it out," continued Jackson, irritated.
"What did I say?"
"Isn't she dating Will?" sputtered Marvin, more confused than I was. The corner of James's mouth lifted into a sadistic smirk.
"So? I asked you a fucking question, Marvin. Answer me."
"Come on, James, cut it out," his friend repeated, embarrassed.
I tried to remove myself from the situation but James walked into me and prevented me from moving. I backed up until I was against the wall. He stretched his arm over my head and put a hand on my shoulder.
I had no way of escaping.
"I'll spare you the details, Snow White, but understand that I could make a laundry list how anyone here could have fun with you."
"Try to touch me, and I swear you'll not only long for the punch I threw at you but the glorious days when you could use the tiny thing between your legs that Mother Nature gave you." The words flew out of my mouth. I expected a furious reaction, but instead he seemed amused.
"Little thing between my legs?" He snickered. "What makes you think I want to touch you?"
I saw his jaw clench as he said that last sentence.
"Why won't you leave me alone? Do you really have that much fun messing with me?"
"Leave William alone, and I'll pretend that you never existed. I'll never bother you again."
I was overcome by a strange sensation. It could've been a threat, but James seemed sincere. "Why should I?"
"None of your fucking business. Do it and that's it. Tell him you can't see him anymore." He wasn't touching me. He just stared at me, but I was immobilized anyway.
James lowered his head and came so close to me that I could see his eyes getting even cloudier as they met mine. The blue was thin, and his pupils were extremely dilated. He was definitely gone.
James grazed my uniform skirt. He was obviously messing with me. I could've told him to cut it out, but I was unable to. I couldn't even talk, I was so mortified.
Jackson tried to grab James's arm, but he pushed him off so hard that Jackson almost fell.
"Well, Marvin?"
Even poor Marvin seemed uncomfortable now.
I felt my heart pound in my ears. My throat was so dry that it hurt to even swallow.
"You're not special," he said bluntly.
Marvin noticed my terrified expression and looked regretful.
"So, dear, Marviny, hurry up with White . . ." He paused to lick his lips and bite his lower one.
"What are you talking about?" His friend rubbed the nape of his neck, bewildered.
James leered at me in a way that made me shiver.
"Before I get the unsavory idea of fucking her in front of everyone one of these days."
He hadn't even touched me, but his words were so humiliating that I immediately averted my gaze from him.
As tears filled my eyes, I couldn't prevent them from falling.
It was unfair to feel so weak because of something as insignificant as other people's stupidity.
I decided to react. "It doesn't work like that." That was all I managed to say.
"Oh, no?" he asked, taking a step back.
Finally, I started breathing again. "No. You might have power over the four morons in your entourage, but not over me."
He took the drink out of Marvin's cousin's hands and sipped it as he continued to stare at me.
"Really? Why is that?" he asked between clenched teeth.
"Take a wild guess. I'm not an object, and you're a truly despicable human being. Nothing I say could remotely come close to what I think of you. You're a fucking pig. And I hate you." It happened again. I expected him to get angry, but instead he burst out laughing. Maybe he was satisfied because he'd achieved his goal of humiliating me, hurting me, and making me angry. But he certainly wasn't terrified of me.
"And here I was just marketing you to my friends." He shrugged indifferently and went back to smoking like nothing had happened.
"And after I told you what you had to do. Leave Will alone. It doesn't seem that difficult to me."
"You're such a dick when you act like this, James," Jackson said, shaking his head.
"He was just kidding," he whispered to me.
"Poor thing, look how she's shaking," added Marvin, upset. The girl on the other hand didn't show the slightest concern.
I watched James take off his hoodie to reveal a T-shirt.
"Look at him acting like a gentleman," teased Marvin.
"Right, it's a shame that he's missing the pair of balls that go with his white horse." Oxygen seemed to be returning to my lungs now that he was far away. James didn't respond to that jab, maybe because deep down he knew he'd taken it too far, so he threw his hoodie in my face. "Shut up and get dressed. You're freezing your ass off, dumbass."
I wanted to take it and wrap it around my neck. I would've rather frozen to death than accept an item of his clothing. But all that was in theory. As proud as I was, I was totally different in practice. I put the hoodie on immediately.
When I got home, I'd burn it.
My phone buzzed with a text. A flash of disappointment came over me when I saw that it wasn't from William, but my mom. She was almost here.
"Why'd you give it to her?"
The girl was upset, but it seemed to be fleeting when James put her face between his hands and kissed her against the wall.
I grumbled and hugged myself in the hoodie, then smiled slightly at Jackson, who'd just tried to defend me. But instead, he glared at me in a way that was anything but reassuring. A second later, I noticed that he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the hoodie I had on.