I slam the door shut and watch her pace up and down. Kicking the door, she rages some more until she’s out of breath. Then she slumps to her bed and flops down.
“God, I hate them. And I hate him.”
I sit down across from her, and just stare ahead.
“Wow …” I say. “I seriously did not know it was that bad.”
“Do you see now? Those guys are not good, Autumn. I tried to tell you, but you’ve been blind the whole time.”
“Well thanks,” I scoff.
She sighs. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean that you really need to open your eyes to the truth. He’s not who you think he is. Not anymore.”
“Damn it …” I say, and I let my back drop onto the bed so I can stare at the white ceiling. It makes things a little easier to process.
Neither of us say anything else until she’s calmed down. When I can no longer hear her panting, I sit up straight, and so does she.
“It smelled like pot in there. Brody’s really gone nuts.” Evie twirls her finger around in the air, close to her temple.
“I guess …” I say.
I don’t really know what else to say. I’ve seen it with my own eyes now. He’s hanging with the wrong crowd, and now he’s even smoking weed. Their behavior is violent and frightening, and I don’t want to have any part in it.
“Friends are supposed to be there for each other. To support one another. They don’t laugh at you or let their friends treat you like dirt,” Evie chides in anger.
“I know …”
The more she says, the more I feel tears stinging my eyes. It hurts to have her talk like this. Not because it’s wrong, but because I know it’s the truth. I don’t like seeing my friends this way.
“Oh … crap … I’m sorry,” she says, and she scoots off the bed and sits down on mine, putting her arm around me. “Don’t cry because of what I said.”
“I’m not.” I wipe away a few tears I didn’t manage to hold back. “I just hate the way this is turning out. I missed Brody. All this time I was waiting to finally go to college so I could hang out with him again, and now he’s like this.”
“I know … I’m sorry …”
“And the worst part is that I can’t change it.”
She sighs and leans her head down on my shoulder, rubbing her hand over my back. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. He won’t ruin our day anymore.”
“Yeah …”
“Hey, what do you say we go swimming? Let’s do something fun.”
“I can’t.” I reach into my pocket and take out the money I have left for the week. I don’t need to count to know it’s not enough to do anything else but buy food with. “It’s not enough. I’ll have to wait until my next paycheck, and even then I probably won’t have enough.”
“Oh …” Evie swallows. “Well, we can always go back to the library and pick out random books to read instead. Just something to get your mind off Brody.”
I nod, and she claps her hands.
“All right, let’s go.”
She pulls me up from my bed, and we go outside.
We bump into Scarlet in the hallway. “Hey, where are you going, girls?”
Brody comes up behind her, and I wince at the sight of him. He quickly walks around us and grabs Scarlet’s hand. “C’mon.”
“No, I want to talk to them.” She jerks her hand loose. “Sorry about his friends. They’re a cranky bunch.”
Evie snorts. “That’s a big understatement.”
“So, what are you girls up to?” Scarlet asks.
I clear my throat to stop Evie from starting a fight. “We thought of going swimming, but―”
“Oh, can I come?” Scarlet interrupts me.
“We’re not really―”
“I want to make it up to you. Let’s go together, I’ll pay.”
“No, you know that’s not good for your heart. Now let’s go,” Brody says, and he swiftly grabs her arm and drags her through the hallway.
“Sorry! Rain check, then?” she yells, digging her feet into the carpet as he pulls her around the corner and out of sight.
“Not a chance …” Evie mumbles.
“At least Scarlet is nice,” I say. “I can’t say the same about Brody.”
“It’s like the world is upside down,” Evie says. “Tan-and-pink chicks aren’t bitches, and they suddenly want to hang out with us, and the nerd has turned into a complete asshole.”
“Let’s not go there again,” I say as we walk downstairs.
“Right,” she says.