Page 8 of Thief of my Heart

I slapped at the back of my neck, suddenly feeling like something was crawling on it. “Gina Reyes dated Michael?”

Angie nodded, not even bothering to hide her glee as her gold bamboo hoops swung back and forth. “Ohhhh, yeah. Up until he got locked up, anyway. Then, you know, she was messing with Alex Ramirez for a minute. Her cousin’s on dance team too—you know Kylie. Anyway, she would not shut up about Mike today. And lemme tell you, girl, Gina’s got plans for him. Supposedly, she heard he got out and broke up with Alex with a page. Can you believe that?”

“Huh.” I inspected my nails, urging my face not to flush at the idea of Gina Reyes sinking her two-inch claws into Michael Scarrone.

I didn’t say more than that. I didn’t need to. Both my friends knew exactly how I felt about Gina Reyes. Gorgeous, blonde, flirty-as-fuck Gina Reyes. The girl half of Belmont Prep had fantasized about since her tits first came in. Including the one and only boyfriend I’d ever had.

Kate, however, wasn’t in the loop, considering she was only a sophomore and had started school after Gina had graduated. “Who’s Gina Reyes?”

“She don’t know?” Linda’s big brown eyes widened.

I found a pencil on my desk that urgently needed to be sharpened. “There’s nothing to know.”

Linda snorted, and Angie said, “Okay, then.”

“No, really,” Kate pressed, sitting up straight and setting her sketchbook on her nightstand. “What did she do?”

I sighed and turned back around to face everyone. “Do we really have to tell this story?”

Angie leaned forward, her eyes bright with excitement. “Yes, we do.”

I rolled my eyes but began anyway. “If we must. You, um, remember Victor Jenkins?”

Every girl in the room nodded—my two best friends, plus Kate, knew everything about my first and only boyfriend. They knew Victor was the point guard for Belmont Prep’s basketball team two years ago. They knew we’d met at one of his games when I’d caught the ball in the stands. They knew he’d pursued me for weeks, told me he loved me, promised me I would be his girl.

“Well, we almost…” I trailed off. I couldn’t quite bring myself to say it in front of my little sister. Like it would make me a bad influence, even if she was plenty old enough to know about sex and everything else teenagers do.

“Did the bad thing?” Kate provided unhelpfully. “At his senior prom? And then went to confession every day for a week after?”

I shot her a glare. “You aren’t supposed to know about that.”

Kate wasn’t particularly fazed. “Then you shouldn’t leave your diary where anyone could find it.”

“It was under my mattress!” I scowled, making my friends giggle.

“That’s amateur hour, Sis. You’ve learned since then.”

I glared but couldn’t argue with her. There was a small safe under my bed to prove it, containing my current journals, a pair of gold earrings, and the necklace that had once belonged to my mother’s grandmother. I’d saved for a year to buy myself some measure of privacy in this house full of people.

“Anyway,” I said meaningfully. “I was only fifteen. A little young to be giving it up after a few months, don’t you think?”

Angie just shrugged, and Linda looked away. Both of them had lost theirs years ago. Meanwhile, I was still practically the angel in white.

Not that I was ashamed.

“Whatever,” I said. “I had bigger plans than some boy, and I still do. But back then, well, Victor distracted me for a while.”

“Until Gina found out,” Linda added.

Kate looked back at me. “She was with him too?”

“She wanted to be,” Angie filled her in. “Everyone did. And it was before she went out with Mike Scarrone. Apparently, after Lea turned him down at prom, Victor heard that Gina would put out. So he took her to the hotel and left Lea at the dance.”

Kate’s jaw dropped. “Le, you didn’t tell me that!”

I frowned, staring at my hands. I needed a manicure, but I wasn’t going to get another shift helping with Nonno’s books until Michael was out of the picture. “You were a little young to be hearing about that kind of stuff.”

“It didn’t end there, though,” Linda said. “Victor tried to run back to you. Even after you turned him down, Gina made your life a living hell for the next year. Spread rumors. Told everyone you were frigid and shit. Gave you that horrible nickname.”

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