Page 72 of The Ones We Fight For

Talia’s mouth dropped open in surprise. She’d never heard Piper blatantly be rude to anyone before. She was just about to scold Piper when the guy spoke up instead.

“Just making sure you don’t screw this up, princesita. Seems to be a habit of yours.” The boy offered a slight smirk before promptly turning on his heel to stalk away. Talia followed him with her eyes and wasn’t surprised when the guy peeked back over his shoulder at Piper, who had already set her vision straight ahead to the stage.

Interesting.

“Always have to get the last word, don’t you?” Piper muttered under her breath.

“What the hell was that?” Talia gestured toward where the kid had disappeared behind a large stage prop.

“Nothing.” Piper shook her head like she was trying to clear it and set her shoulders back, lifting her chin. “Just a theater kid who thinks he’s better than everyone else.”

“He’s been Piper’s partner in Spanish class for the whole year. She hates him,” Colin piped up.

“I don’t hate him,” Piper protested before quickly backtracking. “He just seems to think his sole purpose in life is to call me ‘Peter Piper’ or ‘Perfect Piper’ then rip apart my pronunciations every four seconds ‘cause he speaks fluent Spanish.”

“What a dick,” Carter said. Talia narrowed her eyes at him, assuming the comment was sarcastic, but one look at him said he was actually serious. Talia chuckled and arched her eyebrows at him. Carter constantly called his sister ‘Perfect Piper’ as an insult, so he knew exactly what her pointed stare meant. He shrugged. “She’s my sister. I’m allowed to make fun of her. That asshole isn’t.”

“Touché” Talia tried to hold back her smile, but she couldn’t help it.

“To be fair,” Colin raised a correcting finger in the air, “you do suck at Spanish.”

“Carter’s not good at it, either!” Piper protested.

“I’ll admit it. I do suck at Spanish,” Carter shrugged, then got a devilish gleam in his eye. Talia waited for the punchline. “I’m really good at speaking with my body, though.”

“Ew!” Piper groaned.

“You told Walker you weren’t having sex,” Talia shifted her tone to a parental one. “Should I inform him otherwise?”

“Oh, he’s definitely not sleeping with anyone,” Colin interjected.

“Everyone shut up!” Carter buried his face in his hands. “I’m going to kill Walker. I can’t believe he told you that!”

Talia figured his embarrassment was punishment enough, but couldn’t help but to get one last stab in. “Would you rather he tell me when you do start—”

“Forget I said anything!” Carter groaned. “Please.”

Polite applause from the theater announced that the principal’s grandiose speech about community and the bond that glued that community together—which was apparently the high school?—was finally finished. That sentiment seemed a bit dramatic, but Carter seemed happy enough to have a change of subject.

“Ready?” Piper asked, gnawing on her bottom lip.

“What are we auctioning? Is it already out there?” Talia peeked onto the stage but saw nothing in the way of something resembling a prize.

“What we are selling is more… the idea of something,” Colin said as the principal walked off the stage toward them, passing the mic off to Piper. Piper nodded to both Carter and Colin, who bobbed their heads back like there was some unspoken knowledge between the three of them.

“Too late to turn back now,” Carter sighed, motioning to the stage. “We go down together.”

“Sorry about this, Tal,” Piper cringed.

“Sorry?” Talia whispered back, furrowing her brow.

“I’m not.” Carter grinned.

“It’s a good idea,” Colin insisted under his breath.

“It was your idea, Colin,” Piper rolled her eyes.

“Exactly,” Carter and Colin said at the same time. Talia jerked her head back and forth between the siblings as she tried to follow the conversation.

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