Page 32 of Wicked Games

Now, I just hope Greyson doesn’t end up anything like Caleb Asher.

I jerk my attention away from her desk. I shouldn’t be thinking about her family. It feels a bit like a boundary I’mcrossing, even in my head. It just seems nice, is all, to know she caressomuch for her son.

Eventually, the bell rings.

And I need to meet Amelie.

For a moment, I consider tracking down Riley and asking her to come with me. But I don’t want to risk upsetting the delicate truce Amelie and I seem to have struck.

And just because I’m doing something scary doesn’t mean I can’t do it alone.

Swallowing my nerves, I head toward the courtyard. Some students eat lunch out here in nicer weather, but the chill of November has driven everyone inside.

Amelie sits on one of the benches, her pleated skirt fanned out around her. Her toned, tan legs extend out from under it. Her ankles are crossed, her posture straight. Everything about her is picture-perfect. Curled, long blonde hair, subtle makeup, the way her shirt fits to her torso.

I swallow down my creeping jealousy. That’s not what this is about, right?

It’s about getting back at Caleb.

“About time.” She checks her phone, then raises an eyebrow at me.

“I was debating whether or not to come.”

“You made the right decision,” she says. “I heard you snubbed Caleb this morning. Everyone is whispering about it.”

Unlike the video?

She flips her hair back. “Caleb’s been meddling in your life forever.”

“I know.” I sit beside her. “That isn’t news.”

She scowls. “What do you remember?”

“Of what?”

“When you up and left. We were ten. What do you remember?”

I shake my head. “First of all, I did not up and leave. I was taken away.”

—head snapping back?—

I press my fingers to my temples. “I don’t want to discuss this.”

“The boys in this school,” she mutters. “They’re out to get us.”

“What are you talking about?” Is she referring to someone else along with Caleb?

“Caleb played us all, don’t you get it? Heseducedus?—”

I drop my hands and glare at her. This isn’t going how I thought it would. No, actually, itisgoing how I thought it would. I’d just hoped for something different.

“He didn’t seduce me.”

Okay, well, he laid out a sticky web, and like an idiot, I fell right into it.

“And anyway, it didn’t work, because he and I are done. And you know what? I think this conversation is done, too.”

She’s prying and invading, and why didn’t I see this side of her before?

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