Page 60 of The Art of Us

Maybe it had been her dad’s attempted phone call.

Maybe it had been how completely victimized she’d felt by Rowan in that moment because she knew who he really was.

Maybe she had just had enough of everything, and it was all just too, too much.

When Mara saw the tears, she whirled on Rowan. “What did you do to her?”

Rowan stood, as if not liking that she was taller than him while he was sitting. “I didn’t do anything.”

Mara tucked Ireland behind her in an apparent attempt to keep her out of his reach. “That’s a lie. You never do anything you’d admit to, but you definitely do things.”

“What are you doing?” Ireland whispered in a fierce attempt to get Mara to just turn around and leave with her. All they had todo was leave, and this would all be over, and they could go back to her house where it was safe.

“Howling out loud,” Mara said, not whispering.

Rowan lifted his hands in a placating gesture and moved to sit down again when Tinsley jumped to her drunken feet. She wobbled a little but managed to stay upright. “I am sssooo sick of you,” she slurred at Mara.

Everyone else moved to their feet too, and not because they were starting an impromptu dance party. Like Mara had put herself in front of Ireland, Tinsley had placed herself in front of Rowan. “I am sssooo sick of you!” Tinsley was slur-shouting now.

“I can’t believe you.” Tinsley continued, waving her arms. “Icannotbelieve you right now. I can’t even—ugh! Rowan, you wantherafter all that she’s been saying about you? Do you know what she’s been telling people?”

“What do I care what people say or don’t say? I’ve got nothing to hide.” Rowan shrugged like he was entirely unconcerned by the spectacle before him. His act would have been believable if weren’t for the little guilty tells. His eyes were tight, and he covered them as if saying he was exhausted by all the drama, but to Ireland, it seemed more like he was hiding his eyes from the truth. When he lowered his hand, his fists clenched and unclenched.

Mara noted that everyone was standing and staring. She did not want an audience like this. She didn’t want her howl to be quite this loud. And the fact remained that Mara cared about her friends. She didn’t want Tinsley involved. “Maybe we should get you home, huh?” Mara tried to approach Tinsley, but it was like Tinsley had snapped. No one could touch her or go near her without her flying into a rage again.

“I’m done! I tell you I am so sick of it. I’m done. Finished.Kaput. Over it. No more. Calling it quits on our friendship. Do you hear me?”

All Ireland got from the rant was that Tinsley must have owned a thesaurus at some point.

“I know what you’re saying about Rowan. I heardherboyfriend talking to Mr. Wasden.” Tinsley pointed at Ireland and all eyes followed until everyone was looking at her. But Ireland didn’t look at anyone except Mara, whose face scrunched in confusion.

Ireland’s body felt numb. Her thoughts turned to static. Kal had gone to Mr. Wasden? Impossible. Tinsley hadn’t said anything to prove that she actually knew what had happened with Mara. Kal would never betray her confidence like that.

As if hearing Ireland’s thoughts, Tinsley continued. “Don’t act dumb. Kal told Mr. Wasden that Mara was running around telling people that Rowan attacked her. As if he’d need to when everyone knows how thirsty she is for his attention.”

“I didn’t attack anyone!” Rowan insisted when it became clear people were looking at him through a different lens. He tried to appear calm, but the wild in his eyes matched the higher pitch in his voice.

“She says you did. But you still want her!” Tinsley said. “She does all that and you still tell me I’ll never be good enough because I’m not at her ‘level.’” She made air quotes and then said, “You mean I’ll neverstoopto her level.”

“She’s been drinking,” someone in the crowd said.

“Everybody just calm down,” Kiya from Ireland’s English class said.

Emily tried to reach out to Tinsley, but Tinsley yanked her hand away. “No! Listen to me! It’s true! Mara’s been throwing herself at Rowan since freshman year. He finally gives in, and she does this? Right before the big track meet? It’s like she’s trying to get him suspended for no reason at all.” She’d said allthis while addressing the group, but then she whirled on Mara. “You have everything. Isn’t it enough? Do you need his dignity too? Do you have to ruin it so that the rest of us don’t have a chance?”

“Hey, maybe we just take this all down a notch, huh?” Kiya tried again to deescalate the situation, but no one paid any attention to her; all eyes were glued on the drama unfolding on the sand.

Tinsley swiped her hair out of her face. “You take in the little hobo and become her bestie, as if that makes you a saint or something. And then you blow the rest of us off like we’re nothing. I’ll tell you what:Irelandis nothing. Yeah, I said it.” She whirled to face Ireland. “You were living in an outhouse in the woods before you moved in with Mara. I heard Kal and Mr. Wasden talking about it today in the art room. I was in his gallery to talk about my grades and heard the whole thing.”

There were murmurs about Ireland’s living arrangement, but Tinsley’s shrill declarations drowned out what they might have been saying. “If Kal hadn’t told Mr. Wasden about you, you’d still be there drinking toilet water and having bugs burrow under your hair, and you just—”

Nathan from the basketball team picked Tinsley up and carried her away from the fire. She kicked and swore at him while Cooper held up his hands. “Nothing to see here, folks. Tinsley’s meltdown doesn’t concern you. As you were.”

Rowan’s eyes fixed on Mara, and he took two steps toward her. She scrambled back to get away, but Emily stepped between them. “Until we sort this out, why don’t we all go back to our corners. Don’t talk to my girl unless she initiates contact with you.” Emily shooed him away.

“Seriously. Tinsley’s trippin’. I never—” Rowan started but Cooper cut him off.

“I saw you, man. There at Redwood Park.”

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