Page 44 of Hate Game

“She would have been one hundred.”

“She lived a long life.” Rue kneels and sets the flowers on the grave site. “You must have loved her a lot if you remembered her birthday. My mom’s missed my last three.”

There’s sadness in her voice, and I see red. Had Gina been around, I would have given her a piece of my mind.

“Yeah, I loved my Nana. She lived with my grandparents and was lucid until the end, when she died in her sleep. When I stayed over, she would bring out this world globe and point to the places she had wanted to visit. By the time she and my great-grandfather were done raising their six boys, he had passed, and she had horrible anxiety about leaving the house and her cats. Now look where she’s at.” I jerk my head at Nana’s grave. “Stuck in Cambridge forever.”

“You’re right. She’ll never leave, and you’ll always know where to find her.” Rue straightens and glances around. “The dead can be counted on to stick around their final resting place. They will never abandon you in your time of need.”

Like her parents had abandoned her. Like how my parents are never around. Rue and I are more alike than I thought; our similarities are a good enough reason to get over her as quickly as possible.

Already, she’s chipping away at my defenses, starting with all the apologizing I’ve been doing lately. I cannot let her get ahold of my heart again. Rue is a dead end, and I am not sticking around this deadbeat town for a girl who will drive a wedge between me and my cousins.

17

RUE

Ididn’t think of my job proposal’s consequences and am now paying for it.

Whispers and snickering follow me as I go down Cambridge High’s hallways to my first class. Malice left before I could catch a ride with him.

That butt! Thank goodness Leigh and her boyfriend live close by. They gave me a ride to school. Leigh gave me a tour and offered to stick by my side, but I won’t let my bad rep rub off on her, even though she has her boyfriend’s protection. Seven Shanahan is at the top of the school royalty echelon along with his buddies, Trace and Malice. Speaking of the devil, where is he?

I hurry to the school’s office and ask the woman at the front desk for Malice’s schedule, expecting to get pushback. There isn’t any, and I find out the reason.

She taps on the computer’s keyboard. “Principal Staudinger told me about your transfer.”

The office lady looks like she is Riley’s age. Layers of blonde hair frame her face, and her makeup is expertly done. Nothing is off about her, not even the collar of her crisp periwinkle shirt. Is her fate my fate when my friends leave for bigger and better things?

“He said you might show up at the office for this.”

She hands me a printout. I take it from her and compare Malice’s schedule with mine. Weird. “We have the same classes.”

“It makes your job easy, doesn’t it?” She winks. “Principal Staudinger said it’s been a rough year for you. You lost your dog-sitting job, and no one will hire you because”—she coughs into her hand—“things go missing.”

Malice had accused me of being a pessimist, and I would like to start proving him wrong. I look on the bright side of their gossiping. “It’s nice of Principal Staudinger to look out for me. Please thank him for me when you see him.”

Her eyes widen. I hold back my smile. She goes in for the kill with her next, from left field comment. “You’re not the first.”

First what? Malice’s first hookup? I’m a hopeless romantic but not a naive one. My contemplative silence gives her permission to continue goading me.

“There were two others hired to watch over Malice and keep him out of trouble. One was your sister. Successful, that one.” She looks me up and down. I resist the urge to smack the satisfied smirk off her face. “Then she went off to college, and Malice went back to sulking.” She shakes her head and returns to tapping on the keyboard.

I am not easily dismissed. Plus, my curiosity gets the better of me. “And the second girl? What happened with her?” Malice fell for Riley. Did he fall for this other girl?

She gives me a cryptic response. “His sophomore year.”

I search my brain for a memory of anyone telling me about Malice’s second Malice-sitter. Nothing. “How old was she?” Was she older and then went off to college too?

“Same year.”

The same agehangs in the air between us.Was she one of Malice’s hookups? Did he hook up with her after me?

“The Sterlings let her go for something he did to another girl.”

Sophomore year. My pregnancy. Malice’s parents telling the other Sterlings. Did they fire her for my pregnancy? “Who was she?”

“Olivia Stanton.”

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