Page 1 of The Arrangement
PROLOGUE
ROME ASHBRIDGE
Summer, 2004
Cicadas buzzed loudlyin the trees, the sound rising and falling like waves hitting the beach. The air was thick and hot. No breeze stirred the leaves or cooled the sweat that beaded up on my skin, but I barely noticed as I peered through the wooden privacy fence three doors down from my best friend’s house. Two girls sat on the swings of an old metal jungle gym, talking animatedly, but we couldn’t make out what they were saying. They slowly rocked back and forth, the metal creaking, just barely rising above their intense conversation. Not that I cared what they were talking about. The important thing was that they were oblivious targets in an endless battle between boys and girls.
Liam let out a hushed giggle, and I hissed at him to be quiet. They couldn’t discover us before we were ready. The ripe water balloon was heavy in my hand, begging to be hurled. We’d spent the better part of half an hour chasing each other around with water guns, water balloons, and even a hose in an effort to fight off boredom and the heat. But we were tired of fighting eachother. We needed new targets. Carrie Blake and Lori Armstrong lived on Liam’s block and loved to tease him because he was small for his age. Well, I was there to step in and fight for his honor.
I took one last peek. It didn’t seem as if they were planning to get off the swings anytime soon. This was the best opportunity. With a grin at my friend, I nodded and hefted the fat red water balloon over the fence toward the girls. Liam cackled and launched his green balloon and shifted the orange one to his right hand. His last one followed as a pair of panicked shrieks split the air. I laughed as I chucked my blue water balloon at the girls.
“Liam! You little butthead!” Carrie screamed.
“Rome!” Lori chimed in, twisting my name into a curse.
I peeked through the fence to see them running to the house with their hands on their heads as if to protect themselves from more water balloons. I couldn’t tell if we’d hit them. That would have been great. But I was happy with their panic and anger.
Liam grabbed my wrist and jerked. “Come on! They’re gonna tell their moms!”
Yeah, it was better to get the heck out of there before we were caught. Not that I thought we were going to get in any kind of real trouble, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear yet another lecture on why I shouldn’t be picking on Carrie and Lori. I hadn’t seen anyone give those two a lecture about not calling Liam names.
We darted away from the fence and between the houses, through thick bushes that scratched at our bare legs, until we were in Liam’s yard, where old maple trees extended long, leafy branches across the entire space to create a shadowy haven against the summer heat. Liam jumped over where he’d left his bike in the middle of the lawn and stopped when he crashed into the pale blue siding of his house, just under his window. I landednext to him, panting and laughing like a lunatic. Our plan had been perfect.
I pushed off the house, turned, and leaned my left shoulder on the slightly cool vinyl to stare at Liam. His short red hair was still damp from sweat and our earlier fight. He’d run his hand through his, leaving it sticking up in every direction. Freckles dusted his flushed and tanned face while his hazel eyes sparkled with laughter. Sweat dripped down the side of his face to splat on the shoulder of his white T-shirt emblazoned with Spider-Man. My mom had taken us to seeSpider-Man 2as part of a belated birthday gift and gotten us both Spider-Man T-shirts.
Just watching Liam made my heart squeeze, and fizzy bubbles filled my blood as though it had been replaced with soda. Everything about Liam was so alive and filled with mischievous glee.
“Did you see? Did we actually hit them?” Liam demanded, still gasping for air from our run.
“I couldn’t tell, but I’m sure we hit them with one of the balloons. They were huge,” I replied with a wide grin.
“Do you think they’ll come looking for us? Retaliate? Should we fill up some more balloons to protect ourselves?”
I shook my head. “Out of balloons. Those four were the last ones we had.”
Liam slumped against the house and kicked a pebble with the toe of his scuffed-up sneaker. We were a week away from the start of school, where we’d be stuck in uniforms and shiny dress shoes. Graphic tees and well-worn sneakers would have to wait until we were home.
It felt as though it was pure luck that Liam attended the same private school I did. Bainbridge Academy was stuffy and boring, overflowing with rich kids. Liam was among a handful of kids in each grade who were there because of a special scholarship. Not that I cared. Some assholes liked to pick on those kids, but I’dknown when I saw Liam in the third grade that we were destined to be best friends.
And this year, we were in the eighth grade. That was the last grade at Bainbridge Academy. After I finished there, I was headed to Wellington Preparatory High School, and we had no idea if Liam was going to get a scholarship for that school too. He could be stuck going to the nearby public school.
For now, I was determined to focus on the important thing—we were kings of the mountain at Bainbridge for one year. The big men on campus, and we were planning to lord it over all the underclassmen until we were back to being little fish in a big pond. That didn’t mean we couldn’t have some wild fun at home as a way to say good-bye to summer.
“At least we’ve got the water guns.” A sly grin spread across his face, showing off his slightly crooked teeth. “As soon as they show their faces, we’ll take them out. Send them running home.”
I huffed a laugh, trying to ignore the tingle that spread through my body anytime he smiled up at me like that. “Definitely.”
The stupid feeling hit at the oddest times. Like there was this tiny voice whispering at me to kiss him. Which was ridiculous. He was my best friend and had been for years. We did everything together. We hung out every freaking day. When my mom had asked what kind of party I’d wanted for my birthday, I’d told her I wanted to have a sleepover with Liam so we could eat pizza and stay up all night playing video games. And now, Liam was planning to do the same thing for his birthday next month.
Yet, since we did everything together, if I felt the urge to kiss him, didn’t that mean Liam might want to kiss too? Usually, he was the one to follow my lead. He waited for me to make the big decisions unless there was something he was particularly excited about. Maybe he wanted me to make the first move.
A heavy rush of air escaped Liam, and he tipped his head up toward me, angling his mouth, just right, as if he were having the same thoughts.
“So…what do you want to do now? I think I’ve got another hour until my mom calls me for dinner.”
I didn’t think. I pursed my lips together, closed my eyes, and kissed him.
The tingles got worse, but not in a bad way. Heat rushed across my cheeks and down my chest, making the fizzy bubbles in my veins more violent. My heart was pounding so loudly in my ears I couldn’t even hear the roar of the cicadas any longer. Liam’s lips were dry and stiff, as if his entire body had frozen under my touch. Yet, as I thought maybe he didn’t want this and I’d have to figure out a way to turn this into a joke, Liam’s mouth softened. His lips moved slightly as he kissed me back.
