Page 143 of Crew
"Should I call her?"
"Why would you call her?" I was playing.
"Bren!"
"I'm kidding."
"Oh!" She laughed, then flicked her eyes upward. "But for real, do you want me to call her? I can do it now."
I wanted to say no, give myself more time to find another option, but I had to be realistic. I'd already wasted four months. I needed to get this done, and it'd take me a long time to fulfill the thousand hours, plus twenty counseling sessions.
My cheeks hurt because my smile was so forced. "Sure."
"Great! I'm on it. This will be so much fun."
I was going to regret this. I felt it in my bones. Way too much The Badger.
I nodded, my neck so damned stiff. "Yeah."
She picked up her glass again, gesturing outside with her phone. "I'm going to let Race know what I'm doing, and then I'll give her a call. Are you sticking--"
I gave her a pitying look.
She stopped herself. "No. Your crew isn't out there."
I stood up from the counter, nodding toward the front door. "I'm going to call the guy--"
"Bren Monroe!"
Tabatha Sweets had come inside.
Sunday and Monica were right behind her, both with differing expressions. Sunday's mouth hung open, but she recovered quickly, smoothing a hand down her hair. Monica looked less shocked and more snarly. She didn't hide her sneer.
I looked from them to Taz and asked, "You guys have a uniform protocol now?"
All wore the same sort of wraps, but in different colors. Tabatha wore blue. Monica had red. Sunday had black, and all with bikinis underneath. The only one not wearing high heels was Taz, and they all had hair extensions with their hair down.
Not one person looked like they'd gone swimming.
Tabatha laughed. "We just spend a lot of time together." She came forward as Sunday and Monica hung back by the table. She came right into the kitchen, making Taz move to the side so she could open the fridge. Refilling her glass with juice, she leaned against the spot Taz had vacated. "How are you?"
I should've expected this. She was circling the wagons, bringing Taz in. She had her new backup. I glanced at Sunday. She'd tried approaching me in the fall. That hadn't gone well. But Tabatha was bigger and badder. I'm not talking physically. Power. I was usually lost in the crew world, but I knew enough to know that Tabatha Sweets was the top of the top, for the Normal world.
"You're friends with Taz now, I hear."
Her fake smile fell flat. "I am. I'm trying to be anyway."
I shook my head. I was going to call a spade a spade. "No, you're trying to get to Cross. You've been trying for years."
I waited for the denial.
She lifted a shoulder. "If I wanted to use Taz to get to her brother, I would've done it freshman year." She looked over to Taz. "I'll be honest. Race liked you. That's part of the reason I reached out, and yeah..." She glanced at me. "Some of it might've been about Cross. Can you blame me? Your brother is the best-looking guy in school," she told Taz. "But we're friends because I do like you."
"Are you serious?" Taz's lips opened in surprise. "You were using me?"
"I've been over here how many times now?"
She waited.
