Page 89 of Crew Princess
“Just tell her. She needs to know.” Sunday looked ready to explode.
“Right. Okay.” Taz took a breath. “Monica left the group. She took Lila and Angie with her.”
“Who’s Angie?”
“Good grief,” Tabatha muttered. “It’s like you don’t know anyone. She was one of my best friends for the last three years.”
Noted. Angie was important to Tabatha. I frowned. “Why do I need to know this?”
“Because the code is out. Gone. Destroyed.”
“What code?”
“Girl code!” Sunday snapped, then held her hands up in surrender. “Sorry. I just—it’s a thing. Not just crews have codes. Girlfriends do too.” She gestured to Taz. “Yours. Sorry.”
“Yes.” Taz turned to me. “So this is a problem for you, because she has her interview scheduled at the end of the week with that show. We know you’re supposedly helping them—”
Tabatha snorted. Sunday tried to smother her own laughter, and she turned all the way around, facing the hallway. The girls there were giggling.
Taz rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Supposedly. Everyone knows you’re really just scaring people out of talking about the crews, but anyway. Monica. She’s going to go in there, see you, and not give a shit. It’s war as far as she’s concerned.”
“War? Why?” Was I missing something else?
“She’s tired of playing by the rules.” This came from the girl I didn’t know.
“Who are you?”
She flushed, her face growing red.
“Oh my God. See? This is what I was saying. She doesn’t know anything!” Sunday’s hands flew up in the air. “It’s so aggravating. We’re people too, Bren. Not everything is about the guys.”
I couldn’t help myself. “You seem upset.”
“Agh!”
I laughed. “Relax. I know, but what rules are you talking about? The girl code again?”
“No. The friendship code.”
There were so many codes.
“And yes, the girl code…not really. Never mind. The friendship code. She broke from the group because she’s dating someone from Fallen Crest Academy now. He said the crew system is stupid, so therefore, of course now Monica thinks it too. He’s brainwashed her into thinking you guys are the enemy. She believes it’s her mission to help destroy the crew system. You guys are in a lot of trouble because she’s going to talk. She’s going to say everything, and I meaneverything.”
“But what could she even say? We get into fights?”
“That you guys hospitalized Alex Ryerson!” Sunday’s hands were up again. “That Cross took a gun when you guys went to find Alex. She’s going to talk about how you stabbed the principal, and how your brother runs the town and fixed it so you didn’t get any jail time. She’s probably going to make shit up too. You’re not hearing me. This is big, like,bigbig. Everyone knows that documentary is about the crews. Principal Broghers wants the system gone—like, evaporated. You guys are cockroaches to him. Shine the light, and the roaches scatter. That’s what he’s hoping will happen, and it’s working. Did you even know two crews disbanded this week?”
She moved toward me. “The Frisco crew is dunzo, and that other one. I never remember their name, but they disbanded too. It’s you guys and the Ryerson crew. That’s all—oh, and your brother’s, but they’re not in school. And aren’t they more bounty hunters now anyway? Are they even still a crew?”
That was the forever debate, were they or weren’t they? I lifted a shoulder. Even I couldn’t answer that.
I was hearing her, noting everything. Monica would be dealt with, but one thing was bugging me. “Why are you so upset about this?”
“BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR STUPID CREW AND ZELLMAN AND I CARE!” Sunday yelled. “Okay?! I just do. I just care. I don’t even know why, and it’s so FRUSTRATING, but I do. Okay?!” She was shouting in my face, her breath blasting me.
I had the sudden impulse to hug her, but that was insane. Instead, I cracked a grin. “Thank you.”
She stopped. Her cheeks puffed up, and then she yelled, her hands in her hair. “OH MY GOD! SHE’S SO FRUSTRATING!”
