Page 33 of My Fault
Mario fist-bumped the guys like they’d been friends all their lives, and they started jostling each other and laughing. It was strange to see such warm camaraderie. If you just looked at them, they were terrifying. All the guys had fluorescent-yellow bands around their forearms or wrists or in their hair. I realized all of them were members of the same gang. Nick’s gang.
“Who’s the hot chick?” one asked, and they all laughed as they looked over at me. People kept showing up and walking back and forth. But not them. They stayed where they were. I didn’t like the comment, but my only reaction was a scowl. Mario came to my aid.
“Y’all aren’t going to believe it, but she’s Nick’s stepsister,” he said. I was disappointed; I didn’t want anyone to know. I wanted to go unnoticed that night or at least have a good time without getting labeled as the goody-goody gold-digger stepsister-of-Nick.
If it was even possible, they laughed harder, and the girls looked at me with renewed interest.
“Bring our new friend something to drink!” a black guy said. He was holding a red cup and had his arm around the waist of a hot girl. She turned around, poured something into a cup, and passed it to me while the others went on talking and listening to their shrill music.
“So you’re our friend’s new girl?” she asked, eyeing me up. I did the same. If she wasn’t going to respect me, why should I respect her? She was black, tall, and very thin. Her hair was in thin braids that descended to her waist. She was wearing white shorts and a dark-blue T-shirt.
“Stepsister,” I corrected her, grabbing my cup and looking at it with suspicion. “You didn’t put anything in it, did you?” I asked. I didn’t trust these people. I’d already been drugged once. I didn’t need it to happen again.
“What kind of person do you think I am?” she asked, offended. “It’s beer, and if you want anything weaker, you’re in the wrong place.” She turned so fast her braids almost hit me and walked away swaying her hips sexily, causing many men there to stop and stare.
“You’ve only been here half an hour, and people are already placing bets on you,” Mario said.
“What kind of bets?” I asked, flustered.
“How soon you’re going to need to throw away your beer and take off running back home.” His face was expectant.
So that was how it was?
I glared at him and all the guys looking at me like I was a joke and drank the entire contents of that oversize cup. As I did, they started shouting louder and louder, and when I finished, a little woozy and with an urge to cough, all present clapped and whistled.
I lifted the cup with a smile.
“Who’s going to get me a refill?” For a moment, I felt free and happy.
The girl from before came back, this time with a smile on her lips.
“My name’s Jenna,” she said, handing me another cup. “If you really want to win these boys over, let your hair down, drink this, and hook up with the best-looking one. In that order.”
I burst out laughing. Was she serious? And if she was, did I care? I’d gone there with one goal in mind: get vengeance somehow on my disgusting ex-boyfriend and my ex-best friend, so letting my hair down and having fun…what was the harm in that?
“I think I’ll listen to you,” I told her, throwing away my hairband away and letting my hair fall over my shoulders as I took a swig of something much stronger than beer.
Jenna started dancing, amused. There was hardly any light there apart from the fluorescent-yellow bands and the headlights farther off.
“I’m Noah, by the way,” I said, realizing I’d failed to introduce myself.
She smiled. She seemed nice. All of a sudden, I heard a commotion. The guys who were sitting on the hoods of the cars got up and walked toward someone who was pulling up. Right away, I recognized Noah’s SUV.
“Here comes the dream and nightmare of any girl with eyes,” Jenna announced.
Whatever, I thought. Nick was hot, but as soon as he opened his mouth, you wanted to take off running or start banging your head against the wall.
I took another drink to keep from looking at him, counting the minutes until he’d come over and say something to me. It was fine. I expected it, and it would give me the chance to vent some of my frustration.
But he didn’t do it. Actually, he deliberately ignored me for half an hour. That surprised me at first, but I was grateful afterward because I was having fun with Jenna, enjoying her energetic way of talking and dancing to the hardcore music that was playing.
“I should introduce you to my guy,” she said as I watched her, thinking to myself that she could swing her hips better than Beyonce herself. I followed her to where all the people were standing. The other girls were drinking or talking, and two or three were flirting with guys, trying to get them to dance along.
Jenna’s boyfriend was the guy I’d seen her with when I had gotten there, I thought. Just then, he was in the middle of a discussion with Nick.
I tensed as I approached them, standing at some distance from everyone else.
“Lion!” Jenna shouted, pulling on his shoulders and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Lion and Nick both turned toward us. Nicholas didn’t look excited to see me.
