Page 15 of Dahlias, Sapphires, and Cool Autumn Dusk
After Collins, though, my other morning teachers were fine. They mostly left me alone, which was my preference. I tried to text Barrett while I waited for math to start after English, but my phone wouldn’t let me send a text. I frowned and the guy next to me smiled and pointed at the phone.
“You need a VPN on it to get around the block. Download it at home.” He nodded. “You’re friends with the Lents, right? I saw you this summer.”
I cleared my throat. “Alatheia.”
“Davis.” He smiled. “I know Phoenix pretty well.”
The class started, which saved me having to say anything else, and I was grateful for it. Art was my last class before lunch, and true to his word, Phoenix walked me to every one. I was grateful to not get lost. The school retained its old mansion look, so it seemed filled with long, confusing hallways. I couldn’t imagine trying to find my way around by myself—not to mention there was apparently a senior hallway that ate the twins, because I still had yet to see them.
I sat down with Phoenix at lunch after visiting the cafeteria. He paid for my food, because my aunt still hadn’t put any money in my account.What else is new?
We no sooner took our seats than the door swung open to Julian and Jeremy, followed by a number of guys I didn’t recognize. Except for Marco, whom I’d hated in the Hamptons. After today, he improved greatly, especially since he told Bethany to suck it.
“Hey,” Jer said as he scooted in next to me. “There you are. You look really pretty in the uniform, which is nearly impossible.”
“Missed you,” Julian said, but he kept his voice soft. “How are you? How is it going?”
Marco scooted onto our table. “Why are we all here, anyway? This is the Junior lunch area.”
“You didn’t have to come.” Jeremy said then shrugged. “We didn’t tell the whole team to come. You followed us.”
He smirked. “Oh Captain, where thou goest, we goest.” He then laughed like he’d just said the best thing in the world.
“Thanks for helping.” I said to Marco. “With Bethany.”
“Oh.” He glanced my way then shrugged. “Yeah. She was out of line, not that it is unusual for her.”
“What happened?” Julian glanced between us before taking a bite of his apple. I stared at my sandwich, my stomach churning just thinking about it.
“Bethany was being a bitch about the uncle thing. She was nothing compared to what Collins did to you.” He whistled. “Dude, it was bad. I thought it was monumental with Phoenix, but then he ate her alive. You? That was bad.”
Julian took my hand. “Baby.” I should tug my hand away because he needed to stop doing that in public, but I wasn’t going to tell him not to when I needed his touch. I would miss him too much. “What did she do?” he asked.
I shrugged one shoulder as if it didn’t matter. “She just showed everyone how stupid I am.”
Phoenix shook his head, his lips dropping into an instant frown. “No one thought you were stupid.”
“Well, I kind of did.” Bethany admitted as she scooted into place at the table. Where had she come from? “Then I changed my mind because of Phoenix.”
Is she sitting with us, too? Really?I met Julian’s gaze after he stared at her, his mouth open in surprise. The entire water polo team seemed to be listening to every word we said. While I stared at them all, I noticed Tiffany with whom I could only presume was Hal approaching with lunch trays in hand. He was taller than her with glasses, and then Phoenix groaned again.What is his deal with Hal?
Tiffany sent Bethany a scathing look. “Really?”
“Sure. You’re not the only one who wants to be friends with Alatheia. I mean that was quite the display today. I wrote you off and then had to write you back in, which almost never happens.”
Lucky me.
“I still don’t know what happened.” Jeremy set down his food. “Is someone going to explain?”
Phoenix rubbed his eyes, and I noticed he’d been doing it a lot lately.Is he not okay? Is he getting enough rest?“We’ll get into it later. Not now,” he said.
Jeremy sighed. “Fine. Has anyone heard from Barrett?”
Which reminded me of my useless brick of a phone. I held it in front of me. “I can’t get through to anyone. I was supposed to text him, but my phone won’t send messages. Someone named Davis said I need a VPN on this too.”
Phoenix held out his hand, so I passed him my phone. “I’ll get that fixed for you, but don’t talk to Davis.”
Julian grinned, nudging his brother with his elbow. “I thought he was your friend.”
