Page 37 of His Pretty Little Lies
"You're still new."
"Still new?" I laugh. "Does that mean I'll be new forever because this is the last year?" I got to Golden Prep sophomore year.
"They were raging bitches in middle school."
"This is shocking news," I deadpan.
"Right, I wish I could make fun of how cliché they are, but I'm Golden Prep’s goth girl."
"Well, shit." I shake my head. "I was calling you emo in my head," I tease. Blair might favor black, but she wears it well. I think she has this whole mysterious sexy thing going on. Some might think she's cliché, but I'm finding her rather interesting lately. There are a lot more layers to her than she lets on.
"Don't go putting me in a box."
"What if it's a coffin?" Blair throws back her head and laughs at my lame joke.
"I would love that. My mother would lose her mind if she came home and I had a coffin in my bedroom."
"Hey!" Nix pops up between us. "You're sitting with us, right?" she asks me. "You're welcome too." Nix gives Blair a bright smile.
If I've learned anything about Nix, it's that she might be girly and shouty (mostly at her brothers), but she is a girls' girl. Jax hadn't been lying when he said the girls of the Marino family stick together; they also pull you right in, too. The more time I spend with them, the more I see how wrong I was about all of them.
“Normally, I hang in the back,” I tell her.
“Nah, we’re coming to sit with you guys.” Blair slips her arm into mine. “Come on. This will be so interesting. More so than the game.”
“She’s right.” Nix nods in agreement. “All the aunts and uncles are here tonight.” My head swings in the direction I know the family always sits. Everyone is here, including War and Ronan. I recognize them all, but now that I know more about them, they’re less scary. “Come on.” Nix isn’t letting me out of this, and honestly, it’s sweet how they are trying to include me. Plus, I’m sure it would be taken as an insult if I didn’t go and introduce myself. The absolute last thing I want to do is disrespect the Marino family. Not because of who they are, but because I would never want to do that to Jax.
“I saved you a seat,” Cosima tells me when we get close. I don’t miss everyone glancing our way. I’ve been catching glances all day and doing my best to ignore them. “Oh, and who are you?” Cosima’s eyes sweep up and down Blair.
“I’m Blair. Golden Prep’s resident emo?—”
“Goth,” I correct her as I nudge her playfully with my hip.
“Goth girl. Rawr.”
“Oh.” Cosima’s brows rise. “Rawr. I dig that.” I may not have known Cosima for long, but I can see the wheels spinning in her head about Blair. I’m sure if I left the two of them alone, it wouldn’t be long before Blair was wearing some sort of color besides black.
“This her?” a short, pretty brunette with wild curls asks from where she’s perched on War’s lap. I know she must be Tova. The sweet Marino, if I’m recalling correctly.
“This is her,” Nix chimes in. Everyone starts to introduce themselves, and Cosima starts chatting up Blair, and I’m wondering if she is now having second thoughts about this being interesting. Things can be less interesting when everyone turns their interest on to you.
“She’s intense,” Blair says when we finally take our seats and the players run out onto the field. Thankfully, we managed to get a seat on the edge of the Marino clan.
Jax’s eyes come straight to me, and he winks. The game starts, and I find myself on my feet more than I thought I would be. I also didn’t know what a shouter I could be, but I’m going to blame the spirit gear that was pressed upon me. It’s soaked in or something. Hopefully, it’ll leave when I change.
“Let's get snacks,” Blair says at halftime. “These seats are hard on your ass.”
“I’ll be hard on your ass.” Blair and I both turn to see Brandon, who’s a senior on the varsity basketball team.
“I bet you couldn't be hard on anything,” Blair tells him as she flips him the bird before tugging me along with her. “I hate the boys at this school.”
“You get that shit a lot?”
Blair shrugs. “It's my look.”
“That doesn’t give them any kind of pass.” She only gives me another one of her shrugs.
I get it. What can you really do except snap back at them? Beyond that, you kind of have no choice but to put up with it. Unless you’re Jax. He’d deal with that shit in a second.
