“Seriously? Matthew!” Silvia all but screeched. “I cannot believe it.” She threw a pillow at Luci’s head, who sat at the bottom of her bed playing Kingdom Hearts.

“Yo! Boss fight here!”

“Next time, maybe don’t drop a bomb like that while you’re in the middle of a boss fight. Ugh, we need to have a serious conversation about this, Lu.”

“Oh my god, fine!” Hitting the pause button, Luci sat up on the bed, grabbing the pillow she had been sitting with and holding it in her lap.

Silvia stared at her as if she were a petulant child. “Lu, why?”

“I don’t know. Because I really wanted to?”

“But why?”

“Because I’m not in the mood for a relationship, okay. I’m just not.”

“Oh please, you’re basically dating Jason. He sneaks over to your place almost every night now.”

“That’s what I mean, though.” Silvia scrunched up her face in confusion. Luci sighed heavily. “Remember the party?”

“Yeah,” she said hesitantly, thinking of her own adventures at the party, of soft red lips and wild red hair.

“Okay, well, Jason and I almost kissed, and Liz saw and lost her mind, spewing nonsense. They just got into this huge argument, and I can’t deal with that. I can’t. I already get enough shit from her every day. I just, I’m tired of all this drama.”

“I hate to break it to you, but sleeping with the love of your life’s best friend is the center of drama.”

“Okay, Cyrus is not the love of my life, don’t be dramatic.”

“No one in this room believes that, but whatever helps you sleep at night, Lu.”

“Anyway, Cyrus isn’t going to know because we’re not going to tell him. So see, no drama.”

“I say this, love Lu, but you’re an idiot. When was the last time you slept with Matthew anyway?”

“Oh, um, it was at the party.”

Silvia just stared at her, jaw hanging open. “What?! Why am I just hearing about this now?”

“It just happened. We just, I mean, like it started as a joke, and then, you know, one thing led to another, and we had sex.”

“Gees. I swear, this whole thing is gonna turn into something. You two clearly can’t keep your hands off each other.”

“We agreed, no strings.”

“I repeat, I love you, but you’re an idiot. Dude, you can’t have sex and not feel anything or develop feelings. I mean, come on, you love watching romcoms as much as you love your slasher movies; you know the rules. Sex means feelings.”

“No, it doesn’t. No one is going to catch feelings here. It’s not happening.”

“We spent the summer binge-watching Friends, dude. You’re Monica, and he’s totally Chandler. You’re neurotic—”

“We are not!”

“Riiiiiight.” Lucita just glared at her, lips pursed together.

Pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, Luci looked away. “Anyway, can I go back to my game now?”

“Look, can you just explain why?”

Luci let out another heavy sigh, looking at her. “He’s the only guy I’ve ever slept with. It’s familiar.”

“But why at the party?”

“Oh, well. Okay. Cyrus did kiss me. High as a kite, too.” She rolled her eyes, and Silvia let her mouth open again.

“Geez. Oh my god, I get it. You slept with Matthew because you know it would piss off Cyrus.”

“What? I wasn’t even thinking about him.”

“Maybe not consciously.”

“Just because you’re taking AP Psyche this year doesn’t mean you know everything.”

“Dude, I know you. Remember how mad he got when he learned you lost your virginity to Matthew.”

Luci flinched, remembering how he had shoved her on the floor. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Cyrus hated it. Like, he hated it. But it made him admit something to you. You got something out of it. He feels something for you.”

Luci just stared at her, biting her lower lip. “I’m not doing this to get back at him.”

Silvia just shrugged. “Just be careful. You love Cyrus, and this, I mean, sex doesn’t just stay sex, Lu. One of you, if not both, is gonna catch feelings. It’s gonna start drama.”

“I’m going back to the game.”

“You’re wacked!”

“Boss battle!”

Silvia sat in class, taking notes between Blake and Luci. Luci sat there jotting down everything, eyes never leaving the page, never looking up, while Blake, cocky as hell, sat just listening, jotting the occasional thing down.

When the bell finally rang, Luci was the first to shut her book, slipping it into the basket under her seat.

“Why the rush?”

“Because I feel like I’m dying and absorbing nothing here. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate American History? It’s boring.”

“I’m with her on this one,” said Blake, grabbing his back.

“It’s our history.”

“Hey, I’m Mexican, okay, that’s my history, and you know what, it’s so much cooler than this.” Luci stuck out her tongue, running off. Silvia laughed, and, much to her chagrin, she had to admit it, but she was right.

Grabbing her own bag, she chased after Luci, with Blake by her side. Together, they took the roundabout way to their next class, Luci leading them just a few steps ahead. This was the longer way to their next class, but it was how they kept them away from Liz.

“You know, the short hair is growing on me.”

“Does this mean you’re only gonna hit on girls with short hair now?” joked Silvia, shouldering Blake.

“That was low, Vee,” Blake grimaced. They all knew he hadn’t been on a date since his breakup with Becca.

“Come on, I was only joking.”

“Sure.” He gave her a sideways glance. “Since we’re talking about dating, you wanna talk about what’s going on between you and Olivia?”

Silvia just about choked on her saliva.

“What are you talking about?”

Blake stopped walking, blocking her path. She looked ahead at Luci, who kept walking, unaware that they had stopped.

“I dated you, remember. I remember the way you acted. So I know something is going on.”

“Nothing is going on between us,” she said, stepping around him.

“Something is up, and if you wanna talk, just know—”

“There’s nothing to talk about, so drop it.”

Blake sighed, shoving his hand into his pockets. “Yeah. Okay.”

Up ahead, they saw Luci, then quickened their pace. Luci had kept walking and was now pushed up against a wall, a girl in her face.

“Back off!” screamed Silvia, recognizing the girl as Kat, one of Evie’s little cronies. She shoved the girl back, stepping close to Luci’s side.

“Oo, the slut has a girlfriend. Didn’t know you had a thing for girls, Lu.”

“Yo, back the fuck off, Kat,” said Blake, stepping in front of Luci and Silvia. “Where do you get off, acting like a saint. Weren’t you caught having sex with your boyfriend’s best friend on the football field?”

Luci scoffed. “Seriously? At least find a room.” Smiling, Silvia grabbed her hand and pulled her along, Blake taking up the rear, but not before flipping off the girls.

“Are you okay?” Silvia laced her fingers with Luci’s.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. It’s a good thing I’m still required to see the school therapist. Sometimes, this whole thing makes me want to kill myself.” She said it with a smile to let them know she was joking. But considering the scars she had on her stomach and thighs, neither of them thought it was funny.

“Not, funny, Lu,” said Blake, wrapping his arm over her shoulder.

“Whatever. I’m just tired of it. We’re three weeks into the new school year, and it’s already gone to shit.”

“Just don’t listen to them. As Blake so kindly pointed out, they’re all whores.” She looked over at Blake on Luci’s other side. “Was that even true?”

“Kind of. She blew him under the bleachers.”

“Geez, all I did was kiss a guy.”

“Remember, that wasn’t what Francis was telling everyone,” said Blake, grimacing.

“Don’t remind me. I hope he rots in juvie. Can’t believe he had the nerve to call me after all that.”

“He’s a fucker, that’s for sure.”

“Don’t talk about him like that.” The three of them spun around to look at Becca. No one had seen her come up behind her. In fact, for a brief moment, they had all forgotten that she had this class with them.

“Becca, do you even know why he was in juvie? Apparently, his sister—”

“His sister lied.”

“And how would you know that?” asked Blake, pulling his arm off Luci to cross them and staring down at his ex-girlfriend, their former friend.

“Because I asked. She lied because she hated all the rumors he had started about you,” she said, pointing at Luci. “So she started her own. And she won’t recant. She thinks he deserves it.”

“He does deserve it,” snapped Luci. “He lied about me. He spread fake photos of me. I am bullied every day because of his lies. So I will talk about him however I like. Don’t expect me to feel sorry for him. Now he knows what it feels like when people spread lies.” Silvia gripped her hand, feeling Luci shaking with rage.

“Says you.”

Silvia just stared at Becca, confused. Who was this girl?

“You know what? Get over yourself.” Silvia looked at Becca up and down. “You know something, the Becca I knew would hate this version of yourself.”

“Maybe you just never really knew me.” Becca shoved past them into the classroom, sitting in the far corner.

Pulling herself together, Luci stalked into the classroom, dumping her bag next to her chair, fists clenched in her lap. Jason, already in the class, just looked between the three of them as they entered.

“Lu?” he asked gently.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to get through this stupid day.” Silvia and Blake shared a look before taking their seats next to her. Luci had been right; the year was already shit. How could it possibly get worse?

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