some grass off my plaid skirt. “Sorry, girl. I was just so freaking excited!” She demonstrated this by bouncing up and down a little with a grin so wide it showed almost all her teeth. “I’m moving in!”
My jaw dropped. “What? Holy shit! That was quick!” I’d only mentioned it to her the day before.
Eddy beamed. “I know! I really didn’t think they’d say yes but with Jasper already living there, they didn’t have much to say. But also, like, they don’t care that much about me.” She shrugged, as though that fact didn’t bother her. “I mean, I have to live in his apartment. But at least we’re on the same floor, right?”
“Good enough!” I agreed, returning her hug on impulse. I wasn’t a big hugger ... like, at all. But it was hard not to get caught up in Eddy’s excitement.
“What did I miss?” Jasper called out, jogging up to us and grinning. “Why are we all hugging? I’ll take one if they’re going free.” He snatched me out of Eddy’s embrace and snuggled me tight, making me laugh.
Evan answered for us. “Eddy’s moving into your apartment,” he informed Jasper. “Didn’t you know?”
Jasper froze, but didn’t release me. Not that I minded, Jasper gave great hugs and these days I found I was craving that caring human contact more than ever before. Maybe it was having to live without them for so long. Having to hold onto that anger which ate away at my insides.
That shit was so behind me.
“Eddy’s doing fucking what now?” he demanded, turning what-the-fuck eyes on his sister.
She smirked at him, with more than a touch of evil. “Eddy’s moving into your bachelor pad, big brother.”
Jasper gasped dramatically and buried his face in my hair, pretending to sob as he wailed “Noooooooo!”
We were all laughing at his expense when Beck approached and peeled me out of Jasper’s grip and tucked me into his side. I was just about to make a comment about how I was getting tossed around like a dog chew toy when—
“Slut,” someone spat, and my head snapped around to see who it was.
There. Walking past us was a group of cheerleaders, with Katelyn Huntley’s shining blonde head in the thick of them all.
“Excuse me?” I snapped back at them, unsure who had actually delivered the insult.
None of them seemed so brave as to further their insults while Beck, Jasper and Evan were all staring right at them, but the looks I got were pure poison.
“They’re getting bolder,” Evan murmured as the girls continued across the parking lot to their own cars. “Katelyn’s influence, no doubt.”
Beck grunted a pissed off sort of sound. “We need to handle her. Sooner, rather than later.”
“Handle her how?” I asked, frowning up at them. Damn. Why were these boys all so damn tall, even when I was in heels? “What do you mean by that?”
“Undecided,” Beck murmured, then turned to Eddy. “I hear you’re moving in with Jasper, huh? This is going to be fun.”
“What? How does he know and I didn’t?” Jasper grumbled, pouting and stuffing his hands in his pockets as we all headed for the cars.
Eddy snickered a laugh. “Because it was more fun to blindside you. Hey, we should have a housewarming party! Like a giant one, for all of the apartments!”
Jasper gave his sister a light, playful whack on the back of her head. “Security, dipshit. No parties, no guests.”
Eddy let out a groan. “I thought the rules would be different away from the compound. Come on, Jazzy, one little party couldn’t hurt.” She put on her very best puppy dog eyes, but I could have told her she was barking up the wrong tree on this one.
“The answer is no, Edith,” Beck said in response to her pleading. “If anything, security needs to be even tighter now that we’re out of the compound. There has already been a death threat sent against Riley, and need we remind you of the incident here at school just last week?”
Eddy’s face fell, and she gave me a guilty smile. “Good point. Sorry, I was just caught up in the excitement.”
“Don’t stress,” I replied. “We can just party it up at someone else’s place and leave them to clean up the mess instead. It’ll be great.”
This seemed to cheer her back up a bit. “Oh yeah, Friday night. Sick. Okay, I’m gonna grab clothes from Mom and Dad’s place and head over. You wanna come with?”
Just as I opened my mouth to accept,