ever want, I could help you—”
“It’s okay, Legs.” His words came too fast, and the grin that followed was a little forced. “It’s not that big of a deal. And I can miss class if you need a lift. I was serious.”
Frustration beat at my chest. I wished he’d let me help him.
Then again, I wasn’t sure why I was trying to help him improve his grades when the fact that he didn’t technically have the GPA to earn a spot here was one of the main pieces of dirt I had on him. It painted a picture of a stereotypical dumb jock, too stupid to do anything but run around after an inflated ball, losing brain cells every time he was tackled on the field and given special allowances just because he won games for Oak Park.
Finn was more than that. I knew it. But I also knew painting that picture of him would hurt him.
“No.” I shook my head again. “I’ll find some other way to get there.”
He didn’t look happy about my answer at first, but then his face lit up and he rubbed his hands together.
“What?” I asked suspiciously.
“You have money from your mom, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Perfect! Then if you won’t let me drive you, we’ll just have to get you your own car.”
If I had thought Finn was joking or talking about some vague plan for the future, I was dead wrong. He hung out in the studio with me until I finished practicing—which didn’t take long, since I still couldn’t decide on an ending for my piece—then waited in the common room of Prentice Hall for me while I showered and changed.
By the time I came back downstairs, one Prince had become four.
I blinked at them all, my eyebrows shooting up. “You guys all want to come with me to get a new car?”
Finn chuckled. “They’re not here because I made them. I just told them where we were going and they showed up.”
I was a little surprised. Things had been slowly shifting between all of us, but I wasn’t sure if I’d call myself friendly with Cole and Mason. Finn and Elijah had been the two to more actively reach out—but then again, Cole and Mason tended to be more emotionally closed off in general, harder to read. Maybe coming car shopping was their way of reaching out.
“Okay.” I shrugged, then raised a warning finger. “But if any of you make fun of my driving because I’m a girl…”
“We won’t,” Elijah promised.
“We’ll make fun of it for other reasons,” Finn added with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I already hate this.”
Mason drove us to a dealership in Roseland, and the strangest feeling of familiarity settled over me as I sat in the front seat next to the brown-haired boy, with the other three squished into the back. Mason flipped his sunglasses down as he drove, but I could feel him watching me, and it made my skin tingle in a way that was both terrifying and exhilarating.
The familiarity of it all was terrifying too. It made me feel like I was walking a familiar path—one that had dead-ended in a pit of spikes last time.
When those fears sprang up, I clung to the image of my little black book. I wouldn’t let them hurt me again. I was prepared this time.
But a tiny part of my heart I could barely acknowledge existed was starting to believe that this path, though it looked similar to the one I’d been on before, was leading somewhere different.
Somewhere better.
I couldn’t afford anything as crazy expensive as the Bentley Jacqueline had bought me, and I didn’t want one anyway. But I had enough money for something nice and practical.
Finn pleaded with me to test drive all the most outrageously ostentatious cars on the lot while Cole glowered at the salesman who showed us around like he might rip the guy’s head off if he dared to try upselling me.
“Here, try this one,” Mason said, pointing to a small blue compact car.
“See, that I like.” I grinned, walking over to it and running my hand over the hood. “It’s better than pink, anyway.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that car never suited you.”
“Yours suits you. Though I like the new paint job better.”
When Mason had had his car fixed, he’d gotten it repainted too. Instead of the deep red, it was now a dark slate color that shone like burnished steel in the sun.
The emerald of his eyes flickered, and