The Pretender - Cora Brent Page 0,73
every word by heart. I wrote it.
Trina talks me into getting a stir fry bowl and then shepherds me to the table where her boyfriend, Kent, sits with a couple of his buddies. It’s not really my crowd but I know Trina wants me here so I sit across from her and try to act cheerful.
Kent pecks his girlfriend on the cheek and gives me a curious look. “How’s it going, Camden?”
I move my rice around with a plastic fork. “Not bad.”
Kent pauses. “Have you heard from him?”
There’s a thud as Trina kicks her boyfriend underneath the table and Kent complains, “What the hell, babe?”
She gives him a withering look. “Does nothing I say ever sink in?”
Kent gives that some thought. “You said not to hassle Camden about Ben because she’s in, like, a delicate condition or something. But I wasn’t hassling her.”
Trina moans and puts a hand to her forehead. “I did NOT say the words ‘delicate condition’. Do not repeat that because it doesn’t mean what you think it means. I said my friend is feeling fragile because she is worried about her boyfriend and you ought to have some compassion.”
Kent endures this speech while guzzling a carton of milk. He finishes it and belches. “I get it. Sorry, Camden.”
“It’s all right.” I’m smiling because it’s hard not to smile around the two of them. “I heard from Ben a few days ago. He’s still tied up with legal issues. He doesn’t know when he’ll be back.”
Kent nods. “I miss that fucker.”
I have a feeling this is high praise coming from Kent Dresher.
“Yeah, I know people wrote him off as Devil Valley trash but I always knew the boy was quality.”
The words are said right behind my back and I know I’m supposed to hear them. I turn to see Allie Wexman sneering as she educates some hapless sophomore girl.
Allie acts like she just noticed me. “That’s pretty wild about Ben. Sorry, I mean Bennet. He’s famous enough around here for his own fan club now. Hope he has the stamina to handle all the attention.”
Trina gets annoyed. “You’re talking to his girlfriend. Have some respect.”
Allie is unimpressed. “Somehow I get the feeling he’ll be eager to trade up.” She saunters off with her apprentice in tow.
“Vapid hag,” Trina mutters at Allie’s back and stabs at her rice bowl.
I’m not worried about competition from Allie Wexman or any other girl. But I can admit to myself that when Ben told me his entire story I was shocked. I knew all along he had secrets. I just never expected that his secrets were so excruciating. Or so dangerous. I also never expected to hear that he’d come from an entirely different world than the one we share in Devil Valley. The thought had never crossed my mind that he might have more in common with our wealthy Black Mountain classmates than with me.
Trina and Kent banter back and forth, teasing each other, and I get the impression they are trying to make me laugh.
“What’s going on?” Kent gestures to the main cafeteria door where there’s some kind of buzz happening as people gather and make noise.
“Who knows?” Trina rolls her eyes. “Probably some stunt from one of our resident social media influencers.”
Kent straightens up with a grin. “Not quite.” Then he puts his hand to his mouth and emits a piercing whistle. “About time you showed up for this semester, fuckface!”
Now Trina is also grinning. “Turn around, Cam.”
I’m curious enough to cooperate and an instant later I gasp.
Ben isn’t dressed in the school uniform. He’s wearing jeans and one of the hooded sweatshirts I bought him for Christmas. It appears he hasn’t shaved in a few days and he looks older, more like a man and less like a high school boy. Maybe that’s just from the exhaustion of everything he’s faced lately or maybe it’s because he’s been forced into adulthood with no possibility of turning back.
He’s fending off greetings and eager hands while searching over the heads of the crowd. My breath catches as I stand up and wait for the answer to the question that privately haunts me in my bleakest moments.
Are you still mine?
He shifts and our eyes meet. The smile that lights up his face is the answer to any question I have and the source of everything I want.
I don’t care who is watching.
I don’t care who talks.
I run straight into his arms and wrap my legs tightly around his waist. Our mouths