Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,36

my chest loosening, and by the time we’d made a pizza and settled on the couches, it was well past midnight. When the movie started—a superhero one that wasn’t scheduled to come out for another year—I got comfortable. This was one of the perks of my parents’ job, but I was asleep not even halfway through it.

At one point, I woke to the feeling of a blanket settling over me. Then Blaise pulled me against his chest, and I closed my eyes once more.

“I’m not always this bad, Aspen,” he whispered. “I promise.”

He was almost perfect to me.

18

Aspen

Blaise: Where are you?

Me: Still in bed.

It was Monday morning, just past nine, and I was tired. Not that I really had any reason to be, but I was. I was calling this an early vacation, since I was done with school. There was no reason to go, even though I wasn’t camping after all. And since I planned to ignore my graduation (they would mail me the diploma, I checked), this was the beginning of my summer.

I’d been planning all these summer camping trips, but Blaise had ruined those for me. Not that I couldn’t still go, but it would be different. I felt a slight panic thinking about that—thinking I might never want to camp alone again. No way. I’d still go. I’d start planning my next trip now.

Blaise: Come to school.

Me: No.

The phone rang a second later.

Blaise calling.

I answered, putting him on speaker and crawling out of bed. “What’s going on?”

“I’m annoyed you’re not here.”

I grinned, running the water to wash my face. “I’m done with school. I’ve completed all my classes. There’s no reason for me to show up.”

“I’m your reason.”

That felt nice, but I wasn’t going.

He seemed to know that, because he sighed. “Fine. There are parties every day this week. Can I talk you into going to any of them with me?”

I’d dipped my washcloth under the water, but I paused and pulled it back. Turning the water off, I waited, my chest tight. He wanted me to hang out with his friends? I didn’t people. At all. Blaise was becoming the exception.

“Hello?” he said. A bell sounded from his end and he cursed. “Shit. I gotta go. I’ll call later, okay?”

“Okay.” Thank God we didn’t have to finish this conversation. “Have a great day.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled. “Fuck you.”

I laughed, then ended the call and heaved a sigh of relief.

What do I do? I looked at myself in the mirror. I raised my eyebrow, digging at my reflection. Huh? I asked myself. What do you do when you’re falling for the popular bad boy and you’re completely out of your league?

I was an introvert. I was socially awkward. My only positives were that if you put me in front of a professional photographer, I photographed well, and my parents had money. That was it.

But my life wasn’t even a problem for me to complain about. What was I doing?

There was a knock on my bedroom door, and it pushed open. Miss Sandy walked in with her housekeeping cart. Seeing me, she jumped back.

“Ahh!” She sagged back against the door. “Miss Aspen! You scared me.” She took in the still-messy bed and my desk with an open bag of chips and my computer on it. My closet spilled clothes on the floor, and Blaise had left a blanket and pillow on my couch yesterday.

“Miss Aspen?” She seemed mystified.

So was I. Blaise had showed up Saturday night and then hung out most of the day yesterday, so the room was messy. He’d gone home when his mom called saying she wanted him to be there for dinner. I’d gotten a few texts late last night, so I knew he hadn’t stayed at his house. He was at Zeke’s, and he’d sent a picture—just him and Zeke playing video games all night. He hadn’t needed to reassure me, because I didn’t take him for a liar. The only thing he owed me was not to touch another girl until we knew what was going on between us.

But it was kinda nice to get the text too.

“Sorry,” I told Miss Sandy, surveying the mess.

“No.” She patted her chest, frowning. “Why are you not in school?”

Graduation was next Sunday. I just needed to play this so they didn’t start wondering about it—not until it had passed. “I’m not feeling well,” I lied with a smile.

“Oh no.” She crossed the room, putting the back of her hand to my forehead. “You don’t