thundering down the carpeted stairs. I haven’t been in the basement in months, and I had forgotten how huge it is—a never-ending expanse of plush carpet dotted with the biggest sectional sofa I’ve ever seen, a pool table, an air-hockey table, and anything else a preteen boy could wish for.
Jeffrey sprints into the bathroom and locks the door behind him. “Come on, Jeffrey,” I say, keeping my voice low enough that Dad won’t come down here and ream us out again. “Come out for a second.”
“I don’t want to talk to you,” he says. “Just leave me alone.” He flips on the bathroom fan and water runs in the shower. I sink down to sit on the floor and lean against the door. He’ll have to come out eventually.
jeffrey said people are talking about me and the guys i’ve kissed, I text Mel. is it true?
I hope she’s not still mad about what happened at Seth’s yesterday. I need her to be on my side right now. Luckily, her response is almost immediate. whaaaaat?!? no. i have not heard anything like that.
i don’t know if i want to come tonight.
I can imagine Mel standing at her bathroom sink, holding the flatiron to her hair with one hand and typing madly with the other as samba music blares from her iPod. A department store’s worth of makeup is scattered across the counter, and she’s wearing one of her dad’s old button-down shirts so she can get ready without spilling eye shadow on her outfit. Maybe she’s even pregaming with some rum mixed into her Diet Coke or vodka-soaked gummy bears.
you have to. tonight is everything. you could cross off a bunch of letters all at once!!! and you know who is coming, right?!
Yep. Definitely pregaming. I close my eyes, suddenly nervous about seeing Killian tonight. There’s only one letter standing between me and K—and I realize with a jolt that the one remaining letter is J.
i need to talk to jeffrey and find out what he knows.
Mel doesn’t respond. Inside the bathroom, the shower shuts off, and I quietly move away from the door, hoping Jeffrey will think I’ve given up and gone away. He spends twenty minutes humming to himself and banging around in there. I hear the distinctive hiss of an aerosol body spray can and wrinkle my nose. Finally the door opens and Jeffrey steps out, a towel wrapped around his waist.
I’m on my feet and next to him in a flash, my shoulder pressing against his damp arm. He smells like the love child of Hollister and an overripe banana. “If you don’t tell me what the hell is going on, I’m going to rip this towel off, take a picture, and send it to everyone in school,” I say, the tone of my voice calm and conversational. I hook one finger under the towel and give it a gentle tug. “So I suggest you just do what I say.”
Jeffrey stiffens but doesn’t pull away. “You wouldn’t do it,” he says, but the hesitation in his voice tells me I’ve got him right where I want him.
“Try me.”
He lets his breath out in a huff. “Fine, but get away from me. You’re freaking me out.”
“Come over here.” I tug him across the room and force him to sit down in a corner of the sectional. I stand over him, hands on my hips. “Spill.”
Jeffrey squirms, goose bumps rising on his chest as water drips from the ends of his hair. “I’ve just heard some stuff,” he mutters, avoiding my gaze.
“What stuff?” I brandish my phone at him, camera app at the ready.
He cringes. “Kyle and Oliver told me Mark had some people over last weekend for a bonfire at his house.” I stop breathing for a moment, the smell of woodsmoke and the feeling of one of Mark’s giant hoodies pulled around my shoulders flashing through my mind. “And Gabriel Latimore was talking about how you were all over him at Lila’s party.”
A flash of anger rips through me. Paired with Ryan’s eyewitness account of how I kamikaze-kissed Dexter early this summer, I could see where some people might start to see a pattern. But Mark knows me. He knows I would never actually sleep around. But is what you’ve been doing any better? an annoying voice inside me asks. I choose not to answer.
“All I did was kiss Gabriel.” I close my eyes briefly, unable to believe I’m having this conversation with my little brother, who