Bully King - J.A. Huss Page 0,59
too. Then we laugh. Long, loud laughs. And I suddenly wonder why I have never smoked joints with Mona Monroe before tonight. “Just one more,” I say. “I’ve had a day.”
She laughs again. And so do I. And suddenly I completely understand why people smoke pot.
“Girl, that wasn’t a day. That was a whole year’s worth of shit you went through.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it.” I take another sip of smoke, then stop my bogarting—whatever that is—and pass it back.
She takes a long draw, gets a little dreamy look in her eyes as they cross to look at the joint between her lips, then holds it in and falls back into a mound of cushions. Her words come out with her smoke. “You should just walk away from it.” She holds the joint out for me.
“Yup,” I say. “I should.” Then I get up and walk over to her couch and sit down next to her to make sharing easier. I take another draw, then a few more when Mona doesn’t protest, enjoying this little moment of comradery, and then pass it back. Pretty sure I’m good now. I can feel the buzz and it is nice. I lie back in the pillows too, then take a deep breath and close my eyes.
“So how are they different?”
“Who?” I mumble.
“The Kings.”
“Mmm. I dunno. Lars is nice.”
“Yeah, I’ve always thought so too.”
“And Ax is protective.”
“He sure was today when that Dante fuck tried to suck your tits. And Cooper?”
I push the memory of Dante and Ax away and just think about Cooper for a moment. It’s a dangerous thing to do, thinking about him and all the things he admitted to me tonight. “Cooper is sad.”
She says nothing to that. But when I open my eyes, she’s staring intently at me.
I want to set her straight about Cooper and I. Tell her all my secrets. But I can’t. Because Cooper would get very mad at me. So I just sigh. “He’s just… I don’t know.”
“You like him.”
“I like all three of them, actually. But yes. I like Cooper more. He’s… both.”
“Both what?”
“Nice and protective.”
“Hmm. You know him far better than I do. So I’ll take your word for it. But I kinda like you, Cadee. I’ve always thought you were interesting. Schooling at home. Wandering around the woods. That painting you like to do. And you always had a book. I have often dreamed about being you.”
“What? Why the hell would you want to be me when you can be you?”
“Why the hell wouldn’t I? You don’t belong here and I do.”
I tsk my tongue. “Yep. Everyone’s been telling me that today too.”
“My point is—I like you. So I’m going to tell you something now. And I really want you to hear me. OK?”
I take a deep breath and nod.
“He’s dangerous, Cadee. We’re all dangerous. And no matter what you think, the reason everyone is telling you that you don’t belong, it’s not because we think we think we’re better than you. It’s because we want one of us to get away.”
“What?”
“And if it can’t be them, or me”—she continues without explaining—“then it should be you.”
I just stare at her for a moment.
“I know what everyone thinks of Isabella and her little minions. But she’s not what she appears to be. Trust me. Ask Cooper. He knows. It’s an act, Cadee. We’re all just… acting here. Nothing is what it seems. And if you keep going to the Glass House this summer, and God fucking forbid you actually make it to the end and get that scholarship, you’re going to be trapped here with us. We don’t want to see that happen. We really don’t. And if Isabella is mean to you, it’s because you have everything she wants, but won’t ever get. Half the time she’s jealous of you and the other half she just thinks you’re too stupid to live because you refuse to see what’s right in front of your face.”
I’m… silent for a moment. And I can’t think straight. My head is all fuzzy and dizzy.
“What the fuck?”
We both jolt up and see Cooper walking across the lawn with a mean scowl on his face. “Cadee, what the—Mona! What are you doing?”
Mona leans back into her pillow and then realizes she’s got a joint in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and starts to laugh as she smokes them both at once.
“We’re just smoking,” I say.
“You don’t smoke!” And boy, is he mad. “Let’s go, Cadee.”