plastic chair at a table that smells nauseatingly of stale cigarette smoke. We haven’t said much to each other. Haven’t had the chance. Now that we’re alone, I feel sick to my stomach that he’s even here.
After all, Lucky didn’t throw the rock.
“I tried to tell the security guard it was me … ,” I say quietly. My voice is hoarse.
“I know,” he says. “It looked bad for both of us.”
“Oh God,” I moan. “I’m so sorry. Can you explain to your parents that you weren’t involved? Surely they can talk to the cops, and they’ll just let you go.”
“Me?” He makes a derisive noise in the back of his throat. “Have you gotten a whiff of my reputation lately? It stinks like the dumpster behind Clam Shack number thirteen before garbage pickup day.”
I groan. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I don’t even know why I did it. I’m not a criminal! I’ve never even gotten detention at school.”
He snorts a little laugh. “Goodie for you. I haven’t had it this month. Look, this isn’t new territory for me. I’ve been in this room before. It all worked itself out. Had to do some community service. That’s it.”
“I doubt they’re going to make me mow a lawn.” I say.
He shakes his head. “Probably not.”
I cover my face. “What was I thinking? My mom is going to murder me. Am I going to be shipped off to juvie? Will I have a record? I’ll never be able to convince them to give me another shot at that magazine internship.”
Lucky scratches his chin. “I thought you said you were trying out for it?”
“They turned me down. Levi Summers came into the meeting, and he’s a stickler about rules. He pulled my submission because I’m too young.”
He exhales, long and low. “That’s why you got so mad?”
“I needed another reason?” I say, angry tears threatening again as Adrian’s drunken face pops back up in my mind.
“No,” he agrees. “Definitely not. Sorry.”
“Oh God. I’m screwed,” I murmur. “All of my big plans … My father won’t let me move up there now. Not with a police record. I’m stuck here. I’ll probably never go to college, and I’ll end up like my mom, completely resentful about her life choices and unable to hold down a job.”
“Whoa,” Lucky says. “Back it up. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Maybe the Saint-Martin women don’t have a love curse. My mom’s right—this whole town is cursed.”
He squints at me. “That stupid love curse? Don’t tell me you’re buying into that now.”
“Hey, it’s just like you said—we’ve got the word ‘Siren’ plastered right above our door. Temptation, right? We’re cursed! Wanna know a secret? I’m a virgin. How’s that for irony, huh? Wild Winona’s daughter—who’s allegedly running a sordid nude subscription service online, proof provided by Adrian—is a virgin. There’s your curse, right there. Happy?”
“Jesus, Josie,” he says, looking embarrassed as he scans the corners of the room. Like maybe we’re being watched or recorded. “I didn’t—”
Well? We used to tell each other everything. Besides, he’s the one who brought up porn outside the pool house. I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. “Know what’s funny? Between me and my mom, I’m the adult,” I tell him. “The responsible one who sits at home alone and does my homework and has to remind Mom to pay the electricity bill on time so I don’t have to sit in the dark or walk to Starbucks for Wi-Fi until she can get it turned back on again.”
“Josie,” he says. Feeling sorry for me, pleading for me to shut up … it’s hard to tell.
But it’s too late for that. I have held myself under tight, careful control for too long, not communicating with my mom, not communicating with anyone, and now the levee’s broken.
I’m awash in emotion.
“This isn’t me. I’m a good girl,” I insist, feeling tears prick the backs of my eyelids. “All I wanted was to get out of here before the time bomb exploded between Grandma and Mom when the Nepal trip ended—and for a chance for a real family with my father in LA. Now I won’t be surprised if my mom shoves me back into the Pink Panther and drags me off to some other town once she hears what I’ve done here in the portal to hell.”
“She’d really do that?” he asks, sounding shocked. “Make you leave Beauty again?”