Empire High Betrayal (Empire High #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,36

you. That’s what we meant to talk about. So let’s just stick with that. Any ideas on how you want to get her back?”

I stared at James for a moment. He’d just lost two of his best friends. He was fighting with Rachel. I certainly wasn’t giving him the answers he wanted. And I shouldn’t have cared, because Matt didn’t want me to. But I did. I cared about James. The more we hung out, the more his cracks were starting to show. And just because Matt had stopped worrying about him, it didn’t mean I could shut it off so easily. If Matt wasn’t looking out for him, who would? And I’d agreed to come with Rob so that I could try to fix the rift between the Caldwells and the Hunters. If I left right now, I would have just made everything worse. “Just a silly prank?” I asked.

James smiled again. “Yeah. Something to embarrass her in front of everyone.”

I leaned back. “As long as it’s not revenge.” Matt was right. I wasn’t and never would be more Pruitt than Sanders. And that meant no revenge. Even if I did want Isabella to die.

“It’s not technically revenge,” Rob said. “Because we’d already started plotting before Wizzy tried to kill you. Pre-emptive revenge maybe…”

“Just a prank,” James said. “Something epic.”

Something epic. Hmm. “You know what would make it more epic? Getting the whole gang back together,” I said. “The Untouchables back at it again.”

James shook his head. “The Untouchables? I always hated that nickname.” He doodled something in his notebook. “Who came up with that? Clearly whoever first said it was dead wrong.”

Oh, James. He was trying to hide his broken heart. But random proposals weren’t going to fix things with Rachel or bring the Untouchables back together.

“Well, revenge is a dish best served cold,” Rob said, ignoring James’ comment. “Isn’t that a saying? Maybe we could do something with pudding.”

I laughed. “And she couldn’t kill any frogs that way.”

James jotted down the idea.

“You know who probably makes a good pudding?” I asked. “Mrs. Caldwell. I bet if we looped Matt and Mason in on this…”

“Sanders,” Rob groaned. “We said we wouldn’t talk about your engagement to the enemy. So stop mentioning the enemy’s name in our treehouse. This is a sacred place.”

“But…”

“No buts. When you hang out with us, you’re one of us. When you hang out with them, you’re one of them.” He made a gagging noise. “No in the middle. Right now you’re a Hunter. Be a gross Caldwell later. Unless you want to sleep in my bed tonight instead.” He winked at me. “I’ll buy you a nicer ring.”

James cleared his throat. “I kind of like the pudding idea. Could you imagine how much Isabella would freak if she got that in her hair?”

I tried to focus on James instead of Rob. I couldn’t handle any more teasing today. And seeing James smile again made being here feel like less of a mistake. He needed this.

“Or we could shave her head,” Rob suggested.

I laughed.

They went back and forth, making me laugh, harder and harder as I looked around the small treehouse. There were toys and comic books on the floor. It looked so much more lived in than James’ room had. Pictures lined the wall. Photos of James as a happy little boy. He had the same facial features, in an adorable little boy kind of way. "You used to be so cute,” I said and leaned over to look at one.

“Used to be?” James asked. “You’re just not looking hard enough now.”

I laughed at him and then looked back at the pictures. “Is this all four of the Untouchables as kids?”

“Again with that terrible nickname,” James said with a laugh. He leaned over and unpinned the picture from the wall. "But yeah. That was taken one summer when we were little."

“We look ridiculous,” Rob said.

I smiled down at the picture. James and Mason both had braces and looked so scrawny, sitting on the edge of a pool. It looked like the pool in Matt’s backyard. Rob and Matt looked even scrawnier. Rob was pushing Matt into the pool in the picture and the expression on Matt’s face was priceless. The four of them were having so much fun. How could they just let this friendship fade away?

“You can keep it, if you want,” James said. “I don’t really want it anymore.”

I pressed my lips together. Maybe he didn’t want it right now. But he