A grin spread over Cross’ face. “Nice. What about—”

“No. Those losers are in another hall.”

Cross and I shared another look, but it was what it was. Taz made no secret of her hatred for Jordan, and her volume had increased over the last two years. Sometimes I wondered if her hate was covering something else. Was there something more going on between Taz and Jordan? I hadn’t braved Taz’s wrath enough to ask her, and when Cross shook his head at me, I knew he hadn’t either.

After grabbing my notepad, I moved out of the way. My locker closed as both of theirs opened.

“This is awesome, Taz.” Cross didn’t have a bag with him, so he tossed his keys inside. “Thank you.”

While her brother was empty-handed, Taz was not. She carried a bag overflowing with items, and she’d pulled a big pink cart behind her. Books were piled high on it, along with locker separators, anything someone would need for an office, and a small dry-erase board. She had cardboard cutouts for photographs and even some pink glittery stuff. I had no clue what she would do with those, but this was Taz. She would make the inside of her locker a masterpiece. I had no doubt.

“Are you kidding me?” She dropped her bag to the floor and began unloading the cart. “You guys are doing me a favor. If you’re both here, the other girls will stay away.” She glanced over her shoulder.

I followed her gaze, but I already knew who she was referring to. There were the usual girls who gawked at Cross, but she meant a whole other group. Though the hallway was busy, that other group had gathered across from us. I recognized a lot of girls from our grade congregating at Sunday Barnes’ locker. Half of them were eyeing Cross.

They saw me, but kept eyeing him as if he were a piece of steak and they were starving. They didn’t care I was here. I frowned at that.

If they saw me watching them, they’d usually look away. My presence alone would deter them. Not today. Today, I saw the hunger in their eyes. The girls were brazen as they watched Cross. Sunday was friends with Monica, but as I skimmed the group, I could see she wasn’t there.

I shifted on my feet, rounding to face them more fully. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that they were ignoring me, even though I didn’t care that they were here for Cross. That never happened.

“Their notches have gone up,” I mumbled to Cross. They were getting bolder.

He grunted, knowing exactly what I meant.

“Stop that!” Taz protested, her hands on her hips. “I’m the twin. I’m supposed to have the secret language with him. Not you.”

I smiled.

Taz was my only female friend. I liked how feisty she could be, and she wasn’t all fucked up like me. I knew there was pain inside her, but she was spunky. If I wasn’t already best buds with Cross, I might’ve considered Taz my best friend.

Okay. If I was normal, she would’ve been my best friend.

I knew she had a special place in her heart for me too, and a second later her fight was already gone.

She groaned. “And you’re smiling at me. Fuck, Bren. I’m like my brother. I can’t stay mad at you for two seconds.”

Cross laughed. Seeming to change his mind, he grabbed his keys, shut his locker, and snatched a pen from me. Moving around me, he kissed his sister on the forehead. “I’ll see you guys later.” He nodded to me, heading down to the other senior hallway.

She looked at me, her face reddening a bit. “He’s going to check in with the other two, isn’t he?”

I nodded. She knew it. I didn’t know why she’d asked.

“We are in a crew together,” I pointed out.

“Yeah.” Her lips pressed together and resolve flashed in her eyes. “That’s up after this year. Thank God.”

I frowned at her, but didn’t say anything. She went back to unloading the cart.

Taz was excited for graduation. She felt she’d get her brother back, and in a way, I understood. She’d confessed this to me a few times after too much wine. See? She wasn’t like us even with her alcohol choice. She was classy, preferring martinis and wine. She’d long graduated from wine coolers. I didn’t even know when she’d had those, but she claimed she had. I preferred the hard stuff, like whiskey or bourbon, or beer. Straight beer. Anything beer. Jordan had been known to get his own pony-keg at times.

But back to Taz. When she last got a little too tipsy, we’d been at a bonfire. We were all sitting on logs, and the guys had taken off, leaving Taz and me behind.

Staring into the fire, she’d started complaining about the group:

We took all of Cross’ time.

We took him away.

He didn’t even stay at the house much anymore.

Thank God we would graduate and disperse.

But not all crews broke up after graduation.

Taz was banking on it, but she was forgetting that sometimes that didn’t happen. It all depended on the group. My brother had one of the longest running crews in Roussou. The only other one to challenge him had broken up a while ago. Their leader got sent to prison for assaulting some of Channing’s friends from Fallen Crest. He was mum on the details, and I didn’t push. If I wanted to know, I could’ve asked around to find out. I just hadn’t cared.

I had a hard time imagining that our crew wouldn’t last.

“Is it just the crew thing? Or is it personal?” I asked Taz tentatively.

Wide-eyed, she turned to me. “What?” I think she’d forgotten I was still here.

“Do you hate the group, or is it me?” I rested my shoulder against my locker, facing her.

“No!” Her mouth fell open, then closed. She shook her head. “No, no. I wouldn’t want you to think that.”

“So, it’s Jordan and Zellman? Or the group as a whole?”

“Wh-what?” She blinked.

I figured it was the crew as a whole, but I wanted to push some buttons here. They were part of my identity, and while I had a soft spot for Taz, it dug inside me that she had such venom for us.

“It can’t be Zellman,” I mused. “He’s a happy fly.” Except in a fight. “Didn’t you and Jordan work at the same place this summer?”

“Wha—huh?” She gaped at me.

“Taz!” a voice called suddenly.

And she just got saved from a couple more uncomfortable questions I’d planned to toss her way. I wanted to poke her a bit about Jordan. That’d have to wait, but I could already feel my desire to push back at her fading away.

Seeing that Sunday Barnes hadn’t stayed at her locker, I knew my time with Taz was done for the morning.

Sunday approached, wearing her cheerleading uniform, with half her group in tow.

Smoothing a hand down her side, she perched her fist on her hip and smiled widely at us. “Taz, Mrs. Bellacheq said you left the squad this year. I was hoping to talk you into joining again.”

Taz and I shared a glance. We both knew I was out, and we moved as one unit.

Taz stepped forward.

I fell back.

Call me unfriendly, but this was how I’d been all my life. I kept to my own, and my own consisted of my crew and Taz. That was it. I’d never played well with other girls, and I had no desire to talk to them. That wasn’t a rule—I could talk to whoever I wanted—it was just my preference.

I’d begun to turn and head in the direction Cross had gone when Sunday raised her voice again.

“Bren!” Her voice hitched at the end, and she cleared her throat. Her smile got even wider. “Hey. Hi. You weren’t at Alex’s party last night.”

I stopped, half-turned away from them.

Taz stepped in front of me. “Come on, Sunday. You know full well I left the squad. You’ve had practice for two weeks by now.”

I glanced back, held Sunday’s gaze for a moment, then turned and left.

Sunday Barnes tried to talk to me.

I frowned to myself as I moved through the second senior hallway. Other girls, no matter where they were on the social ladder, respected the system. They stayed away from us, but she’d violated that rule. Granted, it was an unspoken rule. There was nothing set in stone, but it bothered me.