Page 21 of Student Seduction

“Liar. I know that face. You want to go. Cute boy on the team or something?”

“Or something,” he muttered, moving to my closet. “Here. Put this on.”

He tossed me a cropped concert tee I’d gotten from the thrift store and a pair of black destroyed skinny jeans.

“I’ll freeze in this at the ice rink.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, a gray zip up hoodie smacked me in the face and landed in my arms.

“Hurry up, princess,” he said, exiting back through my window.

“You could’ve used the door,” I mumbled while disrobing.

Once I was changed, I brushed my teeth and ran a brush through my hair. I had enough residual makeup left from my internship that morning that it looked liked I’d tried for a decent smokey eye.

Now for the hard part.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked gently on my mom’s bedroom door.

When she didn’t answer, I pushed it open slowly. “Mom?”

Still nothing.

I stepped inside and saw her dozing in her chair while her television played an old episode of Family Feud. I placed her gray chunky knit blanket over her and rounded up the dirty dishes from her room.

After dropping them off in the dishwasher, I scrawled a quick note for Ethan, letting him know there were still leftovers in the fridge if he made it home before I did.

Drew and Camille waited in Camille’s 4Runner when I stepped outside. I punched in the lock code on the front door and made my way to the vehicle.

“Hellllooo,” Camille greeted me. “You sexy bitch.”

I didn’t even flinch anymore. I was growing accustomed to her blunt nature.

“Hey,” I said with less enthusiasm as I climbed into the backseat.

“You okay, girl?” Camille twisted in her seat to look at me.

I shrugged. “I had to work at the museum this morning. Just woke up from a nap. Still a little tired, I guess.”

“Here,” she handed me an already opened white can. “It’s my new fave. You need it more than I do.”

I checked the writing on it. Coconut Berry Red Bull. It was new to me. I drank the rest of it in a few swallows. Surprisingly it wasn’t half bad. I made a mental note to pick some up next time I was at the grocery store.

Drew cranked the radio up loudly as we made our way into town.

“So Derek has already texted me twice asking if I was coming tonight,” Camille told us over the music.

“Don’t text him back,” Drew ordered. “Let him sweat.”

Camille bit her lip. “Okay, so don’t hate me. I kind of already told him I was coming.”

Drew shook his head. “This is why he treats you like this, Cam. Because you’re the sure thing always waiting in the wings. You need to make his ass work for it for a change.”

I listened to their back and forth debating Derek’s behavior most of the way to the rink. At some point, I must’ve zoned out because Camille said “I don’t think she heard it.”

“Heard what?” I leaned forward in my seat.

“This,” Drew said, turning the radio up louder.