Nico Vaughan, the junior class "Nice Girl" wants to be free from her abusive and obsessive ex-boyfriend.
Valen Henford, the school's resident "Rich Guy meets Bad Boy" wants to spend his senior year with the girl he's been in love with for years.
W...
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"Mama, I am a rich man" (Cher).
|◁ II ▷|
As everyone sits waiting in the cars, Sam and West are still inside talking.
And I know what they're talking about. And I wanna hear it.
It's not nosy if it's about me, right?
"I have to pee before we leave," I unbuckle, hopping out of Valen's car.
I sneak inside and hover in the bathroom doorway as Sam and West talk. Well, as West threatens Sam and Sam promises that he'll not mention his obsession with me during the shopping trip—I paraphrased, by the way.
When West starts talking about how much he looks forward to this every year, I head back to the car, knowing West's speech-wrap-up patterns the best of anyone in this world.
Sure enough, West and Sam leave the house a couple minutes later, and Valen's car—filled with Rikkard, Rachel, Valen, and me—pulls out as West and Sam hop in West's car. Amber makes an appearance in the mall parking lot right as we get there, and she walks in with all of us, silent and not looking at anyone.
I try to hang back to talk to her, but she shakes her head at me, slightly moving her hand up.
Amber makes it about thirty minutes into the shopping, buying nothing and giving the reason for her exit as "Cilia from volleyball asked me to come over."
I watch her leave with a heavy heart. This is it for our friendship, right? It sure seems to be.
Valen and I get caught up in each other while we walk around, going from store to store. My hand feels warm in his, and I've decided to embrace the full-on redness of my entire face.
West and Rachel have been talking about Jesus behind us for the past twenty minutes, ever since we left one of the shops and decided to just walk around and talk. I catch bits and pieces of West's explanation of his religion, and it seems kind of interesting.
I think we lost Rikkard, though. He must've stayed in that last store. Valen doesn't seem worried, so I think Rikkard told him he'd be fine on his own for a bit.
Much to my twisted, evil heart's content, Sam has been walking in front of us, sulking by himself in silence.
Am I a mean person? Yes, I guess I am. I'd apologize to Sam later for it, but I'm scared he'll get the wrong idea.
We stop at the food court for some snacks, and Valen heads to the bathroom, telling me he might be a minute but to stay with West and Rachel. I do for about five minutes before growing bored and seeing a shop that looks like something Juliette might like, so I head in to look around.
