Page 53 of The Secret Girl (Adamson All-Boys Academy 1)
I'm already dreading coming face-to-face with Cody again.
Because now I have the answer I needed.
Micah's kiss, and that brief brush of lips with Tobias, were both better than Cody. Infinitely. And Spencer. I just can't stop thinking about Spencer …The twins and I grab pancakes at the diner, and then head over to a big box store that's open late. They both sit on a bench outside the dressing room, randomly switching places, so that every time I come out, I have to guess who's who.
Actually, now that I've spent a little time with them, it's not all that hard. Sure, they can move and talk in unison, but Micah has a hard glint that Tobias counters with a strong but gentle demeanor.
They bring me heaps of clothes to try on, so many that we end up getting kicked out of the store at closing—but only after they drop nearly five hundred dollars on me.
“Thank you,” I tell them when they drop me off at Cody's car in the boardwalk parking lot. I'm holding the shopping bag handles in both hands, biting my lower lip and trying my best not to blush.
I sort of, like fail, but whatever.
“You're welcome,” they say together, exchanging a look. Tobias pulls out a bag from inside the back seat of his car and hands it over to me. “Just because you're a very ugly boy doesn't mean you're not a gorgeous girl,” he says with a smirk as I peek inside the bag and find a beautiful yellow and white dress. My cheeks go from pale pink to rose red, and I know they can both tell I'm blushing, even in the darkness.
“So when we get back to Adamson, you guys will actually start being nice to me?” I whisper, looking back up at them.
They glance at each other before turning back to me with a pair of matching Cheshire Cat grins, big and wide and full of nonsense.
“Most definitely fucking not,” they say, and then they both pat me on the head, and climb into their matching sports cars.
I notice they don't leave the parking lot until they make sure I do first.
How gentlemanly of them.
When I get back to Monica's, both she and Cody are sitting on the couch in the media room watching a movie. They perk up when I walk in, but since the seat backs are so high, I can't tell if they were snuggling or not.
At this point, I don't even care.
I flop down into the chair one over from Monica with a sigh, dropping my shopping bags on the floor.
“You ditched us to go to Target?” she chokes out with a high-pitched laugh, putting her hand near her throat. “That's … an interesting choice. The Charlotte I knew wouldn't be caught dead in cheap department store garbage.”
My eyebrow ticks with anger, and I can feel my lips twitching as I glance between her and Cody. My eyes catch briefly on his unzipped fly and flushed face, and when I look back at her, I see her lipstick is smeared.
Uh.
Doesn't take a genius to put all the pieces together.
“Were you just sucking his dick?” I ask, not caring how crass I sound. My eyes meet Monica's brown ones, and her gaze widens in surprise.
“What the fuck, seriously?” Cody chokes out with a forced laugh. “Why would you say that, cutie?” Monica glances his way and he purses his lips. She tucks her dark hair carefully behind one ear and looks back at me.
“What's your problem, Charlotte? You've been weird since you got here.”
“Me?” I ask, scoffing a laugh as I sit up. The shopping bags the twins gave me are bolstering my courage. I press my foot against the side of one and channel the McCarthy boys' energy. “You two have treated me like a stranger since the first second you saw me.” My eyes water, and I have to close them to maintain the strength of my conviction. When I open them back up, they're both just staring blankly at me. “Did either of you even remember that it was my seventeenth birthday today?” They both widen their eyes in surprise, and I get some small satisfaction out of that. “Strangers on freaking Facebook are wishing me happy birthday, and my two besties can't be fucked remembering?” My eyes begin to water again, and this time, I just let the tears slide down my face. They need to see how much they hurt me because it's not okay.
“You just came in here with that snooty East Coast attitude,” Monica quips, and my jaw drops open in surprise. “Like you're too cool for fucking school.” She flips her dark hair, and glances over at Cody as if for support. “I guess we were so put-off by that, that we forgot your birthday.”
