His feet made splatting sounds on the deck as he approached. What are we talking about? Trey had evidently abandoned Matty and Jonas in the pool.

But she never participates, she added, sounding confused. Regardless, they each played their role to the hilt. This despite the fact that they were identical twins. She and Cami had seemingly formed a pact early in life that Cami would be the smart one, relatively speaking, and Cassi would be the pretty one. She’s in my gym class, Cassi offered in her breathy voice. I never knew she had it in her-an unhesitating lack of fear. The good timing of the unexpected special effects-apparently a transformer had blown a couple blocks away, which made the lights pop-hadn’t hurt either, adding a whole Carrie-esque feel to the moment.Īriane hadn’t flinched, even with Rachel in full- confrontation mode and breathing fire. And quiet, sit-in-the-back-of-class Ariane had come to Jenna’s defense, shocking the hell out of me and everyone else.

Not that I could say that aloud.īut the truth was, most people wouldn’t stand up against Rachel even if she was torturing them directly. In theory, it had been none of Ariane’s business at all, which made it all the more awesome. It’s just like, suddenly she comes out of nowhere and she’s, what, Miss Morally Righteous, Defender of the Annoying? What business is it of hers, anyway?' 'I know who she is, Rachel said, sounding further irritated. I could hear the frown in her voice as she tried to remember the details.Ĭassi seemed to be humming The Star-Spangled Banner under her breath, for no apparent reason. And she was really sick a long time ago or something, but she got better. Her mom died and she came to live with her dad. Cami Andrews punctuated her disbelief with a slap of water. Rachel, she’s only been in our class for forever. Condensation rolled down the bottle past my fingers to create a damp and chilly place on my shirt.Ī few feet away, Rachel and the twins, her nearest and dearest cronies, moaned about Ariane over the slosh and splash of the hot tub. I held a cold beer, my third, on my stomach. But it wasn’t uncomfortable enough for me to move yet. I was stretched out on two wooden benches on Rachel’s enormous back deck, my eyes closed and my feet hanging off the end-one of the many disadvantages of life at six foot four. As usual, when Rachel didn’t get what she wanted, she had to make life miserable for everyone. Twelve hours later and she was still bitching about the thing with Ariane Tucker and Jenna Mayborne this morning. I MEAN, WHO DOES SHE think she is? Rachel said with a loud huff.

The Rules by Stacey Kade