Martha steps into the cafeteria in that blue sundress. She does a sweep of the room and lights up like a firefly when she spots what she’s searching for. I’m not shocked when I follow her line of sight to Cooper. He’s still talking with the guy from the other table. One of these days, this unrequited crush better get old for her because it’s beyond old for me.
I pick up a chicken strip and pause right as I open my mouth. Martha walks in Cooper’s direction, but what’s really pissing me off is that he’s strutting right toward her. In the middle of the cafeteria, they stop less than a foot from each other. She smiles at him like he means something and he gives her that same sly grin that he flashes for every girl he’s trying to play.
My chair cracks back.
“Oh hell,” whispers Todd.
Oh hell, what? I shoot a glare down the table and everyone becomes intensely interested in their trays. “Is he playing my sister?”
No one says anything.
“Wasn’t this the same guy who bragged that he did Missy Parker in the back of his car last weekend? If he’s playing my sister, someone needs to tell me.”
Silence from them all.
“Now!”
“What’s going on?” Cooper slides into the chair across from me. The same damn spot he’s sat in since first grade. Me on one side. Him on the other. The guy I’ve hung with and stood by for as long as I remember.
“Are you playing Martha?”
Cooper laughs, but when he notices no one else has joined him, his forehead wrinkles. “You’re serious?”
“Have I laughed yet?”
Cooper twists the cap off his soda and glances too many times at the other guys at the table. “She’s your sister.”
“Damn right she is.”
He has the balls to look me straight in the eye. “You know me better than that.”
A stray thought advances from the back of my brain. He’s right. I do know him. Better than probably anyone else and I ke en that.”now he doesn’t believe in lines or boundaries. I stand and say, “Stay away from Martha.”
Without waiting for a response, I leave the cafeteria, enter the empty hallway, and wonder where Stella hid herself. The cafeteria door slams open behind me, the roar of voices from the lunchroom rising and falling. I have a strong suspicion of who it is, but I continue walking. If Cooper’s smart, he’ll stay the hell away.
“Jonah!”
Evidently the boy doesn’t possess a brain.
“Jonah!” he yells again.
The tapping of his shoes increases as he runs to catch me and I turn the moment he’s near. “What?”
“What?” His eyes widen. “You call me out in front of everyone and you’re asking me what?”
“Call you out?” I shove my finger into his face. “I saw you with Martha.”
“I heard what you said about Trash Can Girl and I let it slide,” he shouts. “And as for your sister, we were talking. Just talking. God, your family is right. You are majorly messed up. I don’t pretend to know what happened the night of the accident, but you’ve changed, and I’m sick and tired of carrying you because of it.”
He’s stating my worst fears. I didn’t want to change. But it’s all changed and hanging with Stella, it was supposed to help. “I haven’t changed.”
“Yeah. You have.” He pauses. “Accusing me of going after your sister. Your sudden fascination with Trash Can Girl.”
I move closer, my chest bumping his. “Her name is Stella.”
“She lives with a stripper in the Section 8 housing on the other side of town. She dyes her hair purple and wears the same damn clothes every day. Girls like her don’t give a crap what I say.”
“You’re wrong,” I tell him.
“On what?” he says. “That she gives a damn about anyone or that she’s a stripper-in-training?”
I tower over him and Cooper appears to get smaller.
“What the hell?” Cooper’s eyes dart across my face. “Are you going to throw our friendship away over a freak?”
Anger becomes white-hot acid in my bloodstream. My fingers close into a fist and my voice drops to a new level. “Say it again and find out.”
“Jonah!” Stella’s voice jerks me away from my showdown with Cooper.
Cooper steps back with his hands in the air. “Decide which way you’re going on this. I know you’ve been hanging out with her and I’ve been patient, but here’s the truth. You’ve changed and she’s the new factor. Think about what you’re giving up, Jonah. I’ve been your friend for years and she’s...” My one-time best friend scrutinizes Stella like she belongs in a dumpster. “Decide soon.”
Cooper retreats back into the cafeteria. Leaning against the windows, Stella presses her folder to her chest. She’s almost as pale as James Cohen was the night I held his hand.
“I’m not worth this,” she says in a small voice.
My eyebrows furrow. “Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not. He’s right about me. I’m trash.”
“You’re not.”
The edges of the folder bend as she grips it tighter. “You don’ la’s t know anything about me.”
The anger boils over and I ram my fist into a nearby locker. Pain slices through my knuckles. Stella flinches and I immediately wish I could take the action back. But I’m mad. Mad at Cooper and mad at Stella. She’s right. I know nothing when it comes to her. “Then tell me. Tell me who you are.”