Instead, I called out playfully, “Why do they call you Grease?”

“Depends on who you’re talkin’ to,” he answered with a mischievous smile, storing a few belongings in his saddle bags as I watched him. “Dad thought it was funny to call me that as a kid because I was so worried about staying clean. Minute I got done doing something I had to wash my hands. Didn’t matter what I was doing.”

I smiled widely at him, imagining him as a persnickety little boy.

“Poet calls me Grease for a different reason.” He finished buckling the bags and looked at me, taking in the jeans and sweater I was wearing. “Said he couldn’t figure out how I was picking up chicks so easy—had to be that I was greased.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, puzzled.

He chuckled a little as he climbed on his bike.

“Didn’t have to do anything, just slid right in like I was greased.”

I still didn’t get it. And then suddenly I did, and I wished that I had something I could throw at his arrogant ass. I scowled at him before flipping him off and getting into the car, hearing his roar of laughter even after I’d slammed my door.

He followed me all the way into the parking lot of the new school but he didn’t stop. We both knew that if we had to say goodbye again, I’d never be able to make myself go inside the ugly brick building. I watched as he waved his hand at me before taking off, and I had to hurry out of my car before I started crying.

The school was pretty easy to navigate, and I had no problems finding my classes, but for the first time in my life, no one talked to me. I hadn’t been the most popular girl in my old school, but I’d had a solid group of friends and I’d always easily made new ones. It was different in the new school, though. People barely even looked at me, and when they did they walked right past me.

It wasn’t until I’d finished two classes, and was sitting down in the last one before lunch, that I had any interaction at all.

“Hey, new girl!” a pretty blonde girl called to me, setting her bag next to mine on the floor and taking a seat next to me. She was one of the most beautiful girls I’d ever seen, and I wanted to turn and look behind me to make sure she was talking to me, but I didn’t. Her hair was set in a huge bump at her forehead then smoothed back into a ponytail, she had a piercing above her lip on the right side like a beauty mark, and she was wearing the most flawless makeup—including bright red lipstick—that  I’d ever seen on anyone. I think I may have drooled a little.

I’m not sure if I said hello, or just kept staring at her, but she smiled genuinely at me and I found myself smiling back.

“So here’s the deal,” she told me, as she put her elbow on the table and leaned her chin on it. “Everyone saw you and your escort this morning—he’s smokin’ hot by the way—and everyone around here tries to keep their distance from shit like that. It’s easier if they just pretend that the Aces don’t exist, know what I mean?”

I was nodding stupidly as she spoke, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that people were actually scared of Asa, so I barely caught what she said next.

“—so we can hang out, if you want to.”

“What? Sorry, I didn’t hear you,” I told her, feeling like an idiot.

“Dude. I’m sitting right in front of you and you’re watching me talk. Pay attention,” she told me seriously. “My mom’s screwing one of the Aces, so I know how you feel. People barely talk to me around here and I grew up with them. They’ve known me for years. I get it. So if you want to hang with me—the offer’s open.”

I was trying to process the fact that Asa was scary and her mom was screwing one of the guys he worked with, so I didn’t say anything back. When she finally huffed out a breath like she was annoyed and went to stand up, I grabbed her forearm to stop her.

“I could definitely use a friend around this place,” I answered her ruefully.

“Great! We can have slumber parties, and paint each other’s nails, and do each other’s hair…” she told me dreamily, her eyes going unfocused as she thought about it.

For a split second I looked at her in horror, wondering what the hell I’d done.

“Ha! I’m dicking with you!” she giggled infectiously at the panic on my face. “We’ll just smoke pot and watch ‘Dazed and Confused’ and you can tell me all about the hot dude that followed you to school today.”

And that’s how I met Farrah.

Chapter 29

Callie

The first night without him was the hardest, and the fact that he was busy as hell didn’t help matters much. I lay in bed that night, listening to every creak and thump in the apartments around ours, and tried not to crawl inside the closet so I could get some relief from my racing heart.

I’d like to say that the next night was easier, but it wasn’t.

The third and fourth nights weren’t any better.

But on the fifth night, something finally clicked—or my body was just too tired to stay awake any longer, because when I got home from school, I fell asleep on the couch. I didn’t wake up until sunlight hit my face through the tiny window in the kitchen.

I hopped up from the couch and ran to the bathroom. Sleeping for sixteen hours was no joke when it came to matters of bodily functions. I didn’t even think about the fact that I’d been radio silent for all that time until I picked up my phone and my heart sank in my chest.