The three of them struck a picture among the rest of the Grant West students. Royalty, I snuck a look at Beth. She had used that term before, but I could see it now. These girls were beautiful, all of them.

When Tiffany saw who else was with her sister, her lips thinned, but she ignored me. “Hannah, you never called me back last night.”

Hannah groaned in response, muffled from the book.

Kara glanced at me but turned away quickly.

I fought against biting my lip. That was not guilt rumbling in my stomach. That was my food. That was all.

Chandra stood behind their leader, ready for whatever was going to go down, but when she sent me a questioning glance I knew it was bothering her about Cord. She still didn’t know how I knew him. When Beth let out a small sigh, my attention was distracted. Tiffany stood at Hannah’s head now, glaring down, while her sister continued to ignore her. Beth’s shoulders slumped and before she lowered her head back to her book, I caught the pain that flashed over her.

I straightened where I sat. That wasn’t the sort of pain where she was being ignored or where she knew there was going to be a confrontation between the sisters. That was deep pain, the type that I felt stirring inside of me as a response to seeing it. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, wondering what the hell had gone down in Beth’s life for her to react like that.

Then I shook my head clear. What was I doing? I couldn’t get involved.

“Hannah, I’m speaking to you!”

Her elbow rotated and her hand lifted in the air. The middle finger was extended next.

Beth and I both shared a look, each grinning.

“You’re such a pain in my ass.”

Hannah looked up now and grunted, “Likewise, big pain-in-my-ass sister.”

Tiffany’s glare went up a notch and her hands went to her hips. “You need to call me when you go out drinking. Mom was worried to death about you.”

“Mom wasn’t worried about me. Mom would’ve been cheering me on. You were worried, Tiffany. Stop putting your crap on other people.” She gave her sister a nice eff-off grin. “I have no plans on reporting to you wherever I go, whenever I go, and whoever I do so get that out of your head. You didn’t care last year. You don’t need to now.”

Her hands slid from her hips and her voice quieted, “Hannah, I’m worried about you. Last year, you didn’t have—”

She cut her off, “It’s none of your business. Back off.”

“I’m—”

Hannah shoved her book closed and swept it into her bag as she stood from the table. Pulling her bag onto her back, she was seething at her sister. “Stay out of my business. You do that and we’ll get along fine.”

“But,” Tiffany glanced at Beth, who immediately dropped her head back to her book.

I frowned.

“And don’t look at Beth. Unlike you, she’s actually there for me and trying to support me.”

“I’m trying to do that too.”

Hannah poked her sister in the chest, pushing her back a step. “No, you’re not. You’re trying to control me. Trust me. I feel back-doored up the ass every time you talk to me.”

Her sister’s mouth dropped open and her friends moved away from the two. Tiffany sputtered, “But—Hannah, I don’t—”

“You do.” She silenced her with a look. “Do us both a favor and leave me alone. Focus all your energy on making sure Jamie doesn’t cheat as much as he did last year.”

Tiffany’s face flamed and her shoulders went rigid. Her jaw clenched, but before she could send a scathing retort, Hannah was gone. She jerked towards her cousin instead and clipped out, “Can you make sure she doesn’t end up dead by the end of the semester? It’s the least you could do.”

Beth didn’t respond.

When she realized she wasn’t going to get a response, Tiffany narrowed her gaze at me instead.

I narrowed mine back. “Don’t even start. I’m not a punching bag for you.”

She rolled eyes and muttered, “We’ll see about that,” before she left. Chandra and Kara both gazed at me in concern, but followed a second later.

“What a bitch,” came from beside me.

I frowned again. “Does she always talk to you like that?”

“More or less.” Before I could reply, her shoulders went back and her chest rose. “I’m not weak to let her talk to me like that. I used to fight back, but it only made things worse between her and Hannah. If I don’t respond to her, she always goes away and things aren’t that bad between them.”

They looked pretty damn bad to me. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I’m not weak.”

“You are when it comes to Tiffany.”

She had started to turn back to her book, but her eyes snapped back to mine. Anger morphed over her and she lashed back, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I shrugged, but I murmured, “I know enough to know that you’re scared of your cousin.” Before she could reply, I finished, “And we both know that’s not Hannah. Does she remind you of your mother?”

Beth paled. “What did you just say?”

“Tiffany. She’s like your mom, isn’t she? That’s why you don’t fight back.”

“Shut. Up.”

I grabbed my book and my bag. Standing from the table, I regarded her for a second. “I’m not judging. I was dumped by both my parents so I get it. But Tiffany is not your mom. You can stand up for yourself against her. She’s still here and it doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere.”

As she gulped, I gave her a small wave and left.

I hadn’t minced my words and I hadn’t taken pity on her. That’s what she’d been scared about, but that small voice whispered in my head, You’re a hypocrite. You’re scared, just like her.

I was, but I wasn’t going to deal with my parents yet. I wasn’t ready for that.

CHAPTER SIX

Jesse called two nights later. I checked the time and saw it was after eleven before I answered. “Hey.”

“What are you doing?”

I glanced at my sneakers I was lacing up and my gym bag was already packed. I went to lie on my bed instead. “Nothing. You?”

“You want to do something?”