“I just know Emely. All she cares about is the pack.”

That sounded harsh, and I was sure that if Emely had been here now, it would have hit her.

“You better not say that to her face,” I said and looked back out onto the street. We were back in the town center.

Julian seemed thoughtful because he was silent.

“Fuck...” he said suddenly. “Do you really think she could be into me?”

I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head slightly. “She totally is.”

Julian hesitated, flabbergasted.

“It wouldn't make sense to me, you know? She's a lot more dismissive than she was back then.”

“She's with you all the time,” I countered, “...even though she already has a group of guys.”

“The only reason she's always with me is because she wants me in the pack or because of the thing with you...”

There we had it.

“She wants you in the pack. I see. Why do you think that is?” I helped him along.

Julian didn't answer, just stared at the road in thought and dodged a branch in the lane.

“Would she have any reason to worry?”

I wheeled around to face him, startled and already feeling the blush rising again.

“No, what do you think?” I punched his shoulders again. Julian dodged, grinning.

“Don't tell me you don't think I'm hot?”

And there he was again. Julian Bardot, my annoying neighbor.

We were standing at a traffic light, so he turned and stretched his head toward me, only to ask with a wry puppy dog look, “Not even a little bit?”

“Julian!” I laughed and pushed him back into his seat. “Concentrate on the road!”

He was such a chaotic person.

“Don't worry about it. I've got everything in sight.”

He cleared his throat and drove on as the light turned green.

“How long have you two known each other?” I asked what had been burning on my tongue for weeks.

Julian sighed. “We practically grew up together. My father was still living with them in the neighborhood in one of the wood cabins in the Copeland Woods. We were inseparable, played outside with her brothers and another friend, and we got up to a lot of shit. Things that kids do...”

“That sounds like a very nice childhood.”

I tried to imagine what Julian, Emely, and Nash must have looked like as small children.

“Yes, but you grow up quickly. A lot of things change, you know?”

I nodded, and my own childhood came to mind, which seemed so carefree in retrospect. The times when I had played with Larissa at home, on the playground or in the schoolyard. I had never thought it would become as difficult as it was now.

“Would you like me to take you to the doctor?”

Julian snapped me out of my daydreams and reminded me of the painful present I was stuck in until now.

“Do I look that bad?” I asked sarcastically, earning another grin.

“If it'll cheer you up, I can just drive you to the seminar and pretend you haven't just been unconscious for two days. And that not for the second time.”

I hated it. Why did this kind of crap always happen to me?

“You should at least eat something,” he said, pointing to the back seat. “There should be two packs of Sweet Chili Chips and a Coke.”

“You live a healthy life,” I laughed, and Julian couldn't stop his lips from forming a smile.

“Just eat and don't criticize me all the time.”

Chapter 59

Larissa

With a final rattle, the engine stopped, and I pulled the key out of the machine, took off my helmet and eyed the diner where Bay and I had been the other day.

The inscription Lola's Diner shone in its orange neon letters above the entrance, and you could see through the windows that there was a lot of activity inside.

Grace had just told me today that this was the favorite downtown hangout of all Blairville students. It really wasn't a bad place, because the food tasted good, and you quickly got the feeling of being part of the town.

However, a quieter place would have been better for the conversation I wanted to have with Bayla. I'd been relieved when I'd seen her on campus earlier, especially after the drama that had happened on the first floor of our accommodation on Monday.

“Larissa Champson, if I remember correctly?”

I wheeled around and eyed Jenny Bexley suspiciously. She was wearing a light yellow, tight dress and a felt coat of the same color. Her make-up was perfect, but her face looked unnatural, somewhat strange, as if she had tried to cover up an accident.

The fact that she was holding her iPad didn't put me at ease. What did the radio announcer's eldest daughter want from me?

“How do you know my name?” I asked suspiciously, relieved that she didn't know my middle name. How could she... I had made sure it was erased from the network.

“I know every important person in town, sweetie,” she laughed, pulling out her iPad pen.

I raised both eyebrows, but before I could ask further, she was already babbling on.

“You're a friend of the DeLoughreys. Could I ask you a few questions?”