To the Steadfast by Briana Gaitan Read Free Book Online Page B

girl?”
    “Yeah, I don’t know who
she is. She came to pick him up right when he got home from school.”
    I shrug and pretend not
to care. “When are you coming back to school?”
    “Soon. The school
called today to inquire about my absence.”
    I can hear her mom
yelling about something in the background. “I came over to see if you wanna
stay at my place this weekend. My parents are away.”
    Her face lights up.
“I’d like that.”
    “Well, pack your stuff
up and get in the car.”
    She runs inside, and I
stroll back to my car.
    I have to grip my
steering wheel to ease the shaking in my hands. Mischa is out with another
girl. I have no right to be upset. He gave me plenty of outs and told me he
couldn’t promise anything. It still hurts though. I guess some part of me
thought we’d connected on an emotional level. I’d hoped this would be the
stepping stone to a relationship.
    A sharp knock on my
window makes me jump in my seat. I’m even more on edge when I look up and see a
cop standing there. I roll down my window and nervously look up. Remember,
you’ve done nothing wrong. I repeat this to myself as I fake a smile.
    “How can I help you,
officer?”
    “Can I see some ID?”
He’s older with salt and pepper hair and a stern, constipated-looking face. I
recognize him as the father of one of the girls at my school.
    “May I ask why?”
    “May I ask you why you
are at this residence? Do you live here?”
    “You know I don’t live
here,” I snap as I pull open my purse and show him my driver’s license.
    He glances at the ID
and bends down closer to the window. “Take my advice, Miss. This isn’t the type
of place you want to be hanging around.”
    “I’m not hanging around
here. I’m picking up a friend.”
    “I doubt your parents
would enjoy a call from me. I run into Doctor Lombardi a lot at the hospital,
and I know he’d hate for you to get in trouble round these parts.”
    Is he threatening me?
Whatever, I don’t want this getting back to my father anyway. I start my
ignition and take my ID back from his hand. “Fine, I’m leaving.”
    He leans over and looks
in my back seat. “You have anything illegal in the car?”
    I give him a crooked
smile. “No, nothing that shouldn’t be.”
    With a tip of his head,
he backs away. “Have a good day.”
    By the time Violet
comes barreling from the house, the cop is back in his car.
    “Can we do something
fun tonight?” she asks as soon as she’s buckled.
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know. Any good
parties going on?”
    I shake my head.
Nothing I feel like attending.
    “Really?”
    “Can’t we hang at my
place? My parents won’t be back until Monday. They’re attending a wedding in
the Hamptons.” I make air bunnies with my fingers and say “the Hamptons” in an
obnoxious voice.
    “Party at your place!”
Violet screams.
    I give up. She wants to
party, she’s had a bad few weeks, I’ll do this for her.
    I toss her my cell
phone. “Make some calls then.”
    Two hours later, a
bunch of us are in my backyard. They’re mostly friends of Violet’s, the rougher
kids at school, the ones who used to be too cool to talk to me at school until
I started hanging out with Violet.
     Some may say that the
popular crowd is hard to get into in high school, but there’s a club that’s
more elite than the preps. The crowd that tries too hard not to fit in. They
consist of the guys all the girls want, and all the girls who everyone secretly
wants to be. The kids who stand around at the lockers looking suave before
slipping into the back of the class just as the bell rings. The kids who know
where to get all the good drugs, throw the hippest parties, and barely talk to
anyone else, making them seem even more mysterious. That’s the crowd everyone
wants to get into and is every parent’s worst nightmare. Lucky for me, being
friends with Violet Cromwell gets me an expedited pass into that crowd, even if
they are sometimes immature and