Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
“When have you tried weed?” Matthew asks, laughing like I’m hilarious.
“I haven’t, but you keep smoking it around me and it always knocks me out.”
Grinning, he walks us to Poppy’s car and opens the trunk. I chew on the inside of my cheek when I see the bottle of vodka, half a bottle of whiskey, some flat looking soda and a crate of beer bottles. “You gonna party as hard as we do tonight?”
Nodding, I pick up the vodka bottle and untwist the cap. “Shall we start right now?”
I take a gulp, choke, spit it on the ground while laughing and then take another gulp before high-fiving my brother. We all pile into Poppy’s car and Matthew and I don’t stop drinking until we reach her house where we take it in turns to shower, apply makeup, do our hair, and then finally walk to the patch with our alcohol.
“I love your hair,” Poppy tells me for the hundredth time.
“You’re only saying that because you tamed it,” I reply, hearing myself slur and hating it immediately. It feels weird and I want it to end, but then I also want another drink to make it worse. My hair has always been naturally curly and wild, thick ringlets if it gets too short. The longer it is the less of a twist it has but it’s so thick and heavy that I usually just braid it. Today Poppy convinced me to leave it down and she blow-dried it for me after my shower and used some kind of sweet scented oil through the ends.
Also, I found a body spray that smells like salted caramel. I never want to smell like anything else!
Music plays from a huge portable speaker, I sway my hips to it and close my eyes. I’m not one to dance but the alcohol has made me feel as though dancing is a great idea right now.
“FRESH MEAT!” somebody yells, I think it’s Ren who must have just arrived. And it is very rare to see Ren without Kane.
Great, just what I need, Kane Jessop.
I open my eyes while wondering why that sounded more like excitement in my head. It was meant to sound like bitter hatred.
“Oh my God,” Poppy says and starts laughing hysterically.
“What?” I ask, snatching a beer from my brother.
“They’re talking about you! They don’t know it’s you.”
My cheeks heat as I feel Ren approach and Matthew glares at him over my shoulder.
“Who’s the new girl?” Ren asks as I turn. “Great ass—oh my God it’s Prudence.”
“Prudence?” I question, frowning at him as he circles me like a vulture and whistles long and low.
“As in you’re a prude but damnnnn… look at this tight body.”
Gross.
“Don’t be a fucking pervert,” Matthew admonishes and squares up to Ren. “That’s my sister.”
“It was a complimentary observation.” He raises his hands in defense and backs up with a huge and playful grin on his face. His black hair is getting long and shaggy. I wonder if he’s copying Kane. Nobody can pull off long hair like Kane. “On a less skeevy note, you look beautiful, Immy. You should dress like that more often.”
“Where’s Kane?” Poppy asks, knowing I’m secretly dying to know. Not because I want to see him but because I need to know if I’m going to.
I need to mentally prepare myself for his insults.
“He’s somewhere knocking about.” He puts one finger to his nostril and sniffs dramatically.
“He’s not on the heavy shit is he?” Matthew asks and I’m still wondering when they became pals. He looks genuinely concerned. “Has he got any Es?”
My eyes go wide as I take in what my brother just asked for.
“It’s not a big deal, Immy,” Poppy whispers, sliding her hand around the bare skin of my back. “It’s all fun and games.”
“Until somebody dies.”
Poppy lifts a shoulder. “That’s not gonna happen. Come on. I need to pee.”
I leave them to their drug dealing and follow Poppy around the bonfire.
There’s an old abandoned trailer at the very tail end of somebody’s property. We all use it for the plumbed in toilet and the owners stopped trying to tell all the local kids no because they all started egging their property. So now they simply leave it open with notes asking us to keep it clean, which the majority of us do. The boys piss outside, usually in the lake or bushes and the girls use the trailer.
I finish my beer and toss it into the pile of glass bottles about twenty yards away. My nose is starting to tingle.
“Do you need to go?” Poppy calls through the wall as I lean against the side of the trailer.
“Nope. I’m not breaking the seal.” I don’t want to pee all night.
I hear the door to the toilet creak shut and lock and laugh to myself when she turns on the tap so I can’t hear her relieving her bladder. I don’t know why people get so amused or embarrassed by toilet related sounds. We all have to do it. It’s a natural thing.