Stuck With The Four Hotties

“There’s so much gossip going around!” Miranda whispers, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me toward our third period civics and economics class. “Briana told Jessie who told Andrew who told me that you and Tristan were seen sneaking into the library bathroom together …”

“Creed didn’t say anything?” I ask, and Miranda gives me the weirdest look ever.

“Why would Creed say anything? He would totally freak if he knew you were banging Tristan.”

“Would I?” Creed asks, appearing from around the corner and surprising both me and Miranda so much that we scream. His smile is all lazy, cavalier arrogance. “You’re a crappy twin. First, you get a crush on my crush. Second, you tell the whole school I’m a virgin. And third, you completely and utterly mis-predict my reaction to an inevitable event.”

“Um, excuse you, but I saw Marnye first.” Miranda ticks up a single finger, painted with bright orange polish. “You quite literally turned your nose up at her, I’ll have you recall. Second, I only told Marnye that you were a virgin. I have no idea how your stupid friends found out. And third, you knew about this and didn’t tell me?!” Miranda punches her brother in the shoulder hard enough to make him scowl, and I smile.

“What business is it of yours?” Creed growls back at her, and she punches him again. He lets her, his only retaliation a roll of his crystal blue eyes.

“I’m the best friend. And I’m the number one supporter of #TeamCreed. I have a right to know these things.” Miranda turns to look at me, and this awkward silence falls between the three of us. There are people streaming past us, but we may as well be in our own little bubble. “Well?” Miranda asks, and I blink in confusion, cheeks heating. Please don’t let this be going where I think it’s going …

“Well, how was it?” the twins ask in unison, and my pink cheeks turn scarlet red.

“I-”

“It was mind-blowing,” Tristan says, appearing beside me, his voice completely deadpan. He narrows his eyes on Creed, and the blond boy scowls. “So good that she slept over.”

“Is that so?” Creed asks, but I’m already elbowing Tristan in the stomach. He catches my arm and pulls me close, giving those butterflies a very real and prudent reason to swarm.

That’s when I see Lizzie at the end of the hall, opening her locker and pretending not to notice us all standing there.

I try to imagine what it’d be like to be in her shoes, and extricate myself

from Tristan to walk over there. I can hear Miranda asking Creed what’s going on as I move down the hall and pause on her right side.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Can we talk?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Lizzie says, slamming her locker and then turning to look at me. Her amber eyes are dark with pain. “Just so you know, during the Infinity Club meeting, several of the senior members expressed their desire to see you taught a lesson.”

“What?” I ask as I hear Tristan call out Lizzie’s name in a sharp, angry tone. He makes his way toward me, but the damage is already being done.

“They don’t want to see one of the ninety-nine percent take them down like this. There’s a fine line to keep the classes in order, and they want you either put back in yours, or …” Lizzie pauses as Tristan comes up on my right, Creed on my left with Miranda just behind him. “She should know, don’t you think?” She glances up at Tristan, eyes narrowed, breathing coming in sharp pants. “They’re beyond just trying to make you kill yourself. They are going to kill you, Marnye.”

“What?” I choke, blinking in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the senior Infinity Club members want you dead. Period. They don’t care how or why.” Lizzie slams her locker shut as Tristan grits his teeth in her direction. They stare at each other for a long, long moment. “They want you dead. All we did at that last meeting was maneuver things around, so that the only people who can touch you are the students at this school.”

“You just broke a bet,” Tristan snaps as Lizzie starts off down the hall, dark ponytail bobbing. She turns around, her laptop and a huge hardcover textbook tucked in her arms, and purses her lips.

“Yeah, well, so did you.”

And then she spins away and disappears down the hall. I don’t see hide nor hair of her for weeks.

“They want you dead.”

Lizzie’s words ring in my head, but I can’t seem to nail down one of the guys to get them to tell me why. Why me? What the hell have I done that’s so wrong?

“Zayd Kaiser,” I snap, putting my hands on my hips and pausing in front of him. He’s situated on the edge of the fountain in the front courtyard, lifting his shades up to look at me. We’ve got a week until Valentine’s Day, and I’m stumped on how to handle it with all five boys. Last year, Zack and I

… Well, you know what Zack and I did. This year, I want to spend the day with everyone.

“Marnye Reed, long-time no see,” he says, as if he didn’t spend the night in my dorm last night. I haven’t told the guys this, but I’ve been putting their names in a hat and drawing one for every day of the week. The two remaining days I leave as a group day and a personal day. I only let the guys sleep over-or sleep over in their rooms-on the scheduled days.

It’s not a perfect system, but it’s working. That, and it manages to take the complicated real-life complexity of an alternative relationship and make it fit on paper, which I appreciate.

Zayd pats his lap like that’s the most logical place in the world for me to sit. I ignore him and sit beside him instead, trailing my fingers in

the water and giving him a look.