New Girl in Town

Chapter 5

Jennie plucks the keys out of the ignition. "Rosie, you move up front. I'll ride in back with Lisa."

She gets out and opens up the back, waving me over. I go before she starts snapping at me again, because I'm not sure I'm supposed to like the leaping thing it makes my stomach do.

Bossy. Is that what she is?

I would've given that label to Jisoo before Jennie got all impatient on me. Now I'm wondering: Did I almost get run over by the summer version of the cool kids' table? What am I doing here? I should just tell her I have to go. That's exactly what I'm going to do. As soon as I round the corner of the van, I'm going to say it: "I just remembered, I've gotta be somewhere." Play it cool and just ... bike off before this gets messier. No one wants me here but her.

Why is that the thing that roots my feet to the ground when she smiles at me?

"There's lots of room," she says, bending down and grabbing the spokes, and it's like I'm looking to memorize her, every detail absorbing into me. Those periwinkle nails of hers, not quite purple, not quite blue: a question mark of a color for a question mark of a girl.

"Careful," I warn her as the wheel spins forward.

"I got it." She lifts the front of my yellow bike and I grab the rear wheel, hefting it in.

"Hurry up!" Kai calls from the front.

"I could've biked," I tell her as she shuts the back.

She laughs. "Have you been to the lake?"

I shake my head. "I just moved here."

"Well, that explains why I've never seen you before," she says. "Anyway, lake's like a half hour by bike. It's way too hot for that shit. Come on."

Jennie clambers into the back bench seat and I follow, the stale smell of weed and corn chips hitting my nose. Jisoo's sitting in the middle captain's chair, with the rest in the front, and she turns back to talk to us as we buckle up.

"So, Lisa, did you just move here?"

Jennie waves her off airily. "That's old news. Lisa's already filled me in."

Jisoo rolls her eyes. "I was just asking a question! Where did you live before?"

"San Diego."

"A real city." Jennie sighs enviously.

"It's not like it's L.A. or New York," Jisoo scoffs.

"It's definitely not," I say, and she blinks at me, thrown that I've agreed with her.

"Do you miss it?" Jennie asks.

The canned answer is no. The truth is so much more complicated.

"This is definitely different," is what I finally say. But it's like she can read in between the lines, because she scoots a little closer and pats me on my leg. My entire mouth goes dry at the touch.

"We'll make you feel at home in no time," she says. "You're lucky you found us."

"Lucky I almost got run over?" I ask dryly.

"Hey! I'm doing you a favor, transporting you and your dirty bike in my van," Kai calls from the front. My stomach turns a little; I hadn't realized he could hear us all the way in the back. My eyes flick up, and there he is, watching me in the rearview mirror. He has kaleidoscope eyes-not in the Beatles sense, but in the way that they seem knowing, but then with a small shift they're sly and shiny bright with a fever that can boil over.

"Just ignore him, please, I beg of you," Rosie tells me, clasping her hands together.

"I should dump you all on the side of the road," Kai mutters.