glistening with sweat. His pants are tight and bright blue plaid, something that NO ONE else I know could pul off, and it reminds me of his Blue Raspberry Mouth, and it’s so dead sexy I could die.
And then . . . he spots me.
Toph raises his eyebrows and smiles, this lazy grin that makes my insides explode. Matt and Cherrie and I thrash and jump around, and it’s so
exhilarating that I don’t even care that I’m dancing with Cherrie Milliken. “Bridge is fantastic!” she says.
“I know!” My heart bursts with pride. Because she’s my best friend, and I’ve always known how talented she was. Now everyone else does, too. And I don’t know what I was expecting—maybe that Reggie’s bangs would get in the way of his playing—but he’s also pretty great. His hand tears over the
strings, pushing a wicked bass line that whips us into a frenzy. The only teeny tiny minor weakness in the whole thing is . . . Toph.
Don’t get me wrong. His antiestablishment, I’m-a-loser lyrics are perfect. Catchy. There’s so much rage and passion that even the redneck behind the
shoe counter is bobbing his head. And, of course, Toph looks the part.
It’s his actual guitar playing that’s weak. But it’s not like I know that much about guitars. I’m sure it’s a difficult instrument, and he’l total y get better with practice. It’s hard to master something if you’re always stuck behind a snack counter. And he plays loud, and it riles us up. I forget I’m in a bowling all ey, and I forget I’m rocking out with my ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend, and it’s all over way too quickly.
“We’re the Penny Dreadfuls, thanks for coming out to see us. My name is Toph, that’s Reggie on bass, and the hottie in the back is Bridge.”
I whoop and hol er.
She beams at Toph. He waggles his eyebrows back and then turns to the crowd and leers. “And, oh yeah. Don’t screw her, ’cause I already am. SUCK
IT, ATLANTA. GOOD NIGHT!”
Chapter twenty-six
Wait. What?
I’m sorry, what did he just say?
Toph kicks over the microphone stand in a grand, ass**le gesture, and the three of them jump off the stage. It’s a little less dramatic when they have to come right back to take apart their stuff before the next band comes on. I try to catch Bridge’s eye, but she won’t look at me. Her gaze is locked on her cymbal stands. Toph takes a swig of bottled water, gives me a wave, then grabs his amp and heads for the parking lot.
“Woo! They were great!” Cherrie says.
Matt claps me on the back. “What’d ya think? She played me some of their stuff a few weeks ago, so I knew it’d be awesome.”
I’m blinking back tears. “Um. What did he just say?”
“He said she played some of their songs for us a few weeks ago,” Cherrie says, too close to my face.
I back up. “No. What did Toph just say? Before the Atlanta part?”
“What, ‘Don’t screw my girlfriend’?” Cherrie asks.
I can’t breathe. I’m having a heart attack.
“Are you okay?” Matt asks.
Why won’t Bridge look at me? I stumble forward, but Matt grabs me. “Anna. You knew she and Toph were dating, right?”
“I’ve gotta talk to Bridge.” My throat is closing. “I don’t understand—”
Matt swears. “I can’t believe she didn’t tell you.”
“How . . . how long?”
“Since Thanksgiving,” he says.
“Thanksgiving? But she didn’t say . . . she never said ...”
Cherrie is gleeful. “You didn’t know?”
“NO, I DIDN’T KNOW.”
“Come on, Anna.” Matt tries to lead me away, but I push him aside and jump onstage. I open my mouth, but no words come out.
Bridge final y looks at me. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“You’re sorry? You’ve been dating Toph for the last month, and you’re sorry?”
“It just happened. I meant to tell you, I wanted to tell you—”
“But you lost control over your mouth? Because it’s easy, Bridge. Talking is easy. Look at me! I’m talking right—”
“You know it wasn’t that easy! I didn’t mean for it to happen, it just did—”
“Oh, you didn’t mean to wreck my life? It just ‘happened’?”
Bridge stands up from behind her drums. It’s impossible, but she’s tal er than me now. “What do you mean, wreck your life?”
“Don’t play dumb, you know exactly what I mean. How could you do this to me?”
“Do what? It’s not like you were dating!”
I scream in frustration. “We certainly won’t be now!”
She sneers. “It’s kind of hard to date someone who’s not interested in you.”
“LIAR!”
“What, you ditch us for Paris and expect us to put our lives on hold for you?”
My jaw drops. “I didn’t ditch you. They sent me away.”
“Ooo, yeah. To Paris. Meanwhile, I’m stuck here in Shitlanta, Georgia, at the same shitty school, doing shitty babysitting jobs—”
“If babysitting my brother is so shitty, why do you do it?”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Because you want to turn him against me, too? well . Congratulations, Bridge. It worked. My brother loves you and hates me. So you’re welcome to
move in when I leave again, because that’s what you want, right? My life?”
She shakes with fury. “Go to hel .”
“Take my life. You can have it. Just watch out for the part where my BEST FRIEND SCREWS ME OVER!” I knock over a cymbal stand, and the brass
hits the stage with an earsplitting crash that reverberates through the bowling all ey. Matt cal s my name. Has he been cal ing it this entire time? He grabs my arm and leads me around the electrical cords and plugs and onto the floor and away, away, away.
Everyone in the bowling all ey is staring at me.
I duck my head so my hair covers my face. I’m crying. This would have never happened if I hadn’t given Toph her number. all of those late-night
practices and . . . he said they’ve had sex! What if they’ve had it at my house? Does he come over when she’s watching Seany? Do they go in my