Chapter 40

VALERIA

In the days that followed, Madeline did as she promised and came to me multiple times to ‘continue’ from where we left off our prematurely interrupted conversation.

She was a persistent one, honestly.

One time, I remember asking why it had to be me or rather, our group of mavericks.

Her answer was, “You guys seem really cool to me, and it made me want to get to know you better.”

To the adult me, such words would barely have made an impact, but for teenagers obsessed with the word ‘cool,’ it was everything!

It doesn’t matter how mature a teenager was, being called or known as one of the cool guys was simply the ultimate compliment.

So it was hardly surprising that I quickly threw caution to the wind and allowed her into our small circle of friends. Of course, the annoyance from Jack’s constant threats/demeaning words, in addition to my twin sister, Vanessa’s passive-aggressive ‘persuasion’ couldn’t be omitted as contributing factors.<