Free Angels on Sunset Boulevard by Melissa de La Cruz Page B

any attention to her. She was looking only at Nick.
    â€œSweetie.”
    Taj noticed Nick flinch.
    â€œMaxine.”
    â€œCan we talk?”
    Taj held up her hands.
Go ahead. Don’t worry about me,
her shoulders communicated. She was cool, although she felt an instant flash of jealousy when she picked up on the tension between her new friend and Button’s girl. But really, what was it to her? He was just a boy she’d met that night. Not even her type. Too clean-cut. Too rich. Yes, you could be too rich, in Taj’s book. Look at what all that money did to Johnny. None of it good.
    â€œTaj, hold on. Will you wait?” Nick asked, giving her back the board.
    Taj gave Maxine a cool up-and-down. Queen CoolGaze indeed. “Only for a minute.”

Nick
    MAXINE LED HIM TO A QUIET CORNER ON A STONE bench behind the hedges at the side of the house. “What’s the deal with you and Lady ColdFish?” she asked.
    â€œNothing. I just met her tonight,” he said. “Why do you care?”
    â€œBelieve me, I don’t,” Maxine retorted.
    Nick looked up to see the face he had so recently adored—those almond-shaped eyes, those full, rosebud lips, that upturned nose, that mole by the side of her left cheek; he’d loved that mole most of all—and he felt … confused. Numb.
    â€œNicky,” Maxine sighed. “Can we talk?”
    She traced her fingers on his arm, her touch making his stomach leap in a thousand different directions.
    He refused to look at her, but he didn’t get up off the bench, either.
    â€œIt’s all a mistake … there’s nothing between us. Sutton … I think he was drunk—he, like, came on to me backstage. It was a mistake. I didn’t know what he was doing. You know I’d never do anything like that…. Don’t listen to any of the garbage on the Web, baby—I love you …”
    Nick shook his head. If she wasn’t with Sutton, why was she at the party? What did she want from him?
    Maxine placed her hands on each side of his face, “Look at me.”
    He did and sighed.
    â€œDon’t do this to us.”
    For a year now they had been an “us.” He still remembered how it started—they’d just hung out in a group, the guys from the soccer team and the Beverly Hills girls, and Maxine had just been one of them. She was the new girl; she’d only transferred to Bennet Prep earlier that year. Rumor had it she’d grown up in Riverside of all places, and that her mother had remarried very, very, very well.
    â€œLook, I gotta go,” he said, gently taking her hands away. “Maxine, like I told you this evening, we’re over.”
    â€œNo one dumps me,” Maxine said, gritting her teeth, her eyes narrowing. “No one leaves me, ever. Got it?”
    â€œWell, there’s always a first time,” Nick pointed out.
    â€œYou’ll regret this,” she warned.
    Nick shrugged his shoulders. “What’s your problem?”
    â€œYou know,” Maxine said, her exquisite face twisted in a cauldron of hatred, “Sutton was right about you. You’re nobody. You don’t even know half of what’s going on all around you. I don’t even know why I wasted my time.”
    â€œGood-bye, Maxi,” Nick said. “I’ll see you at school.”
    â€œI’ll see you in hell.”
    Nick shook his head. He’d had his share of bitter breakups, but Maxine was by far the most psycho. Why did she even care? It wasn’t like she was so into him, after all; she was the one who was cheating. But there were girls like Maxine who could never take rejection. Not even when they had caused it. They believed they deserved to be loved, to have everything in spite of their actions. Or that their actions had no consequences.
    He was sick of it. He was tired of being a chump.The good guy. The one who turned a blind eye to her indiscretions. This