“I’ve been taking them from another bottle in my backpack. I mean, it wasn’t because I wasn’t taking the pills. I didn’t stop.”
Her words alleviated a certain amount of guilt I’d been carrying.
“Right. People shouldn’t go on and off those things lightly.” I didn’t look at Selena. I could feel her awkwardness as we skirted near the subject that both of us were avoiding on purpose.
“I don’t want to talk,” she said after a moment. “Especially not to you.”
“I don’t want to talk to you either. This is about the Sinclair family reputation. I can’t have you going off the rails, peoplefinding out. I need you to be mentally sound… so I can crush your spirit, without hesitation.”
“Well, good then.”
“Good.”
Selena
“We’re goingto move into product development, and the vital role marketing plays in informing which products are made. As we all know, fulfill a need and it’s easy to convince people to buy your product. The required reading is chapters three through six.”
I jotted down the reading assignment before realizing with a start that I’d already done it yesterday. I wasn’t used to being ahead, ever, so it was a nice surprise. The afternoon passed in a blur. I dragged myself to my classes, my legs aching every step of the way. Why had I thought it was a good idea to try and beat Brody at jogging? I had no idea now, just aching muscles and the urge to sleep for a week.
I stopped by The Grind, the campus coffee place, and got a coffee big enough to drown in. Someone flicked my hair back off my shoulder as I waited for my order. I flinched, all the secret worries I was carrying about that cop crowding in and making me anxious.
“Hey. Any word about the acting audition yet?”
It was Winter, lounging beside me. She was the only other person I’d told about going for a part inMuch Ado About Nothing.
“Nope. Unless they’ve already told the successful people, and I’m not one of them.”
Winter wrinkled her nose. “They wouldn’t do that. They post a list, won’t they, like in the movies?” She raised an eyebrow at the huge black coffee I grabbed from the counter. “Tired?”
“I went for a run this morning,” I confessed.
She stopped in her tracks, her face comically surprised.
“What? How the hell did that happen?”
Nothing much surprised my best friend, so it felt good to manage it for once.
“Yep, you heard it here first. I went for a run, outside, in fresh air, and now, I regret everything. I’m so sore. I can’t believe I used to do hours of cheer practice. I swear, I must have been body snatched.”
“It makes sense, though. You haven’t been as active. Don’t let it put you off. If you push through the pain, you’ll realize you’re fitter than you think you are. You want to come to the Hellions training with me?”
“Why?” I wondered.
We headed through the main quad. The place was packed. It made sense. It was still the first few weeks of school. Everyone still had the excitement and energy of a new academic year laid out before them. The freshmen hadn’t yet lost their rosy expectations of what college was going to be like, and the rest ofus were far enough away from exams to forget how hard the year ahead would be.
Winter shrugged in response to my question, her pale cheeks reddening slightly.
“You just want to stare at Asher, don’t you? God, how long have you been together, and you’re still like this over him?” I teased her. “There’s no helping you, I’m afraid. You’re a lost cause.”
“Don’t. It’s true,” she murmured and then shook her hair back and raised her chin. “Fuck it, I don’t care. Who wouldn’t be the same in my situation?”
I chuckled and continued beside her. Usually, going to sit in a freaking cold ice rink to watch training was the last thing I’d like to do, but I wanted to hang out with Winter.
“Hey, do you know Nick? Left winger on the team?”
“If you think I know anybody by their position name, you are seriously overestimating how much I pay attention at games,” I told Winter.
She laughed. “Fair enough. So, I’ll point him out in training.”
