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I ignore the butterflies and stand my ground, sliding out of the SUV. “But it still—”
“We’ll talk more in the morning, okay?” Aiden smoothly interrupts me, probably more to shut me up than anything.
“But—”
“I’ll get to the school early to get our stuff and I’ll meet you at your locker,” he says as he closes the door once I’m out of the car.
He gets back into the passenger seat. “Good night, Amelia,” he says, and Mason repeats this as well before Aiden closes his door and Mason reverses out of the driveway.
I watch them drive away as Charlotte comes down to meet me.
“What’s going on?” she asks, concerned.
I narrow my eyes at the receding Range Rover. “I don’t know. But we’re going to find out.”
15
Despite being exhausted from the day’s events, I don’t sleep much at Charlotte’s. Not only do I not have my sleeping pills, but my mind is whirling with possibilities of what Aiden and Mason meant by “tomorrow.”
Which is today. Meaning something is happening today. And I still don’t know what it is. But I do know that I’d rather have nothing happen. Of course, deep down, I really wish I could tear Kaitlyn and Ryan a new one for messing with me, but I can’t. I had all night at Charlotte’s to think about it while I couldn’t sleep, and I’m positive that the best thing to do is to leave it alone and let it go.
There are bigger things at play here, and I don’t want a stupid high school rivalry to ruin—and quite possibly literally end—my life.
If I retaliate and do something to Kaitlyn and Ryan, they’ll just hit back bigger and harder. It’ll become a never-ending cycle until I lose; and I know for a fact that I won’t win this war. There are hundreds of things they could do to end me, especially since I’m not even Amelia Collins. Then it’d be only a matter of time until this stupid teenage drama drew Tony to me, and then it wouldn’t be just stupid teenage drama anymore. It would be a serious battle for my life, and innocent people could get hurt.
The last time Tony hunted me down, he was so hell-bent on destroying me that three innocent people died. That’s three innocent lives ended because of me, and I will live with that heavy burden on my conscience for the rest of my life. It’s so painful even the passing thought of it is too much, so I push the past out of my mind and concentrate on the here and now—this isn’t a game. This is bigger than some teenagers getting caught up in a heated rivalry. It’s bigger than my hatred for Kaitlyn and Ryan and their hatred for me, Aiden, and the Boys. This is my life and the lives o
f the people I care about. So this has to end now before Kaitlyn and Ryan retaliate with something worse than slashing my tires and keying my car.
Determined to tell Aiden to drop any idea about retaliation, I meet him at my locker like he instructed, and just as he said, he got here bright and early to get our stuff before anyone else could touch it. Despite his promise that we would talk in the morning, we did no such thing. He hands me my stuff and practically sprints away from me before I can even think about pestering him for answers. Fine. But he can’t avoid me all day.
I plan on bothering him in second period calculus, but Mr. Fidiott gives us a sample test of the one that we’ll be getting on Monday, so no talking allowed. Plus, Aiden gets out of there before I can catch him, leaving Julian behind to give me an apologetic smile on Aiden’s behalf.
By now my friends all know about what Ryan and Kaitlyn did, and they are all pretty pissed. Their show of solidarity and level of anger on my behalf really make me feel like I belong. Like these are my true group of friends, and when one thing hurts one of us, it hurts all of us. Except no one really knows who I am; I’m lying to everyone. Like the thoughts of Tony and my life before, I push this out of my mind, too, and try to concentrate on the conversation flowing around me.
“I still think we should go with my first suggestion and just break her nose,” Annalisa states, licking yogurt off her spoon.
Everyone but Aiden and Mason is sitting at our table in the cafeteria, talking about what happened to my car.
“Babe, we’ve been through this many times. You aren’t allowed to break her nose.” Julian chuckles at his girlfriend.
She mumbles something about Julian not letting her have any fun.
I look longingly at the seats usually occupied by Aiden and Mason. Does their absence have something to do with “tomorrow”? Or did they mean tomorrow as in tonight? I hope I’m not too late to tell them to drop it. Shit. I should’ve tried harder to get their attention. I knew something was happening today and here I am, not making finding Aiden and Mason my top priority.
“Oh, hey, Amelia,” a sarcastic, nasally voice says.
We all look at Kaitlyn, who’s walking past our table with her mindless followers. “I noticed you didn’t drive here today. Still having car problems?” They laugh as they continue on their way.
Annalisa abruptly stands up, looking ready to start a fight, but Julian immediately pulls her back down into her seat.
She glares at Kaitlyn’s retreating form. “If karma doesn’t hit her soon, I fucking will.”
“I’m really counting on that.” Noah chuckles.
“What are we going to do?” Charlotte asks.
“Honestly, guys, I think—” I try to tell them to leave it alone, but no one’s paying me any attention.
