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Finn had definitely been the one to write the note, but I wasn’t sure if he’d brought me back alone, or if he’d had help. They’d left me in my clothes, which was a good thing, although my comforter probably smelled like pot now. If I’d woken up in my underwear or pajamas or something, I would’ve been seriously skeeved out, even if they’d meant it as a nice gesture.
They’d… helped me.
They’d taken care of me, just like Mason had said. It was a little thing, but it meant a lot. They could’ve left me in that study room in Clarendon Hall. Who knew when I would’ve woken up, or what state I would’ve been in—I could’ve missed most of my classes.
But they hadn’t left me behind, and that thought made a little bubble of warmth expand in my chest.
I still hadn’t forgotten what they’d done to me last semester, but if I was looking for proof that they’d changed, that this shift was more than a temporary ceasefire, this was pretty solid evidence.
By lunch, I was feeling good enough to crave a greasy burger, and I complained to the guys that the Oak Park dining staff really didn’t know how to do comfort food right. They laughed, and Finn promised to help me find the perfect greasy fast food joint, although we’d probably have to go outside of Roseland to find it.
Elijah and Mason both checked in on me again in fifth and seventh periods. And in sixth period, I skipped my usual dance training, and Finn and I lay on the floor with the lights off while he tried to explain the finer points of football to me.
By eighth period, I felt totally back to normal, and I grinned at Leah as I sat down at the table across the room. Her smile was strained, and my heart sank.
Right. She’s still pissed at me.
I flipped open my book and followed along with Mr. Young’s lecture, but I snuck it back into my bag five minutes before class ended so I had a head start on Leah. I was waiting for her as she walked out of the room, and I fell into step beside her, looking down at our matching knee socks and shoes.
“I’m sorry.”
Her gaze snapped to me at my quiet words, and her mouth opened then closed. Then she sighed, pushing open the door to the stairwell. Once we’d stepped inside, she turned to me.
“It’s fine. You don’t have to apologize to me. You’re free to hang out with whoever you want. And hell, the Princes never did half the shit to me that they did to you, so if you want to be besties with them now, that’s your call. It doesn’t affect me either way.”
“I know, but—” I put a hand out to stop her as she turned for the stairs, looking her in the eye. “But I do owe you an apology. And I am sorry. You hung out with me last semester when you didn’t have to—when maybe it would’ve been better for your social standing if you hadn’t. And now, I know it probably seems like I’ve ditched you to hang out with the four guys I spent all last semester hating—like I’ve chosen them over you.”
She huffed a breath. “Tal, it doesn’t matter—”
“No, it does,” I insisted. “I still hardly have any friends at this school, and I don’t want to lose any of the ones I do have, especially not you. I’m sorry if I was shitty to you, or if I seemed ungrateful. And if you want, we can still hang out and talk shit about the Princes anytime. Now that I’ve hung out with them more, I know way more mockable stuff about them.”
She grinned slightly at that, but then her face grew serious. “It’s okay, Talia. Really. But… be careful, okay? I’m not sure being ‘chosen’ by the Princes is all that much better than being ‘trash’ to them. I wasn’t kidding about them being way too powerful for their own good. They’re kinda shady dudes, into some shady stuff. Just be smart, all right?”
I thought of Evan Baxter’s dad, and a small shiver ran up my spine. I knew the Princes didn’t exactly play by the same rulebook as everyone else, but I wasn’t as certain anymore whether that was always a bad thing.
Isn’t it better if a man like Samuel Baxter doesn’t acquire any more wealth and power? If he is brought down a little?
I hiked my backpack higher on my shoulders, meeting Leah’s gaze. “I will. I promise.”
She nodded, her brows still pinched together.
“Um, I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day,” I added hopefully. “Do you wanna go shopping? I promise not to put anything back on the rack this time.”
A smile wavered on her lips for a second before spreading across her face. She pointed a finger at me warningly. “I’m gonna hold you to that!”
We stopped at our lockers and then trekked across campus to the student lot. As we neared it, a little rush of nerves made my stomach flip. If the guys showed up again and tried to drag me off, I wouldn’t go with them. Even if it reignited the war between us, I couldn’t let them take Leah away from me, couldn’t let them control that much of my life.
But they didn’t, and I breathed a happy sigh of relief as the two of us piled into my car before heading for Roseland.
I ended up buying way too much, but I kept my promise to Leah and didn’t put anything I wanted back on the rack. It was fun, although things still felt a little weird between us, and it made me wonder if we could ever really go back to the way it’d been before. We were only two months into the semester, but my whole life had shifted so suddenly and completely that it felt like two years.
When we got back to Oak Park, I invited her to come hang out in the Wastelands, but she said she had to study.
And even though we smiled at each other in the halls and talked after Chemistry class a few times over the next week, my phone never blew up with texts from her like it used to.
Things were just… different.
Chapter 20
