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Chapter Twenty-six
Zadie
Myheartwasbrokena thousand different ways.
Leaving my dad and Oregon hurt. The week I spent with him had grown tendrils of homesickness around my heart that hadn’t been there before. Boarding the plane and saying goodbye to the trees and the mountains and my father had squeezed my heart until a piece of it was left behind.
But it had already started chipping away before I’d even set foot in Oregon. It had been so incremental, I’d only noticed the subtle pain in my chest, not what was truly happening. I couldn’t say for sure when it had started, but I could point out the times I’d known for certain I’d broken a little more.
When Amir shut down any conversation about his job for Reno.
When I lied to my roommates.
When Marco called me soft.
When Julien and Marco laughed at an addict.
Amirtaking careof César at the club.
César’s desperation.
Amir’s swollen knuckles.
The blood on his shirt.
His refusal to answer my questions.
Knowing he would not give this up. Not for me, not for anything.
I stayed in Oregon longer than I’d planned because I couldn’t face the inevitable. So, Monday came, and I was scrambling to keep up in my classes. My mind just wasn’t on campus today and paying attention was next to impossible. Fortunately, I didn’t seem to be the only one still on spring break mode. Half my professors took it easy on us and reviewed the material they’d already covered rather than moving on to something new.
My last class was the one I shared with Deacon and his group of laughing boys. He’d mostly left me alone recently, only occasionally saying hi. Since the anonymous notes had stopped at the same time his attention had been pulled back, I had to assume he was the one who’d been sending them all along.
I had no idea why, nor did I ever need to know. As long as they stopped, I didn’t care.
Today, when I had no patience and only wanted to get through my class so I could hide in my room a little bit longer, had to be the day he chose to wait for me at the end of class and fall into step with me.
“Hey,” he greeted.
“Hi.”
“Did you have a good spring break?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Yeah, me too. I went to Cabo with my family and some friends. Have you been?”
“No. I’ve heard it’s nice.”
“It is. Killer surfing. Did you go somewhere?”
I adjusted my bag on my shoulder, curling my fingers around the strap. “I visited my dad in Oregon.”
“Dope. Is that where you’re from?”
“Mmhmm.” The door was straight ahead. Surely he’d leave me alone then.
“So, are you really outdoorsy? I don’t know why, but when I think of Oregon, I’m thinking forests and plaid and that kind of shit.”
