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“I wouldn’t say that,” Chase snorted. “He was visiting his grandparents every now and again. We just happened to hang out with him.”
“Anyway,” Amy dragged. “A few years ago he spent New Year’s with us and that was the last time we saw him.”
A few? She knew exactly how many.
And Chase’s explanation that we justhappenedto hang out with him? There was a particular reason for that, and her name was Hannah Spencer. Head cheerleader, a pain in everyone’s ass, and Clementine Hartley’s only friend.
“It was a weird party,” Amy shook her head with a smile, not tearing her eyes away from Dylan.
The mere mentioning of that party made my skin prickle. The fact that the mother fucker was standing just a few feet away from me and was talking tohermade me see red.
How. The. Fuck. Did. That. Shit. Happen?
Again.
The son of a bitch saw me. He smiled at me and nodded as if we were buddies. He was changed. The last time I saw him he was tall, thin, and funny-looking fourteen-year-old. Now he looked like that dude from the vampire series girls were wetting their panties for, but with blond hair. Still thin, but he added some muscles over his bones.
He was still looking at me when he offered Clementine his hand. We were both waiting for her reaction. She shook her head, explaining something, then turned to see who he was looking at.
The color of her face went from a Snow-White tan to a fucking corpse-pale one when she realized it was me.
Our eyes locked. A rare event.
It lasted not more than three seconds and she looked away. No surprise there. After all she spent her days and nights avoiding me.
She tried to convince herself and me she wasn’t aware of my existence. The pathetic little soul obviously had no idea I knew she hid behind the curtains in her room like an idiot. I also knew she would spend hours sitting in her car in front of her house just so that she wouldn’t have to face me. I checked that theory once or twice over the last couple of years when I was feeling bored and had nothing better to do.
It took me a while, but I learned to control myself and ignore the urges to observe her over the years. I had to. Looking at her was a torture back then. The images that came to my mind when I allowed myself to look at her pissed me off to the point I wasn’t functioning like a normal human being for days.
Later on, I found ways to get back at her, and I started to feel better.
Hannah Spencer popped out of nowhere, got between Dylan and Clementine, and the three of them got inside the school building. I finally tore my gaze away from them.
The news about Dylan’s presence hunted me the entire day. I found out that Hannah was supposed to show him around and make him feel welcomed. She was the person to do shit like that around here. She started an anti-bullying club two years ago. She helped everyone with everything and did it with a smile. That girl’s need to please other people was probably exhausting.
That information only made me think about all the time Clementine would spend around Dylan, now that he would become Hannah Spencer’s charity project one more fucking time.
People were trying to figure out when was the last time Dylan Williams was here.
I knew exactly how many years had passed. Almost four.
Almost one thousand five hundred days that I wasn’t talking to Clementine Hartley.
The exact same number of days I spent hating her.
This town was not immune to gossip. I was sure someone would soon revive the story.
By the time the football practice started, I was already coming to terms with the fact we were all going to be in each other’s faces this year. And I had a lot to lose. I wouldn’t let someone as insignificant as Dylan Williams ruin it for me.
I was warming up when I noticed my team gathering around someone by the bleachers. I had a gut feeling who that someone was, so I approached them.
“Cole,” coach started. “This is...”
“We’ve met, coach,” I cut him off, not wanting to hear Dylan’s name yet again that day.
“Great,” coach shoved his hands in his pockets. “No need for introductions then. Show us what you’ve got, Williams.”
Everyone spread around the field, including Dylan who was in full gear.
