AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No no. Everything’s good,” I rushed to tell him. “That’s great news, actually.”
“Okay, well . . . we’ll still keep up our end of the bargain in terms of your tuition, but just keep your schedule open in case we need you again.”
“Will do,” I said, hooking my thumb toward the hallway. “If that’s all, I guess I’d better get going.”
He nodded and flashed me an encouraging smile, and just as I turned, I smacked into a brick wall. Only, it wasn’t a brick wall, after all. It was made of flesh and bone, and when I blinked up into the cerulean blue eyes I knew so well, my heart went into overdrive.
“Topher,” I breathed, but he barely looked at me. “I’m so glad—” I started, but he didn’t even give me a chance to finish. The second his eyes met mine, he glanced away again and headed down the hall like I hadn’t said a thing. Like his shoes were on fire, leaving me staring after him with a dagger in my heart.
I groaned as I laid my head on Scarlett’s shoulder. Though it was lunchtime, I’d barely touched my food. Instead, I updated her on everything that happened, then vacillated between lamenting over my current situation and reading her the texts I sent. And though talking about it at school wasn’t ideal, it was the only chance I’d get seeing as how I was grounded indefinitely.
Finally, she snatched the phone out of my hands, and I protested, grabbing at the air in front of me. “Hey!”
“You need to stop,” she said. “Rehashing it and beating yourself up isn’t healthy.”
“Who cares.” I glowered. “I’m a terrible person.”
“You are not a terrible person.”
“I am. So terrible he won’t even talk to me. I mean, I knew he’d be mad, but I thought he’d at least hear me out, let me explain, but he wants nothing to do with me.”
Scarlett sighed and ran a hand through the length of her hair, quiet for a moment before she said, “Maybe you just need to give it some time.”
“And if he still wants nothing to do with me?”
“Then you’ll move on,” she said, and I swallowed over the lump in my throat because I hated that option. I didn’t want to move on.
“So does this mean you can’t go to homecoming next week?” she asked.
“That’s what you’re worried about?” I sat up. “Homecoming?”
“What?” She shrugged. “It’s our senior year.”
I groaned and stared off into the distance in the direction of where the Royal boys played football. Shirts versus skins. Topher was skins. Of course, he was. And his abs nearly brought me to tears.
“To think I had a date with Topher Elliot, and I blew it.”
“Well,” Scarlett held up a finger, “technically, Julie had a date with Topher.”
I shot her a glare, to which she smacked her lips. “Alrighty, then.” She stood, dusting the grass off her legs. “I have to pee.”
I flopped back into the grass and snatched up my phone where she left it, before I opened my text to Topher, then stared up into the clear blue sky—the same shade as Topher’s eyes—and I typed,I never meant to hurt you.
I hesitated, finger over the send button before I quickly erased it, because it wasn’t really true.
TOPHER
A week had passed since I found out about Julie and the incident with Penelope. A week since I accepted Bucknell’s offer. A week since I took control of my life.
Yet, I wasn’t any happier.
And I knew why.
I may not be able to do anything about the Penelope-Julie situation, but I could, however, do something about the burden of my father’s secrets and lies.
So if he wasn’t going to tell my mother, I would. She deserved to know the truth. And no matter the fallout, whether they got a divorce and Dad lost his bid for mayor or some of his business, it’d be worth it. Because anything was better than living a lie.
When I got home from school, it was just after two o’clock, and I found my mother in the kitchen. Her hair was pulled up, a mass of blonde waves atop her head. Flour covered her cheeks and the pink apron she wore. Next to her on the counter was a tray of cookies and a recipe book dusted with a thin coat of flour.
