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She didn’t seem to believe in me. “Really? So you reallyareover him?”
“I’m over him,” I declared, attempting to walk away as I doubted every disgraceful decision I’d made in my life.
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll give you a hundred dollars,” she offered.
I halted. “Well, looks like this isn’t all about me. It’s about you running away from your responsibilities.” I couldn’t help the smirk pulling at my lips as I spun around to face her. “No, you cheap ass. How about five hundred?”
“Two hundred dollars,” she tried to negotiate.
I sniggered. “Five hundred or you don’t get to party.”
“It’s Sunday. I’m not going to party. I just need to find Gray,” she reasoned, perking up my ears. “Two hundred andfiftydollars.”
“No,” I mumbled, my thoughts deflecting again.
I’m sure nothing bad is going to happen to Gray. Even if something were to happen, he already has Krystal. She can protect him better than I can. Right? Ugh, whatever.
“Fivehundred,” I repeated firmly.
Krystal groaned, pausing for a beat before yielding and saying, “Fine. Five hundred dollars.”
I knew I’d be damned if I listened to her, but I also knew I’d be more damned if I didn’t accept the money and, instead, conceded to brushing off the truth about the things I needed to know. I needed closure.
Krystal and I marked the deal with an indignant elbow bump, which could’ve been a simple pinky swear gesture if we didn’t hate each other. She paid the money upfront and went on her way to meet Gray.
Even though I came for the same person, I ended up carving a different path on my own. I chose money as an excuse. At minimum, I could buy several skincare sets and BTS souvenirs with the five hundred dollars I conned her out of.
Following the deal, I watched over the boy my ex-boyfriend had laid his eyes on, the boy I had a sinking feeling was a key part of my misery. He was pale, but not as pale as the walls in Cole’s room. The stillness and the lack of decoration was boring, so boring that for a second, I had wished I went to find Gray instead. Harsh.
I pulled out my phone, pressed the follow button on Gray’s Instagram account, and let out a long sigh as I typed a random message and sent it to him.
Meanwhile, Keith was still sleeping. He had no freaking idea I’d been judging him in silence. Or so I thought.
I put my phone away and dabbed a damp cloth over Keith’s clammy skin, sweeping it up and down his face. “Cole probably cares a lot about you,” I started, the disappointment in my voice crystal clear. “His looks could kill whoever did this to you, you poor little thing. You don’t know this, but I’m jealous of you, really. Cole is a better person around you. Why am I even here, hoping I could interview you when you look like you’re barely even alive?”
I never knew K-dramas influenced me so much, but now I was talking to myself in the real world. Impressive.
“I can hear you,” said the weak voice from the bed, throwing me off balance. I almost screamed, but I managed to save myself from the humiliation.
“Shucks.” I cleared my throat, trying to relax as I took a courageous deep breath and tossed the cloth back into the basin. Returning with a straight face, I sat back in my chair and crossed my legs as I strived to chill like a villain.
I failed.
Keith couldn’t be fooled into thinking I was better than my wild imagination. A real villain wouldn’t be as awkward as I was.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to finish you off,” I managed to say anyway.
Just Coping
As soon asI woke up, I left the house in a hurry. After giving Cole what he wanted—more antidote—I should have been in my room sleeping all day long under my blanket like a giant burrito. Instead, I found myself wandering in the woods until I was standing at the edge of a mountain in front of the tallest waterfall I’d ever seen.
Not a lot of people were aware of this hidden gem. Just me and whoever put up thebewaresigns. It was paradise on top of the mountain, where anyone could literally touch all kinds and shapes of clouds.
I personally named it Skyhigh Fallswhen I discovered it ten years ago. While my father thought it was a stupid name for a stupid place, it was everything but that for me. I treated it as my sanctuary, considering my father didn’t give me a lot of freedom.
At age seven, the pack regarded me as the youngest werewolf capable of transforming without the full moon. Allthanksto my father and his aggressive ways of training me. He often drowned me in a bucket full of ice-cold water to anger the wolf inside me.
Since I had learned enough control to run around in my wolf form, the woods became my playground. Exploring it became a hobby. I would leap from one branch to another, scare the deer away before someone else could find and feed on them (they reminded me ofBambi, so I had to protect them), gallop along with other wild animals likeMowgliwould in the jungle, and then I’d take a nap at Skyhigh Falls.
