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“…are you still angry at me because of the party?” Cadence asks Arch.
“You chewed me out for two hours,” Arch reminds her, the irritation in his deep voice obvious.
He has a nice voice. He also has a nice face.
Too bad he’s a complete jerk.
“I was drunk.” She makes it sound like that’s a forgivable excuse. “So were you.”
“Not drunk enough to forget what you said.”
They go quiet, their silence tension-filled, despite everyone yelling and carrying on while we wait for Matthews to finally start the assembly.
I’m over it. I want to get on with my day and go to class.
“I didn’t mean any of the things I said,” Cadence finally says, full of remorse. “I was just feeling mean. You know how I get when I drink.”
“You keep making the same complaints about me. About us,” he reminds her. “And I can only tolerate hearing it for so long.”
“What exactly are you trying to tell me?” Cadence’s voice rises, the tone sharp.
“Assume what you want.” He shrugs.
“Are you trying to break up with me?”
I look away, keeping my back to them. Pretending I don’t hear what they’re saying because wow, she was loud.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Just tell me, Archie! Do you want to break up with me?”
Everyone sitting around us hasn’t uttered a peep. We’re all spying on this conversation and it’s so obvious.
“Jesus, Cadence…” A ragged sigh leaves him and I finally glance his way to find Arch is covering his mouth with his hand, his gaze dropped to the floor. Tension rolls off him in palpable waves and I realize that yes.
Yes, he definitely wants to break up with her.
An irritated noise leaves Cadence and she jumps to her feet, glaring down at Arch with narrowed eyes. “You’re starting senior year off the wrong way, Arch. It’s like you don’t even remember how powerful we were together. You’re making a mistake, dumping me. No one dumps me.”
“What is that, a threat?” He tilts his head back, his gaze colder than usual.
“I’m merely speaking the truth. You’ll regret breaking up with me. I’m going to make your life hell.” She starts walking, pushing past Arch, stepping directly on my new loafer, squishing it with her Pradas and making me wince.
She doesn’t care. Doesn’t bother apologizing either. Cadence pushes past the rest of the students sitting in the row and makes her way out of the auditorium.
“Miss Calhoun, where do you think you’re go—” Matthews’ question is cut off by the loud clang of a slamming door, irritation making his eyebrows rise. His gaze zeroes in on Arch. “Are you behind this?”
“Of course not,” Arch retorts, his voice loud enough that it carries across the auditorium.
Matthews stares at him.
Arch stares back, his expression one of pure boredom.
“All right then,” Matthews finally says, leaning into the microphone on the podium, his voice booming. “Good morning and welcome to Lancaster Prep!”
The headmaster’s voice turns into nothing but background noise when Arch glances over at me, our gazes meeting, the slow, sly smile curling his lips stealing my breath. My heart starts beating faster just from the way he’s looking at me.
As if we share a secret.
