Mag-log inChapter Twenty Eight - No Saying NoI sprint all the way back into the house. I don't remember climbing the stairs, or getting my shoes off, or crawling under my covers still fully dressed, but somehow that's exactly where I end up, blankets pulled all the way over my head, curled into the smallest shape I can manage, crying in a way I haven't let myself cry since that first night in the woods behind the cafe.Nobody likes a thirsty bitch.The words keep looping over and over, cutting a little deeper every single time, and the worst part isn't even how cruel they were. It's how much they don't sound like him. Not the him who wrapped his jacket around my shoulders after the party. Not the him who held me in that shower until we both went numb from the cold, who pulled back from kissing me because he said he didn't want our first time to happen with a teacher standing three feet away. That boy wouldn't say something like that. Wouldn't want to.So why did he.I don't hear my door open o
My hands are still shaking a little by the time I pull into my driveway, throat tender under my fingers even though there's nothing to actually see there yet, no mark, no bruise, just the phantom pressure of his hand still lingering like a memory I can't shake off.I sit in the car for a full minute before I trust myself to walk inside without my face giving anything away."There she is." My dad's in the kitchen when I walk in, tie already loosened, going through mail at the counter. "How was school?""Fine." I keep my voice light, dropping my bag by the stairs. "Long. I'm exhausted.""Maddox invited you to watch him practise?""Yeah.""Good kid." He says it without looking up, and I have to bite back the urge to laugh, or maybe scream, at how wrong that sentence is. "You two seem good lately. Your mother's thrilled.""Yeah. We're good."My mom comes down a minute later, already in her robe, hair wrapped, holding her phone out toward me before I've even said hello. "Look what I found.
Chapter Twenty Six- Puck BunnyI'm so exhausted from the past few days. I get a cup of iced coffee to sip on and walk to my car, but as I get to the parking lot, I see the last person I want to run into. "You're coming to practice," Maddox says it like it's already decided, not even glancing up from tying his skates in the school parking lot."I'm tired. I want to go home.""You can rest on the bench." He finally looks at me, something hard settling behind his eyes. "You're coming.""Maddox, I have a headache and I haven't slept properly all week. I just want to go home.""Then you can nap in the stands." He grabs his bag off the hood of his car, slinging it over one shoulder, and reaches for my wrist like this conversation is over.I pull back before he can grab it. "I'm not a prop you drag around whenever you feel like it.""Aren't you?" He says it flat, almost bored, and something about the casual cruelty of it makes my stomach turn. "That's kind of the deal we made. Remember?"I
Chapter Twenty-Five - Go, East Kings"That's more like it." He lets go of the door and walks back in. He's too close to me. "For now," Maddox says, "you're going to be by my side. Publicly. Convincingly. However long I decide this needs to last.""That's not an answer. That's a life sentence.""Take it or leave it." He shrugs, entirely too comfortable with himself. "Or I start talking."I don't have a choice, and we both know it. "Fine.""Good girl." He says it just to needle me, and it works, my jaw clenching so hard it aches.I get ready in silence after that, yanking my cheer uniform on with more force than necessary, hair pulled back tight, face carefully blank by the time I turn around. Maddox is still lounging near my desk, phone already out, scrolling like none of this cost him anything at all."Come here." He waves me over, already angling the phone for a photo before I can protest."Absolutely not.""Ava."I cross the room and stand beside him, forcing my face into something
Chapter Twenty Four - Hoodie"Guess what?" My mom says with excitement beaming in her eyes."ouu what is it, Mom? You know I love your surprises." I say cheerfully because, honestly, my mum's surprises are great, but then I doubt anything can make me happier than the night I just had."Maddox is here", my mom says, way too pleased with herself, setting a plate of eggs down in front of me like she just handed me a winning lottery ticket instead of a live grenade."He said he wanted to surprise you and drive you to school this morning. Isn't that sweet?"I nearly choke on my orange juice."He's here? Right now?""Downstairs, waiting in the living room." She beams at my dad, who nods approvingly over his coffee like this is the most normal thing in the world. "You two really are the cutest couple, you know. You reminf me of your father and i back in the day."I want to scream. We agreed. Maddox and I never officially said the words out loud, but we both know we agreed, silently, not to
My thumb hovers over the screen for a solid ten seconds before I make myself set the phone back down, face first, like ignoring it will somehow make my heart rate go back to normal.It buzzes again almost immediately.Zane: i know you're awake. i can practically hear you overthinking from hereI bite back a smile, which is stupid, because there is nothing about tonight that should be making me smile. He almost kissed me. Then he didn't. Then he left without explaining either half of that. I have every right to ignore him.Zane: cold shower treat you wellI roll my eyes at the ceiling and don't respond, mostly out of spite, partly because I genuinely don't trust myself to type anything that doesn't give away exactly how much I've been thinking about him for the last two hours.Zane: playing hard to get now?Zane: cuteI still don't answer. I set the phone face down again, arms crossed over my chest like that's going to stop the ridiculous amount of butterflies currently wrecking my sto







