Tara’s POVI’m completely speechless. Sarah’s words hit me like a physical blow, and I find myself frozen in place, unable to process what she just said. The way she said it, the urgency in her voice, makes me feel like that kind of warning came from personal experience rather than just gossip or speculation.There’s something about the pain in Sarah’s eyes that makes me believe she knows something specific about Tony, something that hurt her personally. But what could it be? And how would Sarah know anything about Tony when she barely talks to anyone at school?Sarah seems to notice the sudden change in my expression and the way I’ve gone completely silent. She realizes that her warning has had a major impact on me, and she quickly lets go of my wrist.“I’m sorry,” she says quickly, looking panicked about her outburst. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I was being rash.”But I can’t just let this go. If Sarah knows something about Tony that I should be aware of, I need to understand w
Jasper’s POVI’m walking home from the coffee shop where I went to try to clear my head after everything that happened with Xavier. I needed to get out of the house and away from all the tension, so I just walked around town aimlessly for a couple of hours, trying to figure out how to fix the mess I’ve made of everything.My mind keeps going back to last night and the horrible mistake I made with Jane and Zoey. Every time I think about it, I feel sick to my stomach. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have betrayed Tara like that by sleeping with her two best friends?I’m so lost in my guilty thoughts that I almost don’t notice the two figures walking ahead of me on the sidewalk. But when I look up and focus, my heart nearly stops beating. One of the girls is Sarah, and immediately, the flashes of what happened last night come rushing back to me like a punch to the gut.Sarah was there. Sarah saw everything. She walked into my room this morning and saw me in bed with Jane and
Tara’s POVAs we find seats near the back of the room, I pull out my phone and check to see if Jane or Zoey has replied to the pictures I sent them earlier. The screen shows that I’m still connected to our group chat, but I notice that neither of them has responded to the photos I shared or returned any of my calls from earlier today.This is really starting to worry me more than I want to admit. Jane and Zoey are usually quick to respond to messages, especially when they’re funny pictures or selfies. We’re always sending each other random photos throughout the day, and they usually reply within minutes with laughing emojis or their own pictures in response.It’s not like Jane and Zoey to ignore me completely, especially when I’ve been trying to reach them multiple times throughout the day. I’ve called them both several times, sent text messages, and even tried reaching them through Instagram, but I’ve gotten nothing back from either of them.I suspect something is wrong, but I can’t
Tara’s POVI decide to take an afternoon hike just so I can stop myself from going back inside and arguing with Xavier again. I need to get out of that house and clear my head before I say something I’ll regret later.I’m really pissed with Xavier because I know he was assuming I was sending those pictures to Tony. The way he was acting all suspicious and getting close to my phone made it so obvious what he was thinking. He kept hovering around me and asking weird questions about what I was doing, like he had some right to monitor my phone activity.But what makes me even angrier is that I don’t understand why he was being so insistent about it, as if Tony and I are “a thing” or something. We’re not dating, we’re not even close friends really. Tony is just someone who’s been nice to me, and I don’t see why that should concern Xavier at all.It makes no sense to me. Why would Xavier even care who I send pictures to? We’re not dating, we’re barely even friends. He has no right to act je
Xavier’s POV“Mom! Dad!” I call out, forcing myself to sound happy and normal even though I’m feeling terrible inside.They both smile when they see us, and Mom immediately comes over to give me a hug. “We missed you boys so much,” she says, squeezing me tight.“We missed you too,” I reply, and it’s the truth. Having them back feels like a relief after everything that’s happened.Dad gives me a pat on the shoulder and looks around the house. “Everything looks good,” he observes. “You boys took good care of the place.”“Of course we did,” Jasper says, and his voice sounds perfectly normal when he talks to our parents. It’s only when he looks at me that his expression becomes cold.We all greet our parents with merry hearts, talking about their trip and catching up on what happened while they were away. Tara joins us also. We talk for a while but the whole time, I feel bad for hurting Jasper. I can see him making an effort to act normal around our parents, but I know he’s still angry a
Xavier’s POVI watch Tara enter her room, and I can see the disappointment in her eyes as she looks back at me. It makes my heart sink because I know she thinks less of me now. She saw me breaking my brother’s happiness, saw me hurting Jasper, and I can tell she doesn’t respect me for it.I became sad that Tara witnessed me being such a terrible brother, but at the same time, I can’t help feeling a little bit happy that at least I got to spend some time with her today. Even if it was as Jake and not as myself, those hours we spent together in that hotel room were some of the best hours of my life.I persist in knocking on Jasper’s door for several more minutes, trying different approaches to get him to talk to me. I apologize through the door, I promise to explain everything, I even try to make jokes to lighten the mood. But nothing works. He’s completely shut me out.Finally, I give myself a little break. Maybe if I freshen up and change my clothes, I’ll be able to think more clearly