Chapter 4 The Cruelest Ending

I lunged at Troy, grabbed him by the collar, and shook him awake.

How could they do this to me?

Did they not know how cold it was out on the streets in the middle of the night, with the rain pouring down? Did they not know how badly my leg hurt?

Troy jolted awake, his swollen eyes filled with panic. I had him pinned to the floor as he rasped out an explanation.

"Hunter, I'm sorry. I lost my temper last night and smashed my phone. Alice's phone died, too. We looked for you for hours. She had a bit of a fever, so we came back first."

I swung my fist at his face.

A large red mark immediately appeared across his left cheek.

Alice abruptly knocked my arm away, her expression dark with anger.

"Hunter, you like doing things on your own. If you can't stand seeing Troy and me together, then leave. If you leave, then our promise to be together is over!"

I tripped on the carpet, and my foot hit the edge of the nightstand.

All I could do was force out an exaggerated laugh to hide my humiliation. "You two have already ended up in bed together. How are we supposed to be together now?"

I dragged my suitcase out of the room.

Behind me, Troy called out anxiously, but Alice cut him off coldly. "Let him go. Apparently, everything has to revolve around him."

After a two-hour train ride home, I found my mother waiting for me at the station. The moment she saw my foot, she sucked in a sharp breath.

At the hospital, the doctor studied the X-rays with a troubled frown.

"This started as a minor injury, but the repeated strain caused your Achilles tendon to rupture. Even after surgery, you may have trouble pushing off with that foot. You could have a slight limp when you walk."

I stared at him, stunned.

My mother squeezed my hand. "Hunter, don't be scared. There's still a way to treat it."

For a while, my cries echoed through the examination room and the hallway outside.

Then Troy posted in the group chat.

"Hunter, when Alice had me fill out my vocational school applications, I put Kingsbury down, too. I checked. That vocational school is right near Briarwood University. The three of us can be together again! Alice and I are both so happy!"

After that, I left the group chat and blocked Troy and Alice from my social media.

Troy seemed to know I would not be checking his posts anymore, so he started live-updating the class group chat with everything he and Alice did on their trip.

"The 50th photo with Alice. Today we're at Aetheria Tower. Someone said this is the perfect place for a confession. Is that true? Should we try it?"

Everyone started egging them on. "Do it!"

Troy then turned the camera on Alice.

She stood on the 850-foot-high glass skywalk, holding a bouquet of sunflowers, and confessed her feelings to him. "Troy, you win. Will you be my boyfriend?"

From behind the camera, Troy laughed and replied, "Sure!"

My heart lurched.

On the day we filled out our college applications, I was about to leave under the streetlights when Alice grabbed my hand and simply said, "Let's be together."

I laughed and told her it did not count.

Before we left for the trip, she had promised that she would bring the sunflowers she loved most, look out over the Golden River, and give me a proper confession.

Now, she had given that moment to my best friend, Troy.

That summer, my unrequited love had come to the most absurd ending possible.

Three days later, Alice returned from Crestwater and left me a message.

"Hunter, you're really hard to calm down. Because of you, I lost the bet, so I have to be Troy's girlfriend for three months. Once we start college, you don't have to come see me too often. I'm worried Troy might get upset. When the bet is over, I'll ask you out again."

But by then, I was already on a plane to Brassport.

…

After Hunter ignored her message, Alice decided to give him some more time.

On the day of the flight, she got up early, grabbed her suitcase, and took a cab to the Lawson Residence.

Before ringing the doorbell, Alice paced outside for three minutes.

Part of her thought Hunter would calm down the moment he saw her there to pick him up.

She was also trying to figure out how to explain that she and Troy would be renting a place off campus together once college started.

The door suddenly opened. Hunter's mother, Sloane Mercer, stared at her in surprise.

"Mrs. Lawson, I'm here to pick Hunter up for college. Could you have him come out?"

Then she heard the last answer she expected. "Alice, Hunter already left for Brassport University."