جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 300

Then she turned her full attention to Marcus, and something changed in her eyes. They went from that fake affectionate look to ice-cold in an instant."Deny it? You never left me after all the other guys you found me with before," she said quietly, and there was an odd tone to her voice now. Almost sad, in a twisted way. "Remember? There was Brandon from the skate park. Then that college guy I met at that party. Then Jace, obviously, who I wanted publicly while seeing you secretly. You didn't leave even when I told you straight to your face that I loved someone else and not you. Even when I said the most horrible things to hurt you, you kept coming back."She walked up to Marcus slowly, and I watched as she ran her hand gently down the side of his face in an almost tender gesture. It was so different from the usual cruelty in her words that it caught me off guard."So tell me honestly, baby," she said softly, searching his eyes. "Even if I tell you right now, in front of all these p

"No thank you, Mother!" she called down sweetly. "We're perfectly fine up here! Just doing face masks and talking about boys!""Girls' night? Really? That's the best cover story you could come up with?" Then she scoffed, turning back to us. “As if I would ever invite the likes of you.”You could hear the collective sighs of relief go around the room. Even though everyone was putting on their best brave face, trying to act tough and unbothered, I could tell that absolutely nobody had really wanted this situation to escalate any further.We were all terrified.A pang of guilt hit me so hard right then, as I watched their scared faces.This was my fault. I'd dragged everyone else down into this mess with me. Nicole, who'd been hurt and angry but had helped anyway. Jake, who wasn’t really sure what he was getting into, but came along anyway, just to support his friend.Jace, who was currently risking his delicate relationship with his parents to be here. Even Marcus, in his own twisted way

LenaNicole was the first one to reach the window, her combat boots skidding slightly on the carpet as she came to a stop at the open balcony door.She leaned out, looking down at the drop, and her face immediately went pale."Crap, it's so far down!" Her voice was high with panic. "That's got to be at least twenty feet! Maybe thirty!""You'll be fine! It's not as high as it looks." Jace yelled at her, still clutching his bleeding arm but ignoring the pain."Just try to aim for the bushes! They'll break your fall!"Nicole looked back at us one more time, her eyes wide with terror, and I could see her trying to psych herself up. "Wish me luck!"Then she grabbed the window ledge, swung her legs over, and let go."Ahhhhhh!!!" Her scream echoed across the backyard as she plummeted down, down, down.I held my breath, certain my best friend was about to die, until I heard the loud rustle of leaves and branches snapping, followed by a shaky, breathless voice calling up, "I'm okay! Holy shit

I stared at him, my mouth falling open slightly. "Seriously?""Yeah." He was ignoring Mrs. Hargrave's screeching in the background “Where the hell are those little brats! Come out, you little criminals! Trespassing on private property!" and Allison's backup screaming from somewhere upstairs.His voice dropped lower, taking on that teasing tone, trying to distract me from something scary. "I already know what to do for our next date. After exams are over, we go on a picnic. You know, get some sun, eat sandwiches, fool around in the bushes just like these."He was only half-joking. I could tell by the way he kept peering out from behind the tree, the sheen of sweat shining on his muddied forehead, the tension in his shoulders as he watched and listened for any sign of danger.His little jokes were for my sake, I realized, to keep me from spiraling into panic.And I was grateful for it, even if I wanted to strangle him a little bit for being so casual about getting shot at.My heart was

JaceThe clinic visit had been confusing as hell.The nurse on duty, some middle-aged woman with tired-as-fuck eyes and reading glasses hanging off a chain like my grandmother, took one look at us when we stumbled through those automatic doors and immediately went, “Do I need to call the police?”“No!” Lena and I said at the exact same time, probably way too fast, way too loud.The nurse’s eyebrows shot up so high I thought they might fly off her damn face. “Uh-huh,” she said slowly, clearly not buying whatever bullshit we were about to sell her. “So you wanna tell me how you two ended up looking like you got mauled by a pack of wild animals?”I opened my mouth, fully prepared to spin some ridiculous story, but my brain was completely fried. Every excuse I could think of sounded fucking stupid.We got attacked by some really aggressive bushes?We fell into a ditch full of broken glass?We decided to wrestle a bear for shits and giggles?Lena jumped in before I could make things wors