جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

Aria's POV We were still sitting outside when Nikolai walked off toward the rink, Serena watching him go with that mix of annoyance and something else she still had not learned to hide properly. Maya was laughing about it, going on about how the two of them were going to end up married with matching insufferable children, when her phone buzzed in her hand. She glanced at it, and the laugh dropped straight off her face. "What?" I asked. She did not answer right away. She turned the screen toward me instead. It was a picture from the game the week before — Kael's hand at my waist, my head turned toward him, both of us caught mid-laugh. On its own, it was a good picture. Someone had taken care with it. The caption underneath it was not written with the same care. *Guess we know how Aria Bennett gets what she wants. Poor girl didn't even see it coming.* Serena leaned over to look, her own irritation from a moment ago forgotten. "What girl?" she asked. "Coming from where?" "I do n

Aria's POV We were supposed to be walking to Kael's place after class, the conversation we had put off for a full day finally about to happen, when Damien stepped into our path outside the parking lot like he had been waiting there the whole afternoon. "Aria." He did not look at Kael first. He looked at me, and there was nothing playful left in his expression. "We need to talk. Properly this time." "We have nothing to say to each other," I said, moving to walk past him. He stepped in front of me, close enough that I would have had to push past him to keep walking. "You are letting him use you. Do you understand that? Everyone on that team knows what he is. What he is capable of. And you are standing next to him like he is some kind of hero." "Get out of the way, Damien." "Not until you hear me." His voice rose, drawing a few students nearby to slow down and watch. "You think this is real? You think he actually wants you? He is doing this because it is convenient. Because i

Aria's POV The ground was cold beneath my hands. I tried to push myself up, but my arms shook and gave way. Somewhere ahead of me, something moved through the darkness. I could hear footsteps, slow and uneven, coming closer. “Kael?” My voice sounded small against the empty yard. There was no answer. I looked toward the equipment sheds, but the darkness seemed thicker there. Then I saw two figures standing across from each other. I couldn't make out their faces, only the gold of their eyes catching what little light reached the ground. One of them moved. I stepped back, but my foot caught on something behind me. I fell hard, and the sound that came from the yard made me cover my ears. It wasn't a voice. It wasn't anything I knew. “Aria!” Maya's voice came from somewhere behind me, but when I turned, she wasn't there. I looked back at the two figures. They were closer now. One of them took another step. Then the other did the same. I tried to move, but my body would

Aria's POV I do not know how long I had been standing outside before the door opened behind me. Coach Reeves stepped out, closing it quietly, and came to stand beside me without saying anything at first. "You do not have to go back in yet," he said. "I just did not want you standing out here alone." "I am fine." "You do not have to say that either." A small smile almost found its way to my face, but it faded before it could settle. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out without thinking, expecting nothing more than another notification. Then I saw the number on the screen, and my stomach dropped before I even opened the message. *Unknown number.* > You ruined someone's life that night. Do you really think you get to walk away while they are still dealing with what you did? You have three days to make this right. After that, the video goes to every news outlet in the city. I read the message twice before the words started to sink in. By the third time, my fing

Serena's POV Aria was not in third period. Neither was Maya. I told myself it did not mean anything, the first time I saw the empty seats. People got sick. People overslept. But when I checked again after lunch and the seats were still empty, my hands went straight for my phone before I even sat down. I texted Aria first. *Where are you? You are missing everything.* No reply. I waited five minutes, watching the message sit there unread, then tried Maya. *Are you and Aria okay? You are both gone.* Also unread. I stared at both threads for a while, then sent one more line to each, slower, more deliberate this time. *Call me when you see this. I am getting worried.* I sent the same words to both of them and put my phone back in my pocket, as if that alone would make it buzz faster. I found Nikolai by the vending machines, arms crossed, looking pleased about something. "You look like you lost a bet," I said. "I look like I won one. Coach cancelled practice." "Sinc