Asher had heard my apparition crying. Now he wanted an explanation. I didn’t blame him for wanting the truth, but I still couldn’t tell him. “I’m sorry, Asher,” I started. “But…” He held up both hands stopping me. “I don’t want to hear you lie to me again, so just… don’t.” He was upset with me, a
“What are the terms?” Asher asked through clenched teeth. Wait. Asher couldn’t actually be considering this! “The loser has to agree to stay out of Cynthia’s life,” Joseph said. “Hold on,” I said, coming to Asher’s side. Surely I was the one who got to decide who never to see again. “Agreed,” As
The next day at cheerleading practice, I had hoped that the girls would be sharing news of Brent’s apologies and admissions of guilt. Instead, they were only talking about Joseph and Asher’s challenge. “I can’t wait to see Asher in action!” “Joseph’s sure to get annihilated.” “I don’t know. He s
I stuck close to a group that was entering at the same time, hoping the superintendent wouldn’t look too closely at all the members if they recognized a few. Nervous sweat dripped down the back of my neck as we walked past the front desk. The superintendent glanced once, but then not again. Relief
I watched Aimee as she tried to sneak into Brent’s dorm as I had earlier done. But the group Aimee tried to tag along with recognized her at once and knew she didn’t belong. She was cast out onto the sidewalk faster than I had been. Joseph might have dragged me hard enough to bruise my wrist, but A
And right now, I wanted Asher. When he opened the door after I knocked, he seemed relieved to see me, shoulders slouching ever so slightly. I was relieved too. I hated when we argued. It felt like the whole world was tilted the wrong way when we weren’t in sync. We stepped back into the room and I
Thinking I had overstepped Asher’s boundaries by hugging him from behind, I began to release him. But then he caught my hands with his and gently returned them to where they had been, palms flat against his hard, muscled abdomen. We both relaxed into the hug, and I felt the emotional distance betw
I was beginning to reach the upper limit of my studying. Now I was simply rehashing topics I’d already drilled thoroughly into my brain. So when my phone finally lit up with a message, I picked it up eagerly. The message surprised me, it was Aimee. Help! Brent agreed to meet me in the park! I don