She’s standing at her locker, rummaging through her bag.
She hasn’t noticed me yet—obviously—which gives me a moment to take a breath, pull myself together, and shove my self-loathing down where no one can see it.
Marcus elbows me. “There she is, man.”
“Bruh, shut up.” I roll my eyes, but there’s a half smile on myface.
He smacks me on the back. “Good luck. You need it.”
Harper lifts her head when I approach and stops digging through her floral tote. She beams up at me as I smile sheepishly down at her.
“Morning.”
Her pretty brown eyes light up when I greet her. Immediately I feel like a complete. Fucking. Douchebag.
“Wow,” Harper breathes. “You’re early for once.”
“Ha ha. I figured I’d start the day off on time.”
She tilts her head, studying me. “You okay?”
Dammit, why is she so fucking perceptive? Avoiding her inquisitive scrutiny, I spin the dial on my combination lock and give her what I hope is a convincing nod.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just tired.”
That much is true. I was up all night thinking about her, then awake early to taxi her enemy to school.
She frowns. “That’s right—the other night you said you haven’t been getting much sleep.”
I did tell her that.
“Same, by the way.” Harper pulls out a binder and shuts her locker. “I feel like a zombie myself.”
I laugh a little, but the sound is hollow. So much so that she looks at me sideways; I can feel her eyes lingering on me.
“You sure you’re good?” she asks again, her voice softer this time as she flips through a notebook. Her long hair falls over one shoulder, and the light streaming from the English classroom turns it to strands of silk.
She’s so cute. I’m a terrible person.
I hesitate, guilt twisting my gut like a knife.
Do I tell her?
Yes.
No.
I have to; I have no choice. Not when I know Marcus is going to blab to Macy, then Macy is gonna blab to Harper—and I’d rather she hear it from me. Anyway, I did nothing wrong. Not technically. Maddie is practically almost nearly my neighbor!
Consider it me helping out a needy classmate who happens to be the girl I’ve been crushing on since middle school.
Wait,hada crush on. Past tense.
FUCK MY LIFE!
If you did nothing wrong then why do you feel like shit?
“Why do you look like you’re about to confess to a murder or something?” Harper is studying my face, brow furrowing deeper the longer she looks at me. “What’s going on?”
