She doesn’t even glance at me.
That’s what kills me. Not the cold shoulder. Not the whispers trailing in her wake. Not even the fact that Tristan and Xavier have started orbiting her like she’s gravity itself.
It’s that I don’t exist to her anymore.
I don’t think. I move.
My hand hits the locker beside her with a loudslam, stopping her mid-step.
“Jade.”
Nothing.
Her gaze flicks toward me—disinterested. Cruel.
“I don’t have time to play dress-up with ghosts,” she says coolly, brushing past me like I’m air.
I step in front of her again. “Stop pretending you don’t care.”
She crosses her arms. “Stop pretending you ever did.”
Ouch.
I swallow. “You don’t mean that.”
Her laugh is low and humorless. “No, Leo. Ido.”
She leans closer. Close enough I can smell her perfume—vanilla and something darker underneath, like smoke and sin.
“You broke me in front of everyone,” she whispers. “And now you want to pick up the pieces?”
“I didn’t know?—”
“No. You didn’tlook.” Her voice slices clean through me. “You didn’t protect me. You let them humiliate me. Then you disappeared.”
I can’t even lie. She’s right.
“I messed up,” I murmur.
Her brows arch. “Wow. The King admits a mistake. Should I curtsy?”
“Jade…”
She’s already walking away.
I follow. “What do you want me to say?”
“Nothing.” She tosses it over her shoulder. “I’m done listening to boys who think apologies come with interest.”
She kept walking leaving me wanting in her wake. Friday is more of the same. Me following Jade around like a kicked puppy begging his master for a scrap and her ignoring the fuck out of me. “Bro bonfire tonight. You in?”
“I hear the new queen is going…” Tristan smirked.
“Yeah, he’s definitely in then,” Xavier laughed.
I ignored the both, giving them my middle finger as we rolled out of school and toward the weekend.
I didn’t want to be here.
