"Well, neither do I," she says.
I close my eyes and shake my head with disappointment. I get the emotions behind what she's saying, but she does have a choice. "You don't want to know what it feels like to have no choice," I argue.
"Yeah, I do," she rebuts. "I want to feel what you feel, because maybe then I'll agree with you. Maybe I'll be more appreciative of the loneliness I live with every day."
"You don't have to be lonely!" I argue with her. "Why not just conform for a little while? Just put on an act, so you don't have to be lonely. I don't understand you at all. You have everything basically handed to you on a silver platter, yet you want to be like me, someone who sleeps on a goddamn park bench most nights? You're like a little twig telling an obese person you're having trouble losing weight. Why don't you get this, Haven?" Almost every word that slipped from my tongue came with a side of regret, but it's true, and she can hate me for it if she wants. "You don't want life on the other side, okay? Just trust me."
Haven's face turns red, and her eyes widen with anger. "I thought…out of everyone, you would understand," she says.
"Your words aren't hurting me. You know I'm right. You're acting like a brat right now."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Raine." Her voice has remained pretty impassive, considering the incoming wrath I'm sensing.
"Enlighten me then. Tell me why you'd rather be homeless than live in a four-thousand- square-foot palace."
Haven's chin quivers slightly, and I know I've pushed her to the brink, considering the strength she has proven to possess since the time I met her. Watching her fight off whatever she's feeling, a slight twinge of guilt bites at me for pushing her this far.
"The money my dad inherited doesn't belong to us," she says. "He's a thief, and we're living with it—the things it bought—buys us. It makes me just as big of a crook as he is, and I refuse to walk around under the guise that my family earned or deserves the money we have. Did you know you could buy popularity...even votes? He wasn't loved by this town. He bought his love from them, and that's why we have everything now. We were poor, Raine. We had nothing until five years ago."
I know. I've lived in this town a lot longer than she has.
