“Don’t you want me?” he insists, and this time, I can’t deny the way his voice sounds strained, like the lump in his throat is just as big as mine.
So much for the silence. Clearly, I’m not great with following through on my decisions.
“I don’t see why I should want someone who hates my guts,” I blurt out.
This time, it’s his hand that leaves my cheek, and I whimper again, feeling very lonely without the touch of the boy who I know despises me.
But when he speaks again, the strain in his voice is gone, replaced by… humor.
Goddamnit, I want to punch his stupid face. I can just tell he’s wearing a smirk, like I’m the funniest thing in the world to him, and when I pop open my eyes, my intuition is confirmed.
At least have the decency to hate me properly. Don’t find me…funny.
“I don’t hate you,” he says, his soft voice making me feel really confused. “Why do you think that?”
I stare at him like he’s gone mad. Where the hell do I even start? The first week of freshman year, when he dunked my headin the toilet? Or every single second since then? More than a thousand days have passed, and every one of them, Quill has made clear he hates me.
Even last night.Especiallylast night. What girl gets the kind of hard spanking Quill gave me and concludes that the guy giving it to her loves her?
I literally couldn’t move this morning, I was in so much pain, and I was still imagining he loved me.
I’m even crazier than he is.
It feels impossible to even start counting all the ways Quill has shown his hatred of me, so instead, I settle on, “You glared at me this morning.”
He frowns at me in confusion.
“I was late to class. I saw you and thought you were waiting for me. Instead, you glared at me and walked in.”
“Oh.” His brow clears. “Iwaswaiting for you. And I didn’t mean to glare. I saw you were in pain, and I was angry with myself.”
“Oh.” It’s my turn to let that stupid little word escape my lips. But then I continue, “Well, you were looking at me with murder in your eyes, when I was…” I make a wry face. “In the corner.”
It sounds so juvenile that I wish I could disappear underground. Within a span of twelve hours, I’ve been spanked and sent to the corner. I want to die right now, but not from pain anymore. From pure embarrassment.
He doesn’t seem amused, though. His eyes look furious again, but now that I’m standing an inch away from him, I can tell the anger’s not directed at me.
“He shouldn’t have done that,” he says. “I told him so after class.”
I raise an eyebrow in surprise, before he continues, “And I was angry at Will for throwing that ball of paper at you. Why would I be angry at you?”
Because you’ve been angry at me since the moment I stepped foot in this school?Is my silent answer, but he doesn’t give me time to voice that thought, instead adding, “I had a few words with Will about that, too.”
“You mean you beat the crap out of him,” I correct him, my lips curling up into the smallest of smiles.
So much for my conclusion that he doesn’t care. Every single thing he’s done to me over the past three years is all but forgotten as I start to feel practically giddy, realizing he stood up for me.
Beaten the hell out of Will and… “Uhm, what kind of talk did you have with Mr. Binney?” I ask, my eyes wide as I realize what his version oftalkingmeans.
No freaking way did Quill beat up a teacher.
He doesn’t answer. He’s really the polar opposite of me. The unnatural silence I’ve forced myself into in order to put up a wall between us is gone, and I’m back to wanting to chatter away. Meanwhile, his reserve of words is all but depleted, and now that he can tell I’ve accepted his explanations, he apparently doesn’t see the use in forcing more words out of his mouth.
Instead, he grabs me suddenly by the wrist, unlocks the bathroom door and yanks me out.
Liam and Dane are still standing there, their smirks slightly dampened by the fact that I’m still dry, but apparently convinced nonetheless that their friend has just tortured me in some way.
Quill doesn’t seem to notice their expressions, instead pulling me down the hallways toward the entrance. He might have convinced me he doesn’t hate me, but his abrupt way of pulling me outside the school is clearly not convincing anyone else.
