“The vision,” he says, his voice strained.
I’d been prepared for this line of interrogation, and I’ve decided that the less Ares knows about what I know, the better. “Not really, I’m afraid. The fire was the only thing I saw. Just the fire and, like, a lot of smoke.”
His eyes narrow. “Are you sure?”
“Why would I lie?” I ask innocently.
“Yes, exactly,” he says under his breath, but his tone is accusatory, his fingers tightening around me. “Why would you?”
We’ve reached the next building, where rose petals and heart-shaped confetti still linger from the promposal at lunch—the third one so far today—and I sense an opening. The moment I’ve been working toward. We’re alone together, I’m in a seemingly vulnerable position, and his arms are literally around me. Now’s the perfect time to start slipping in hints about prom. “Did you watch the promposal?” I ask casually, nodding toward the petals scattered over the ground. “Wasn’t itsocute?”
“Don’t know,” he says, looking about as interested in the subject as I do during my math lectures. “I wasn’t there.”
“Really? What about the promposal yesterday? The one with all the doves?” I continue with vigorous determination.Come on,I want to hiss at him.Take the bait. Talk to me.“I think my favorite was—”
“We’re here,” he says, coming to an abrupt stop outside the office door and setting me down just as fast. “I’ll wait outside for you.”
I snap my mouth shut, grinding the back of my teeth together.Fine. Another time then.
I limp all the way inside by myself, dropping the act only once the door swings shut behind me. Then I straighten and smile at the nurse, who I’m pretty sure has been working at Airington for as long as I’ve been here but somehow hasn’t aged a year. I’ve been meaning to ask her about her skincare routine.
“Chanel! What’s wrong?” She gestures for me to sit down on the ugly green couch, which is definitely older than both of us. “Have you been feeling lightheaded again?”
“Yeah, just a little,” I say, embarrassed that she still remembers the last time I was here. I’d been fasting for two days straight under my mom’s advice, and I’d thought I was fine until I stood up too fast after history class and the room suddenly swayed around me. I hadn’t wanted to alarm anyone, so I’d walked alone to the nurse’s office, white sparks dancing in my vision. She’d given me a large glass of sugar water and urged me to eat three full meals a day.
“You should really take better care of your body,” the nurse says, shooting me a concerned look.
I nod along. Idofeel lightheaded and nauseous, but for once, it’s not because I’m starving myself. It’s because of the boy waiting outside. Just thinking about him—how close he’d been, those unfeeling black eyes—makes me dizzy, makes my heartbeat pick up with sickening speed. It’s like he’s put some kind of curse on me.
I take my time sipping my sugar water, trying to figure out how I can better integrate him into my prom plans.
And then I think of it.
“What did the nurse recommend?” Ares asks when I find him out in the corridor.
I’m surprised he hadn’t simply walked off while I was inside. Maybe he’s not as much of a lost cause as I thought. “I’ll survive, I guess, but she warned me not to carry anything heavy by myself. It’s bad to put too much weight on my leg,” I tell him, then sigh. “But like, Ireallyneed to go prom dress shopping tomorrow. Basically all my friends already have their dresses picked out.” I sigh again. “What am I supposed to do? I won’t be able to carry any of my shopping bags.”
Ares raises his brows. “You’re not expecting me to, are you?”
I take his rhetorical question and run with it. “Wait, that’ssonice of you to offer—”
“I wasn’t offering—”
“It would beincrediblyhelpful, and like, it’d definitely make up for the fact that you tripped me,” I press.
He’s silent. I have no idea what he’s thinking, but after a beat, he folds his arms across his chest. “What time?”
7
Chanel
The mall is busier than ever today.
I push through the crowds, past the happy, oblivious families and groups of best friends and carefree students, everyone else who isn’t here on a mission, past hundreds of faces I don’t recognize, looking for the one I do. The only one that matters to me right now, as unfortunate as this whole situation is.
Laughter bubbles all around me, voices bouncing off the glass storefronts and indoor fountains and escalators. A dozen different songs drift in and out from separate shops, the melodies all blending together, hardcore rap with slow, wistful ballads, the occasional English word sprinkled into the Mandarin lyrics to rhyme even when it doesn’t make sense. I quicken my footsteps as I pass a couple locked in an embracewaytoo passionate for a Saturday morning.
Still no sign of him.
