“Well… I saw that she had some bruises, so I guess she got injured.” I sense him side-eye me, as if he’s wondering whetherI’m responsible for that. “And with what happened earlier…” He clears his throat uncomfortably. “I guess she decided to go home.”
I turn around immediately.
“Uhm… Quill? Where are you going?” asks Liam.
“Out.”
“But we have class!”
I merely shrug and leave the room. What’s the point of history without her? What’s the point of anything?
I leave the building, find the motorcycle parked by the sidewalk, and drive away in a cloud of dust. I don’t hesitate about the direction to take. There’s only one place she would go. There’s only one place shecouldgo.
To her bedroom, with its books littering every inch of her floor and bed. I’ve spent enough time watching her to know that she looks to books for comfort. I can just imagine her lying on her bed, her nose stuck in a book, wiggling her butt to find just the right position—
No, stop. Don’t think of that now.
I have no idea when I started getting hard at the thought of her. Well, nother. At certain things she does. Like when she wiggles her butt while lying on her stomach in bed. Or cries, her face blotchy red, after I’ve stuffed her head in the toilet.
Not that I’ve done that in a long time. These days I stick to more verbal forms of bullying.
Maybe I should get more inventive. Maybe that’s why I’ve been blacking out. Maybe my urge is getting out of control, and I need to be more cruel. Bullying her has always helped before, but now, somehow, it doesn’t seem to be enough.
I park the bike and stalk to her house with murder on my mind. My hands fist at my sides, and I stop by the tree by her window, breathing hard. Maybe I should just climb up there now… just put my hands around her neck… just… just get it overwith…
No!
Suddenly, through the haze of my seething anger, I hear a loud hiccupy sound. Then another one. I lift my eyes up, and through the window, I see her lying on the bed. Only she’s not reading. Her head is in her hands, and I realize… she must be crying.
The tears have a strange effect on me. I creep closer to the side of the house, leaning my head against the shingles. I suddenly feel cold. So cold. I rub a circular, insistent pattern on the wall, but the rough material doesn’t calm me. It’s like I’m on the outside, looking in, utterly helpless.
Helpless to comfort her.
Helpless to understand why I’d even want to.
Helpless to do anything but watch as my world spirals out of control.
Chapter 3
Piper
Ray Campbell. Ray Campbell. Ray freaking Campbell.
I’m walking in circles around my room, trying to avoid tripping over an empty bowl, a mug half-full of decaffeinated tea, and about a dozen books scattered around.
I obsessively repeat the name of the guy who’s just replaced Quill as my arch-nemesis.
Well, not really. Not anywhere close, in fact. But the only thing I feel toward Ray is hate. Whereas with Quill, things are a lot more confusing. I hate him, but at the same time, I dream about him. Seeing him fills me with loathing… but also, the kind of core-clenching heat that has me squeezing my thighs so hard it feels like they’ll turn to jelly.
It’s all the more pathetic because I’m convinced, without the shadow of a doubt, that he isn’t suffering from any of my confusion. He just hates my guts, pure and simple. For whatever reason.
It’s a lot easier to get revenge on Ray Campbell than it is to make sense of everything that Quill makes me feel. Even though I don’t even know how to begin to get revenge.
I can’t beat him up, that’s for sure. Ray may be nowhere near as tall as Quill, nor as strong, but I know that I could never take him physically. Not even if I spent a year bodybuilding at the gym. Which I don’t have any intention of doing anyway.
No, the only way I can take him is in a battle of wits. Ray is astoundingly stupid. I may not be the smartest girl at Astley High—that honor goes to Cass Henley—but I’m lightyears aheadof him in the thinking department.
But right now, I’m thinking so hard it feels like my brain hurts, and I’m coming up blank.
