Page 17 of The Moment I Knew

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“I didn’t need you to.”

“I was going to say Friday night, I take you out, you tell me I’m insufferable, I tell you that you secretly love it⁠—”

“I don’t.”

“—and then we⁠—”

“No,” I said again, sharper this time.

He tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle he’d already decided had a solution. “You always say no.”

“And yet you persist.”

“That’s commitment.”

“That’s a lack of hobbies,” I countered. I pushed his arm out of the way and closed my locker harder than necessary. He let me this time, hands raised in surrender.

“Why not?” he asked. “Seriously. Just one date. Dinner. Movie.”

“That already sounds like a nightmare,” I said.

He smirked. “You don’t even know what movie I’d take you to see.”

“I don’t need to,” I said. “The answer’s still no.”

The warning bell rang and I started for the stairs. I wasn’t about to let this idiot make me late for class. I was pretty sure his class was on this floor—and oh, how I hated that I knew his schedule—but he followed along beside me all the same.

“Give me one good reason why you don’t think we should be together,” Mitch said.

“Because dating in high school is a waste of time.”

“Well, that’s bleak.”

I shrugged. “It’s the truth.”

I said it like it was a fact, like something everyone already knew. What I didn’t say was that I knew that dating never stayed simple. I’d seen how it had taken over my brother’s and sister’s lives over the past few months. Sebastian and Lavender each seemed to have found a way to let it fit into their lives without losing time for school, but I didn’t trust myself to be normal about it. If I liked someone, I’d really like them. I’d think about it too much, overanalyze every look and text, let it get under my skin.

No boy could have that much power over me right now, not when I was so busy with school. Not to mention all the time I was busy putting into fixing Mum and Dad.

“You don’t think you might be missing out?” Mitch asked.

“On what?” I asked. “Awkward dinners? Forced conversations? Breaking up right before finals?” I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to face him, ignoring the mumbles of people who had to swerve around us. “I can’t make this any clearer. I’m not interested. Not now. Not later.”

I spun back around and hurried down the hall, hoping I would disappear into the sea of blue-and-silver uniforms before he had the chance to try and follow me.

“You’ll see, Imogen! Someday. We’re meant to be together and you know it,” he called after me. I didn’t respond.

six

I’d only been inside Northern High a handful of times. All of them had been during the day, when the hallways were loud and chaotic and felt only marginally different from Parkhurst Prep—less polished, maybe, but still recognizably a school. Hallways jammed with students, lockers slamming, teachers shouting reminders over the noise. At night, it felt like a completely different place.

The sky outside had already darkened, and Northern seemed to have followed suit. The main lights were on, but they cast long shadows down the corridors, turning everything a little muted, a little unreal. Like the school had gone to sleep everywhere except the gym where the girl’s volleyball game was due to start. We always came to the games to support Lavender, and tonight was no different. Even if it was at Northern.

“This place is… depressing,” Ainsley murmured, tugging her jean jacket tighter around herself as we wandered down the main hall. We’d gotten to the game a little early and decided to wander around while the teams warmed up.

I snorted quietly. “You mean it doesn’t look like a brochure?”