Page 31

With a grunt, I lift my hand and flip him off. He’s going down tonight.

“Your birthday is coming up, right?” Sienna asks as she lowers herself onto the bench beside me. Even though we’re outside, her strong caramel scent attacks my nostrils. I shift away, searching for fresh air, but that only makes her move closer.

My stomach hardens, and I pinch my lips together.

“Yup,” I bite out, my throat closing to shut out the offending air.

“What are your plans?”

What are my plans? Fuck if I know. Isla and I usually plan my birthday together, and she’s drifting farther away each day. Pulling back. Avoiding me in the hallways, pretending she doesn’t hear when I call her name.

I’ve told myself a hundred times it can’t be because of the dare. She wasn’t there. She doesn’t talk to anyone who was there that night except for me, Ash, and Turner. And Turner was gone by then, wasn’t he? I don’t remember. Asher? He wouldn’t have said anything. He was just stirring the pot. Even if somebody mentioned it to her, it’s not like it meant anything, and if she knew, she would’ve asked me about it.

Even so, the energy between us is off, like I’m missing the last piece of the puzzle. And that pisses me off, because I know I’m messing things up, but I don’t know how.

“He’s probably going to throw a party,” Asher mumbles, still chewing.

“Swallow before you speak,” I rasp under my breath. Clearing my throat, I watch the door, assessing each person as they step out, looking for Isla. “But yeah, I’ll probably throw a party. I just don’t know the logistics. Don’t really have time to plan.”

“Do you want me to help you?” Sienna chirps, grasping my hand. “It’ll be so much fun to do it together, you and me.”

No. And if she doesn’t let me go, I’m going to blow up.

“Um, listen…” I turn her way, but when my eyes lock on the person I’ve been searching for all along, I lose my train of thought.

She’s sitting across the courtyard, her attention glued to my hand in Sienna’s.

My stomach clenches. Could it get any worse?

“I gotta go.”

I stand and head toward the farthest table, where Isla sits alone. She doesn’t have any food, only a cup of something steaming—tea, maybe—and a book on the table. She’s no longer looking at me. No, her attention is fully fixed on her book.

I take a deep breath and drop onto the bench across from her. “Hey, stranger.”

She looks up, and when her striking blue eyes meet mine, I nearly topple back. Her expression is completely unreadable, and I don’t know what to do with that. She’s never hid her emotions from me before. Ever.

And now, that’s all she does.

She slips her fingers under her hair and takes out an earbud. “Hey. Did you say something?”

“Yeah, I said hi.” I swallow the lump clogging my throat. “Why are you here?”

Eyebrows pulled together, she takes out the other earbud and puts them both into their case. She closes her book, and once her hands are resting on top of it, she looks at me again.

“I’m here to have lunch and read.”

“Where is your food?”

Slowly, she tilts her head, frowning. “I already ate. Why? Is it a crime to sit out here without food in front of me?”

“N-no, no. Not a crime.” I set my hands on the table, my heart thumping unsteadily in my chest. “Did you not see me? You could’ve sat with me and Ash.”

“I was here before you. Yet, you didn’t join me.” She purses her lips in annoyance. At least she isn’t shielding that emotion.

“Oh.” I thread my fingers through my hair. “I didn’t see you. Now I feel like a total fool.”

“You’re fine. I wanted to be alone anyway.”