Page 1 (2/2)

"Oh, exciting!" I gushed, and this time I almost meant my enthusiasm He only had nine months left until he could write his own ticket out of here

So jealous

"Yeah, I guess," he laughed, probably surprised by the sudden energy into school next year though"

"Undecided?" I asked and he nodded in response "I’uy"

I said that generously because I seriously had to wonder ould have been in the sah maybe chemistry had been one ofago and I really hated re it anyway

He chuckled at my way-too-cliché compliment and mumbled a "thanks"

Chase actually see He was the type of guy that could probably pick and choose his girls and didn’t need theh It just wasn’t fair that he didn’t really have a choice when it came to me

"I like your hair this color by the way," his smile turned shy

"Not a fan of the black?" I forced myself into conversation aboutabout anything from last year

"Ito your hair and you would still be gorgeous," he offered thoughtfully, like I didn’t already know that It was all part of the curse "But I like this red color; it goes better with your freckles" He reached up and brushed his pointer finger along the bridge of my nose to emphasize his point

I crinkled my nose in reaction and blushed a deeper shade of red than I felt comfortable with I hated my freckles Hated theht brown on the bridge of ned to irl, but they drew every eye and boys were constantlycomments about them

Like now

"This is my natural color," I offered that piece of personal infore and wildly out of character forthat, uh, happened last year, my mom made me dye it back Believe me when I say I desperately miss the black I preferred the way it washed et two pieces of personal information

It must be his lucky day

Except he would disappointingly not do anything with it He may be smart, and now that I noticed the pins on his letter jacket weren’t all sports related but actually included some academic endeavors, I started to believe that maybe chemistry was an AP class last year, but he wouldn’t be s

And that was just disappointing

He laughed, thinking I was joking and I sighed, hating that I was right about him

We reached the top of the stairs Finally… that was seriously a long walk froe Street upwards to the entrance "Grrr" to et a driver’s license

She didn’t believe in driving, if you could believe that Like driving was soion Or like you could actually choose not to believe in it

But she claimed that hat boys were for

Yep, I just threw up in my mouth

She was like the anti-feminist She’s was sexist, but in the opposite way

I was still walking backwards, you know in that flirtatious way that only really coordinated girls can pull off, giving Chaseto believe the busy hallways of the ancient and decrepit school would sile eye watching h school after all And I was soht word

Hot topic

I was so of a hot topic

I was like the definition of notorious; faative

Or at least I had been when I took my little six month sabbatical at the end of last year, over the su back, anefarious reputation

"What’s your first class, Chase?" I asked as I slowed down near the office doors

"Calculus," he answered, slowing doithoff in your last year? You ood schools then," I re my eyes on him

His cheeks reddened just a bit in response

"What about you?" he asked colass s sandwiching the glass door that led into the school office

"I’m not sure yet," I nodded in response to the office The bell rang and he was officially late for class Not that I thought he would mind "I’ll see you around"

"You’ll see me later," Chase clarified boldly "Ride home, remember?"

"Oh, I remember," I slass door closed behindof bells overhead and I visibly shivered against that interaction Breathing deeply and counting to five again, I proh school and had access to my trust fund I was so beyond out of here

But the worst part, the part outside self-disgust and recrimination, outside the uilt that crept up slowly in the shadows of hI knew about Chase at this point was that he was s about our interaction should have him enraptured by my every word, not even ood It so wasn’t his fault and I felt bad for that

He didn’t really get a say And I got absolutely no say

In the end I would leave him heartbroken and he would leave uy before him

And believe uys before him