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"Most of the time, I don't even knohy he likes roaned "Do not be one of those girls He's too good for me, ah I'll have to punt you over to Dawn and Jasmine's table That's their expertise, not mine"
"I don't mean it like that" Luce leaned in and dropped her voice "I o, when Daniel was, you know, up there, he chose me Me, out of everyone else on earth--"
"Well, there were probably a lot fewer options back then--Ouch!" Luce had swatted her "Just trying to lighten therole in Heaven, over some elevated position That's pretty major, don't you think?" Shelby nodded "There had to beI was cute"
"Butyou don't knohat it was?"
"I've asked, but he's never told ht it up, it was almost like Daniel couldn't reoing through the motions Based on thousands of years of some fairy tale neither one of us can even back up"
Shelby rubbed her jaw "What else is Daniel keeping fro out"
Around the terrace, ti to class The scholarship waiters were hurrying to bus the plates At a table closest to the ocean, Steven was drinking co ee alone His glasses were folded up and resting on the table His eyes found Luce's, and he held her gaze for a long tio to class--his intense, watchful expression stuck with her Which was probably his point
After the longest,PBS special on cell pision ever seen, Luce walked out of her biology class, down the stairs of the , and outside, where she was surprised to see the parking lot cos, andline of vehicles the likes of which Luce hadn't seen since the car-pool lane at her ia
Around her, students hurried out of class and zigzagged toward the cars, wheeling suitcases in their wake Dawn and Jasot into a town car and Dawn's brothers made room for her in the back of an SUV The two of the up for a few hours
Luce ducked back into the building and slipped out the rarely used rear door to trek across the grounds to her dorht now
Walking under the gray sky, Luce was still a guilty wreck, but her conversation with Shelby had left her feeling a bitkissed someone else made her feel like she nally had a say in her relationship with Daniel Maybe she'd get a reaction out of hiize They could h all this crap and really start talking
Just then, her phone buzzed A text fro's taken care of
So Mr Cole had passed on the news that Luce wasn't co home But he'd conveniently left out of his text whether or not her parents were still speaking to her She hadn't heard from them in days
It was a no-win situation: If they wrote to her, she felt guilty about not writing them back If they didn't write to her, she felt responsible for being the reason they couldn't reach out She still hadn't gured out what to do about Callie
She thumped up the stairs of the e No one was around
When she one--or at least, to see her suitcase packed and waiting by the door
Shelby wasn't there, but her clothes were still strewn all over her side of the rooear was still stacked in the corner Maybe she wasn't leaving until to
Before Luce had even fully closed the door behind her, someone knocked on the other side She stuck her head into the hallway
Miles Miles
Her palrew damp and she could feel her heartbeat pick up She wondered what her hair looked like, whether she'd re he'd been walking behind her Whether he'd seen her dodge the caravan of Thanksgiving farewells, or seen the pained look on her face when she'd checked her text es
"Hi," she said softly
"Hi"
Miles had on a thick broeater over a collared white shirt He earing those jeans with the hole in the knee, the ones that always made Dawn jump up to follow him so she and Jasmine could swoon from behind him
Miles's ?"
His thumbs were tucked under the straps of his navy blue backpack and his voice echoed o the alls It crossed Luce's ht be the only two people in the entire building The thought was both thrilling and nerve-wracking
"I'rounded for eternity, reht the fun to you"
At rst Luce thought Miles was referring to himself, but then he slid his backpack o one shoulder and unzipped the ah School Musical game Even travel Scrabble It was so nice, and so not aard, Luce thought sheho"