Page 18 (1/2)

Guilt and confusion taketo throw up, and tears continue to pour out of my eyes I cry for what seems like an eternity while Quinton stares silently at the ceiling besideshaken awake Moving past the grogginess, the headache, and the hunger ru on the bed beside ape

I sit up and she scoots back to giveand I’m very unsettled on the inside, like each of my nerves is supersensitive "What happened?" My voice is hoarse and my throat feels dry, like I just drank sand

She inspectsinto her face, and I notice the giant purplish hickey on her neck "You tell me" There’s speculation in her tone "Nova, did you… did you s the elastic out of my hair and secure it around ?"

"Because"

She waits for ive to her "Why did you smoke weed then?"

"I don’t know," I answer truthfully "I’ure that out"

I wait for her to lectureso stupid, so I can call her a hypocrite, but she sio," she says, et to my feet "Dylan wants us out of here, for some reason, and honestly, I don’t want to stick around and find out"

My knees wobble a little as I stand up and tug down the bottom of my dress "Why do you sound mad at hi to me, so drop it" Her eyes turn to ice as she yanks open the bedroom door

I raise my hands in front of me as I head for the door "Sorry, it just see"

"So do you," she says, glancing over her shoulder atback here anyway?"

I shrug "I came back here with Quinton"

"To do what?"

"Nothing," I say, but the lie sticks in my throat "We just laid around and talked… listened to ether"

"Yeah, but in the sense of actually sleeping," I reply in a snippy tone, bracing ainst the wall as the room starts to spin "I didn’t have sex with him" Just kissed And it wasn’t hi to tell myself

She halts at the end of the hallway and I crash into the back of her It only see her to the floor because of it

She turns around and sighs, placing a hand on each of my shoulders "I know you didn’t have sex with hiet worse before it gets better"

I’h the curtain and exit the hallway together There’s a bunch of guys in the living rooirls in skihs and boobs It’s really loud and really bright and it’s irls there She’s sitting by Quinton on the larger sofa, laughing at so and it irritatess feel like two rubber bands weighted down my bricks

Delilah leans over Dylan’s shoulder and whispers so in is ear He shoots her a harsh look, then reaches up and cups the back of her neck, roughly yanks her in for a violent kiss At first Delilah tries to pull back, but then she gives into hihts, pressing ers to the brim of my nose, but my head is hollow, and I’ on around ain some control over the situation, but it seems too much like a project, so I stand near the wall, while Dylan and Delilahto shout at everyone to shut the hell up

While I’ether, Quinton looks over at me I can tell by the way his expression drops that he’s not happy I’ht for s to move slowly as I head toward the front door His eyes follow h, and it’s hard not to run as the past nips at my heels and raw emotions fire up in my heart

Once I’ain, andto restI’ve done I tell ain Never But deep down, I’ave and the split second of coht me