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“Well I’lad you did” I look down at uess I feel a little bit like I just est mistake of my life, possibly? But other than that, super”

“It wasn’t a mistake,” Gray says iht? But I don’t think it’s ever a mistake to tell the truth”

It is easy for him to say, probably Still, I appreciate the sentiment

“Maybe not,” I allow But then I think of the look on Chloe’s face this , the whispers that followed me down the hallway “It just feels like the truth didn’t , you know? Like I put myself out there, I openedtheir judg”

Gray considers that “Maybe not,” he says “But it kind of changed you, right?”

That stopsit over inhere—it’s not like I’her than I was a couple of s differently now

“Maybe,” I say again, shivering a little in the bitter cold

“Co to kiss me, but in the end he just wraps low of the porch light, the winter wind calling down the empty street

Twenty-Four

I barely sleep that night, picking half-heartedly at an Eggo ono cold in the cup holder I may have been ready to raise hell in the kitchen ofall I want is to run right out the door and disappear into the woods behind the football field Forget switching classes, I thinkfor the rest of the year

Gray finds me in the hallway before third period “Hey,” he says, reaching for ?”

“Me?” I paste the world’s fakest smile on my face, then realize it’s just Gray and let itmy teeth “I’m super Why, do I not look super?”

“Oh no, totally super,” Gray says grandly, buainst mine before we head inside and take our seats I tellthe low murmurs as I make my way down the aisle Chloe, meanwhile, will barely look at me

“Hey,” I try, kicking lightly at her chair from across the aisle; she offers o, then turns back to her bullet journal I sigh and pull

Bex isn’t in class by the tis for the start of the class period For a second I let myself hope for dorky Mr Haddock, but a h the door with his reusable coffee cup in hand, like possibly he was lurking outside in the hallway just waiting for the exact right time to make his entrance