“You do,” Mom insisted. “You have too much anger—”
“Anger?” I laughed, but it was only to cover up the sadness bubbling up inside me. “I haven’t got any anger.”
“You do.” Mom stepped forward, but my instinct was to back away even more. “What you said yesterday wasn’t fair. You blame me for—”
I shook my head. “I don’t.” Lies. All lies. I did blame her. I blamed her more than she’d ever know. And this was just another reason why. She didn’t think it was fair I’d aired her dirty laundry in front of everyone, but if she really cared about me and not what other people thought of her, we’d not be in this situation.
“Aria,” Mom huffed out.
“What?” I shrugged and raised my hands in surrender. “I’m doing what my mom does.” I backed away a final step to stand in the doorway. “I’m gonna sweep it under the rug and forget all about it.”
“I don’t do that.”
“Sure, okay, Mom.” My shoulders slumped. “I can’t deal with you right now. I’m…I’m done.” Two words. All it took was two words
to snap everything out of me. My vision blurred, my world turning from color to black and white. I was done with everything.
I was done trying to be perfect.
I was done pretending.
I was done trying to be the person they all wanted me to be.
I was going to embrace who I felt like I was inside—a black hole with no end in sight.
Chapter Sixteen
CADE
I leaned against my classroom door, brought my coffee cup to my lips, and gazed around at the students milling about the hallway. They were all heading to their lockers before lunch, but it wasn’t them I was really looking at. I was searching for a certain dark-red-haired girl.
I knew it was her first day back, but I hadn’t seen her since I helped move them out of the apartment. I hadn’t gazed at her face since she exposed herself in a way I never knew was possible. Remembering the pain-filled words made my heart ache, and I rubbed my chest with my palm to try to alleviate it.
I’d never wanted to fight so hard for someone in my entire life, but it wasn’t my place. I couldn’t stick up for her the way I wanted to. I couldn’t help her. I couldn’t do anything but be her teacher and coach, and that was what hurt the most.
“Hey, Cade,” Willow’s voice called, and I turned my head to see her pushing her way through the students in the hallway. The smile on her face was megawatt as she flashed it at me, and I did my best to return it.
“Hey,” I murmured, pushing up off the doorframe.
“How’s your day—” Willow cut herself off, a gasp leaving her mouth. “What the hell?”
I frowned and tried to see what she was staring at, and that was when I saw her. She clutched her books against her chest, her head down, her hair covering most of her face. The bruises from last week had disappeared, her swollen eye now back to normal, but that didn’t mean she was pain-free.
“I can’t believe they’ve let her back in this school.” Willow crossed her arms over her chest as Aria stopped at her locker and opened it up. “She should have been permanently removed after what she did to my sister.”
“And your sister?” I asked, not looking at Willow. I couldn’t take my gaze off Aria as she pushed her books inside and flinched when someone barged past her. I had no doubt she was getting verbal abuse today. I knew how high school worked, and there was no way she could get away from what she’d done to the head cheerleader.
“She’s doing better now—”
“No.” I finally snapped my gaze off Aria and whipped my head around to face Willow. “I mean, shouldn’t Jasmine have gotten the same punishment as Aria?”
Willow’s brows came low over her eyes, her cheeks starting to turn pink at my words. “What?”
“Jasmine isn’t innocent.”
“What?” Willow’s nostrils flared, and her hands fell beside her waist. “She knocked my sister out, Cade. What more do you need?”
“And your sister didn’t fight back?” I raised my brows for effect. “Your sister didn’t split Aria’s lip and blacken her eye?”