“Yeah, well, I’m not looking to get involved with anyone. Good looks and charm or not.”
“Miles is good people. He’s—”
“Celeste, I said leave it.” Appetite gone. I stood, threw my bag over my shoulder and grabbed my tray. “I’m going to go to the bathroom before I head to next period. I’ll see you later.”
Regret washed over her, but the damage was done. I needed to get the hell out of there.
Before I said something I couldn’t take back.
No expense had been spared restoring and maintaining Darling Academy’s original buildings and that extended to the ground floor girls’ bathroom. It reminded me of a nineteen-twenties powder room, the kind you saw in old black and white movies. The hex floor tile and backsplash, and the art deco mirrors seemed far too elegant for a high school bathroom. But when money was no issue, I guess only the best would do for the girls of Old Darling Hill.
I ducked into the end stall and closed the toilet lid so I could sit. I knew it wouldn’t be easy being here, pretending, keeping up the façade, but I had underestimated how much it would take out of me. I felt drained. Especially after my run in with Marc.
Avoiding him was impossible, but I hadn’t expected him to remember me. Or maybe I’d foolishly hoped he wouldn’t.
He and Nix were bitter rivals on the football field, and even worse off it. Marc and his friends had wandered into our territory once and things hadn’t ended well for him. It was the same night when everything changed. When my life as I knew it went up in flames.
It was also the same night Nix had kissed me.
Kissed me, then ripped out my heart.
Because that’s what the people around me did. They hurt me. Abandoned me.
My father.
My mother.
Nix.
Dropping my head, I inhaled a ragged breath, pressing my palms against the stall partition, needing to touch something to ground me. To remind me that I was in control of my emotions.
They didn’t control me.
I wouldn’t let them control me. Never again.
Never again.
My father.
My mother.
Nix.
None of that mattered anymore. They had broken me. Each in their own way. And I would never—
The bathroom door opened and laughter filled the room, sending my heart into a tailspin.
Relax, breathe. No one knows you’re in here.
“You saw her right, the new girl?” a girl’s voice said in a gossipy tone.
“Yeah, she’s in my AP English class. Total loner. Sat huddled to herself the entire time, staring at nothing.”
“Yeah, rumor has it, she found her mom dead. Overdose. I mean, that’s got to leave emotional scars. No wonder her dad sent her away last year.”
“He’s probably worried she’s going to follow in mommy’s footsteps.”
“Ange, that is cold. So cold.” They chuckled. Three, maybe four of them. Their dulcet tones blended together over the roar of blood in my ears.