the tiniest smile, so strong yet so delicate. It’s okay. Thank you, her eyes told me.
Lila took a step back, and my hand fell away from her face. I wanted to keep her pinned to me, wanted to hug her… but when she nudged her chin high and regarded me with red eyes, shining with fierce intensity, I let her go.
She didn’t need me to swoop in to be her hero or her protector.
Long after the bus had disappeared from my view and she was gone, I stayed at the bus stop, with an overwhelming set of emotions swimming inside of me.
What started out as a game for me was not a game anymore.
Lila was truly and honestly my…friend.
The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her. In fact, I didn’t like the thought of her hurting at all. I didn’t know when or how it happened. But too soon, Lila became someone important to me.
Maybe it was when she hugged me in that dark closet and sang me a lullaby.
Or when she had offered me that tuna sandwich.
Or maybe it was when I wrapped my pinky around hers and did that silly pinky swear.
But somehow, Lila Garcia became more than just my prey.
She was someone I wanted to protect.
From the world.
From me.
20
Lila
Two months later
I stayed by my locker after the last bell rang, keeping a close eye on Riley and Grayson. She approached him, blushing and stuttering as she asked him about yesterday’s homework. It was an excuse to talk to him. They chatted for less than five minutes before Riley gave Grayson a warm smile and bounced away.
It was so quick; anyone would have missed it. But I was looking and I caught Grayson watching her leave, his stare intense and his lips twisting with amused smile. Grayson rarely ever smiled.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed someone else watching the encounter. Colton had his hands shoved in the pockets of his beige slacks as he leaned against his locker. His jaw clenched, and I swore the corners of his eyes twitch. No, that must have been my imagination.
But something was up with him, and it piqued my curiosity.
I snuck a glance at my phone, half expecting a text to pop up, but… nothing. Damn it, I was starting to worry now.
“Colton,” I called out as he walked past me.
He paused and jerked his chin up at me in greeting. “Sup, Lila?”
“Did you see Maddox today? He’s not replying to my texts or answering my calls,” I asked cautiously.
An unreadable expression passed over Colton’s face, and he scratched his chin before looking down at his own phone as if waiting for it to light up with a text, too. “No. He’s not replying to mine either.”
That was weird. Maddox never went radio silent on us, well… me before today. In fact, he was always the first to pester me in the early morning and until late at night with his horrible and silly jokes.
He always found a random joke to tell me at night; that was our goodnight. At first, I didn’t know if it was weird, annoying or… sweet. But after a few weeks, I’d grown used to it and had come to expect it every night after I climbed into bed.
Maddox: What’s green and sits crying in the corner?
Me: Bye.
Maddox: The Incredible Sulk. C’mon, admit it. This one is funny.
Me: Ha. Ha. Ha. G’night.
Maddox’s face faded into the background as I focused my attention on Colton again. “Is something…wrong? What about the surprise party we’re throwing him later today?”
Two months after our truce and the beginning of our friendship, Maddox had successfully passed the semester with good enough marks to keep his scholarship at Harvard.
I knew Maddox would never back down from a dare because he was no loser. But Maddox Coulter forgot to mention he was a genius. Not Einstein genius, but we all thought he was never paying attention to his classes. Apparently, he was, and he wasn’t braindead like I believed. In fact, Maddox was probably smarter than me, and this was something I begrudgingly admitted. His brain was working overtime to catch up on his classes, and he did it. Quite successfully.
One semester down.
One more to go.
After our exam marks came in, we decided to throw Maddox a little surprise party. Just his close friends, nothing too big. That was supposed to be tonight.