hobbled down to her front yard, staring up at her window. The blinds were drawn shut. I leaned my crutches against her porch and threaded my fingers together, resting them atop my head while I tried to decide what to do. There had to be a way to make her hear me out.
I’d never been so frustrated in my life. I realized I’d dug this grave myself, but I wasn’t ready to lie down yet. Layne was worth fighting for. But I needed her to let me fight.
She was shutting me out completely and I didn’t know how to combat that.
Normally, she was so easy to talk to. We communicated effortlessly on every level. Especially music.
That’s it!
Music!
It’s what started this whole thing. It’s how I’d fallen for her and how our relationship had grown so rapidly without me even realizing it. Music had the ability to reach people in a deeper way than words, especially people like me and Layne. And her music . . . well, it had changed my life.
The way it spoke to me was nothing short of magic.
With any luck there was enough magic left to set things right.
Now that I knew exactly what I needed to do, I got to work. I hurried back up onto the porch and knocked on the other front door. A moment later, Robby appeared. He gave me a mischievous grin when he saw me. “Oooo, you’re in trouble.”
My eyes widened. “She told you?”
He nodded. “Layne said you’re a big jerk face and you’re not allowed to come to breakfast anymore.”
This was even worse than I thought. But I wouldn’t be deterred. “She’s right. I did something stupid, but I’m on a top-secret mission to fix it. Will you help me?”
Robby crossed his scrawny arms and leaned back against the doorframe. “What’s in it for me?”
“Do you still want to ride in my car?”
His eyes got huge. “For real?”
“If you help me, I’ll drive you to school.”
“For a week,” he challenged.
“Deal!”
We shook on it and he grinned. “Okay, what’s our mission?”
“First, do you have a pair of walkie-talkies?”
“Duh!” Robby replied.
I smirked. “Great. We’re gonna need them.”
A few minutes later I was back in Scarlet, walkie-talkie in hand as I raced home to put the next part of my plan in motion. I screeched into my driveway and crutched my way inside. Thankfully my dad was home. When he saw me, his expression warmed. “Hey, Wyatt. How’d it go with that girl of yours?”
“That kind of depends on you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Oh?”
“I need a favor.”
A few hours later I was back on Layne’s street. It was grand gesture time. I still didn’t know if it was going to work, but if I pulled this off, at least I’d know I tried everything.
I pulled up to the curb and looked at the time on my dashboard. In fifteen minutes, I’d have my answer. I turned on the walkie-talkie tuning it to the agreed upon channel. “Breaker. Breaker. I’m in position. You ready, Robby?”
The walkie-talkie crackled in my hand before Robby’s voice filled my car. “Use our code names.”
I sighed but didn’t want to waste time arguing. “This is Halo. I’m in position. Are you ready T-Rex?”
“T-Rex is ready to execute the plan,” Robby announced. It sounded like he was eating the walkie-talkie. He must’ve had his mouth pressed right up against it, because I could hear him breathing. It was creepy!
But when you had to rely on a little kid’s help to win back your girl, you had to take what you could get. “Okay, T-Rex. Radio silence until I give you the signal.”
I got out of my car and took one last look at Layne’s closed window, then I checked the time again. I only had one shot at this. I just prayed it would work.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Layne
I awoke to the sound of footsteps outside my bedroom. I didn’t even remember falling asleep. What I did recall was peeking through my living room window after school to see Wyatt’s car outside my house. I’d promptly dissolved into a puddle of tears and retreated to my room to drown my sorrows in bed with another movie.
I must’ve fallen asleep.
Now, the fading light of sunset was filtering into my room through the cracks in my blinds. What time was it? I glanced at my alarm clock. Almost eight. Great. I’d probably never be able to go back to sleep now.
The creak of the floorboards in the hall drew my attention again. Who was out