trying to escape, when Penn’s hand—warm and big—grasps my other wrist. Via releases me immediately.
I want to kick him away and yell at him for preventing me from escaping, but I’m defenseless against his touch. I break down on his chest, and his arms wrap around me, shielding me from the rest of the world. The tears are falling, and his chest rumbles, telling me that he is breaking, too. And somehow, at this moment, it’s enough. The world is against us—everyone knows about every single awful thing I ever did—and still…
Penn turns around to his sister, still holding me in his arms. “You can run, but you can’t fucking hide, Sylvia. And when I catch you—and I will catch you—you will regret the day I was born, five minutes before you, because I’m going to make ruining your life a full-time job, and I’ll be putting in some extra hours, too.”
It takes a lot for me to elevate my head from his chest to peek at Via’s expression when her brother officially disowns her. His voice is so low and threatening, shudders move down my spine. Via looks pale and panicked in front of him. Her lips are colorless; her entire body limp. She obviously wasn’t expecting Penn to be so mad. She expected him to have her back again. To make excuses for her. To protect her as he does—did, at least—unconditionally.
“Penn, I—”
“Shut the fuck up,” he commands, stalking to the other side of the field with me in tow. He’s holding my hand now. I don’t know why I’m letting him. We’re not together and never will be. Not because he chose his sister, but because he chose to break not only our fling but also my heart. He went with the worst route possible. Hurting me on purpose. And I’m officially done with people who don’t choose me or see me.
Penn stops in front of Gus. I make myself look at the guy because this is my reality, and I need to face it. The entire football team, sans Knight, and the cheer squad surround Gus. His chin is up, and he’s wearing his varsity jacket and a vacant scowl. When he laughs, vodka breath fans across my face even though we’re a few feet away.
“Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Someone who’s about to put a stop to your pussy ways.” Penn fishes out his Zippo from his jeans, spinning it between his finger and thumb. Before I realize what’s happening, Via is standing behind Penn with tears streaming down her face. His teammate—Kannon, I think his name was—is next to us, too. And the Josh guy. And the Malcolm guy. And the Nelson guy…
“Via,” Gus barks. “Get your sweet ass over here.”
Via shakes her head slowly behind me, looking at the ground that’s now wet with her tears.
“Now!” Gus stomps his foot.
Penn takes a step toward Gus. Then another one. They are chest to chest now, and both teams are on edge, glaring at them impatiently, begging for a fight. I look around and see Adriana a few feet away from me. She shifts from foot to foot, clearly nervous about a rematch between us. I give her a tired smile and motion her with my hand to come a little closer. When she does, I grab her hand on instinct and squeeze it as hard as I can in my frail state.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “So sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I was blinded by jealousy and desperate to keep something that wasn’t even mine to begin with.”
My popularity. Penn.
“I’m sorry, too.” She looks the other way, her chin trembling. “I shouldn’t have held on to him with everything that I had. He was never mine to hold.”
I feel a brush over my arm where Penn stood just a second ago. It’s Knight. And next to Knight stands Vaughn.
“Cole?” Gus twists his lips, glowering. “What the fuck?”
Knight clasps a hand on my shoulder, hitching a shoulder up while lighting a joint.
“The fuck is, you don’t fuck with my family and integrity and assume you get out of it in one piece. Or, you know, at all.”
Penn pushes Gus’s chest, and the latter tumbles into Colin’s arms.
“You’ve been spending the past four years taking bets in this place, never once getting your hands dirty. I think it’s time to remedy that. But first, let’s address the fact you are such a bitch, you resorted to trying to ruin Daria’s life because