Prichard, I will. I’m not proud of it, but pride is a very slippery slope where love is involved. Marx. Love. I don’t use the L word lightly. I don’t go around telling people I love pizza or chocolate or Riverdale. I like those things. Love, I save for the important stuff.
But I am hopelessly, tragically in love with Penn Scully.
That’s why I can’t really hate his sister. Not entirely, anyway. She is an extension of him, and he has my heart.
“Let me explain.” I rush toward him, placing a hand on his damp chest. It squeezes on instinct, and he swats my touch away.
“No explanation necessary. Just wanted to give you the bottom line somewhere private, you know, because you’re so prone to crying like a little wuss.”
My mouth goes dry, and my breaths become shallow and fast. My heart is all over the place, elbowing its way out of its cage. It wants out, and it wants Penn. Me? I just want to make him understand Principal Prichard and I are not what he thinks. But this came out of nowhere, and at an odd time…
Via.
Via did this. Via killed this for me. Again. My blood is boiling in my veins. I know he is being mean and unfair to me, but in my desperation to explain myself, I don’t see that.
“But Penn, Principal Prichard and I—”
He cuts me off harshly.
“You deaf? I said I don’t care. It’s not about Prichard.”
“Then tell me what…”
“Because of Harper, okay?” he snaps, kicking the velvet sofa. “I’m never going to leave Addy. Much less for your spoiled ass. She’s coming with me to college. Grow some self-respect and give it a rest.”
He turns around and stalks out, slamming the door in his wake. I suck my lower lip into my mouth, trying not to cry and fulfill his rude prediction. Pacing the room, I grab the back of my neck and pull at it, raking my fingers over my neck until the skin breaks.
Penn has a daughter.
He said he and Addy are not what I thought they were to him, but he lied to get what he wanted from me.
He got into my house and pants and then my heart, feeding me whatever bullshit line he thought I wanted to hear.
The door opens, and I twist, expecting to see Penn on the other end. Praying that he came here to tell me it was all a stupid prank gone wrong.
It’s Vaughn.
When he sees my eyes brimming with tears, he looks away as if I’m not decent. Feelings make him wince.
“Did you know?” I whisper.
He waltzes deeper into the room, clad in black, a teenage Lucifer out for misery and blood.
“That he was going to break up with me,” I explain. “That he was playing me?”
“No and no. All I knew was that you needed some privacy. Something you weren’t very good at giving me last night.” He arches a meaningful eyebrow.
Bitter laughter clogs my throat.
“About that. Are you screwing around with my best flyer?”
“When time permits.”
“Are you falling for my best flyer?” Esme doesn’t deserve a guy like Vaughn.
“I’ll fall in love with a pet rock first.”
“Don’t diss pet rocks. They’ll never die on you.” I sniffle.
He pulls me into a hug. A rarity I know not to take for granted when it comes to Vaughn. I bury my face in his chest and let myself crumple, feeling my bones shaking inside my body.
“You’ll be all right, Followhill.”
For the first time in a long time, I don’t believe this.
There is nothing more poetically inspiring
Than loving the right person
At the wrong place
At the wrong time
After practice, I visit Adriana at Lenny’s. I don’t want to be anywhere near the Followhills. I can’t look Daria in the face and dealing with my sister is out of the question. They both hover in the hallways like ghosts. Silent, pale, lifeless. Melody is on the verge of being committed. Speaking of Mel, she shoots me a text when Addy is serving me steak and green beans, clutching my bicep and telling me, “You work so hard. You’re so buff. If you ever need to unwind with someone…”
Melody: This house has rules, and I am tired of all the teenagers inside it breaking them. You are to be at home by seven every day for dinner. If you don’t have it in you to let me know you are late, you can always pack a bag and live with the Coles.