reacted instantly by stiffening, her breath catching painfully in her throat as if she’d swallowed a fishing hook. Tom’s hand fell away. He sighed loudly and cracked his knuckles – a classic Tom gesture of frustration.
‘If it’s nothing why were you just crying?’ he asked.
‘I wasn’t crying.’
‘Right,’ said Tom softly. ‘Listen, Evie, I know something went on with you and that guy Lucas, and you don’t need to tell me what, but I figure you must have broken up or something because I haven’t seen him around.’ He hesitated, possibly noting the way her jaw had locked and her hands turned white-knuckled on the wheel. ‘But like … you know, that happens,’ he said with a small shrug, as if he didn’t get why she was making such a big deal about it. She noticed the barely hidden tone of recrimination as he added, ‘I don’t remember you being the same way when we broke up.’
Evie shook her head at him in amazement. ‘You cheated on me with my best friend and, if I recall correctly, I didn’t talk to you for six months afterwards. And I’m starting to wonder why in fact I ever did start talking to you again.’
‘OK, OK!’ Tom said, holding both hands up in surrender. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. I just … I don’t understand, is all. I’ve seen you angry, Evie. Hell, I’ve been on the receiving end enough times. And I’ve seen you hurt too. But I’ve never seen you like this. I’m worried about you.’ He paused a beat. ‘We all are.’
‘We?’ she asked, laughing under her breath. People were gossiping about her, she knew that much. They definitely weren’t worrying about her.
Tom looked away. ‘Well, you know what I mean,’ he mumbled.
She didn’t, but she kept quiet.
‘You’re going to flunk all your classes at this rate. I don’t know what happened between you and this guy but is it worth throwing away your future because of it?’
Evie’s eyes narrowed into slits. ‘Have you been talking to my mother by any chance? Because it sure sounds like it.’
‘No!’ he said, flinching back in his seat. But the way he said it – the slight fluctuation in his tone, the fact that he still wouldn’t meet her eye – told her that he had, without a doubt, been talking to her mother.
‘Look, if I want a lecture about my future,’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘I’ll go and see the school guidance counsellor.’
‘Well, maybe you should,’ Tom shot back.
Evie’s mouth fell open. ‘What are you saying?’
Tom shrugged. ‘Nothing. But maybe it’s not such a stupid idea. If you won’t talk to me and you won’t talk to your mum, then maybe you should talk to the school guidance counsellor. That’s what she’s there for.’
Evie almost laughed out loud. ‘Tom,’ she said, feeling tears burning the back of her eyes, ‘it’s not that easy. I wish it was. Believe me.’
His hand was suddenly there again, on her shoulder, his fingertips brushing the nape of her neck. And she froze. Her spine went rigid and her throat constricted as though he was strangling her.
‘Just go, Tom!’ she shouted, jerking away from his touch. ‘Please … I just … I can’t do this.’
She needed to be alone. She couldn’t handle anyone prying. She couldn’t stand anyone being nice to her. Not now. Not after everything that had happened.
Tom fell back in his seat but he didn’t try to argue – he just fumbled with the door handle and jumped out of the car.
‘You know,’ he said, the drizzle coating him in seconds, dampening his hair across his forehead, ‘for the record, I think it’s free will.’
She shot him a confused look, her foot already on the gas, the engine straining against the handbrake.
‘It’s free will, not pre-destiny,’ he repeated. ‘Macbeth chose his destiny – he chose to kill the king. The witches didn’t foretell it. They planted the idea in his head but he still chose to kill the king. You could choose too, you know.’
‘What? To become king?’
‘No. To not be such a victim. Why do you care so much about a guy who didn’t even deserve you?’
Evie’s heart kicked violently in her chest. She reached over, grabbed the door handle and slammed the door shut on Tom, then rammed her foot to the floor and tore out of the parking lot, managing to skid across the road in a screech of tyres.
Blinded by rage and tears, she shot right through the stop sign on