You're the Reason - J. Nathan Page 0,30
away from him, but he grabbed my wrist, pulling me back into his chest. He ducked his head and captured my lips with his. My knees went weak beneath me, but I’d been serious. This couldn’t happen like this.
I pulled back from the kiss, my chest heaving from the unexpected intrusion. I leveled Chase with my eyes, showing I was pissed by the reckless move, but he just smirked as he released my arm.
I twisted away from him, my eyes shooting around and making sure no one was around. I hurried toward the front door of the dorm without another word. I pulled out my ID to scan, but noise nearby caught my attention. It sounded like crying. I looked to the left, where the sound was coming from, and peered into the darkness.
A small silhouette of a girl with her knees tucked up and her arms wrapped around them on the grass against the building came into focus.
Please don’t be Chantel. Please tell me she hadn’t seen us.
I moved closer. “Valerie?”
Silence.
My feet carried me even closer. Valerie’s features came into focus. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said, her voice so small.
I stopped in front of her, noting the tears trailing down her cheeks. “What are you doing out here?”
She shrugged.
I pulled off my backpack and sat on the grass beside her. “You can talk to me. You know that, right?”
She nodded, but said nothing.
“Did someone hurt you?”
She shrugged.
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“Come inside. You can come to my room.”
She gasped. “I can’t.”
Anger clawed at my insides. “Did Chantel do something to you?”
She shrugged. “Valerie. You need to tell me. You are not her punching bag. I’ve seen the way she speaks to you. You don’t deserve it.”
“Shhhhh,” she said, her eyes jumping around the darkness as if someone could hear us.
“You’re scaring me. Please talk to me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
She shook her head. “I said too much.”
She said too much? She hadn’t said anything.
She pushed herself to her feet.
I grabbed my backpack and jumped up, following her to the front door. “What does that mean?”
She scanned her card and we both walked inside. As we turned the corner for the stairs, Chantel stepped out in front us. Valerie and I both jumped.
“Oh my God,” I said, nervous laughter tumbling out of me.
Chantel’s eyes jumped between us. “What are you two doing?”
“Just taking a walk,” I said.
Chantel eyed me. “With your backpack?”
“Oh, I…yup. With my backpack.”
She glared at Valerie. “What’s wrong with you?”
Valerie’s eyes widened, and fear—true fear—flashed across her face. “Nothing.”
“She slipped while we were walking,” I lied. “Bumped her head.”
“Clumsy me,” Valerie added.
Chantel stared at us, unsure what to make of us standing there together. “Well, I’m heading to Chase’s. Don’t wait up.” She walked out of the building, and only then did we release our shaky breaths. Valerie for one reason and me for a completely different reason.
A tightness gripped my chest. Was she really going to Chase’s? Had he called to ask her to come by so he could make it clear once again that they weren’t together? Or had that all been a lie?
I walked Valerie to her room. Outside her door, she turned to me and threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly. “Thanks for knowing when to stop asking questions.” She released me.
“I meant what I said. You can tell me anything.”
She nodded, before punching in her code and disappearing inside her room.
I thought moving back to Texas would be easy. But nothing about being at Crestwood had been what I expected.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Chantel’s bed was still made when I woke the next morning. A jealous pit formed in my stomach. Did I have the right to be jealous? Maybe Chase just needed to console her. Or maybe she ended up in one of her sisters’ rooms, needing her friends to console her. I was sure he’d have an explanation when I arrived to History through Film. The problem with that? He never made it to class.
“Sophia?”
I’d just stepped out of the building when I twisted toward the sound of my name.
Ryan moved toward me with a big smile on his face. “Hey.”
My shoulders slumped, hoping the voice belonged to someone else. “Hey.”
“So, I was thinking about this weekend.”
“Can you walk with me and tell me?” I asked as I continued toward my next class.
“Sure. I was talking to Chantel and Chase last night,” he said.
My stomach dropped. They’d all been talking the previous night?
“And they want all four of us to go out,” he explained.
They wanted