Empire High Betrayal (Empire High #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,100
out at homecoming…”
“He’s known since homecoming?! Are you freaking kidding me?”
“I was just trying to help. I was so worried about you.”
“Save it, Brooklyn. I always have your back. Always. And the one time I ask you to have mine, you don’t.”
“Kennedy…”
“I was barely holding on as it was. You know that. And I was finally excited about something. But this whole time Felix was just being nice to me because he felt bad for me?”
No. “Of course not.”
“You think he’d actually like the poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks?” She tried to wipe away the tears that were pouring down her cheeks. “My life isn’t a fucking fairytale like yours, Brooklyn. God, Felix probably still likes you. Because everyone always just likes you. No one will ever want me.”
“Kennedy, that’s not true. Someone will want you.”
“Someone? Just not Felix? You sabotaged me. You knew I liked him and you ruined everything. He’ll never look at me the same. And God, I really can’t freaking look at you right now.” She ran off toward the bathroom.
I went to follow her, but Matt grabbed my hand. “I think you should give her a second to cool off.”
Isabella laughed as she walked past us. “Two down,” she said. “That was easier than I thought. Only one to go.” She placed her index finger in the center of Matt’s chest.
Matt grabbed her hand to push it away.
“Funny,” said Isabella. “We’re already holding hands.”
Matt dropped her hand like it had burned him.
“No matter. I still have a month to ruin this relationship. See you on Thanksgiving, Sissy.” She blew me a kiss and walked away, her high heels clicking loudly on the floor.
“I didn’t mean to,” I said through my tears. “I thought Felix would talk to Cupcake and fix it. I thought…”
“Why’d you tell Felix and not me?” Matt asked.
“I didn’t mean to tell anyone. It just kind of slipped out at homecoming…”
“At homecoming, yeah I heard you. Which means you kept it from me for weeks, Brooklyn.”
“I wasn’t keeping it from you. Kennedy asked me not to tell anyone.”
“But you told him.”
God, he sounded so pissed. “I’m sorry.”
Matt took a deep breath. “Maybe next time you need help with something you should ask your fiancé instead. Then maybe none of this would have happened.”
“You weren’t my fiancé then. We weren’t even together. Matt…”
“Because you wouldn’t come talk to me. You just broke up with me without even letting me explain my side. We only ever fight when you don’t talk to me. And when we got back together you looked me in the eye and promised me no more secrets. So what the hell is this?”
“It wasn’t my secret to share.”
“Well apparently it was, because you shared it with Felix.” He shook his head. “I’m not having this argument with you in the middle of school. We can talk about it later. Or not, since you don’t like letting me in.” He left me standing in the middle of the hall as he walked away.
“Matt!” I yelled after him. But he was already pushing out the front doors of Empire High. God, what the hell had I done? I ran after him and down the front steps. “We also said we wouldn’t run away!” I called after him.
He froze at the bottom of the steps and turned around. He looked so sad, and I hated that I’d done that to him.
I ran down the rest of the stairs. “Please, I don’t want to fight with you,” I said.
He didn’t say a word.
“When Kennedy told me what Cupcake did to her…I didn’t know what to do. It felt like I had this secret that I couldn’t keep in. And I would have told you, but I already felt so guilty about letting it slip to Felix. Please, I can’t handle you hating me too.”
Matt reached out and ran his thumbs beneath my eyes, wiping away my tears. “Kennedy doesn’t hate you.”
“It sure seems like she does.”
“She doesn’t. And I could never hate you either.”
“It sure seems like you do.”
He dropped his forehead against mine. “You drive me fucking crazy. But that’s because I love you. Not because I hate you. I could never hate you, baby.”
I breathed in his cinnamon exhales. “I really am sorry.” I wrapped my hands around his torso. Now the prank tomorrow was looming over my head. I should have told Matt about it weeks ago. I shouldn’t have kept it a secret. Hell, he may