Kiss and Break Up - Ella Fields Page 0,57

wolves once more. I’d allowed it to happen. I’d even enjoyed it before everything I’d been smothering was brought to the surface. Complaining and playing the victim wouldn’t get me anywhere, but nevertheless, it was impossible to keep it from gnawing at every beat my heart took.

Dash was nowhere to be seen, and by lunchtime, word had spread that he’d been suspended and that Byron had received a week of detention.

Rumor was he apparently needed to see a plastic surgeon about his nose, and that was why he hadn’t shown up at school on Tuesday. I found that hard to believe, albeit not entirely impossible. I’d only caught the tail end of the fight before heading to Dash’s house to wait for him, but I’d seen enough to know Dash had given him one hell of a banged-up face.

Dash had a busted lip and some swelling beneath his right eye, but it was clear that no matter how much muscle Byron had, it was no match for the rage coursing through Dash yesterday afternoon.

Rage that I’d caused.

Rage that shouldn’t even exist because while I’d allowed things between Byron and me to go too far, I hadn’t allowed him to take our make-out session and transform it into entertainment for the masses. He’d betrayed me, and now I couldn’t even get close enough to break up with him, let alone howl my hurt at him.

It was Dash, but maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t have been suspended, maybe he wouldn’t hate me, not entirely, if he’d found out what I’d done via me instead of the student body.

“It’ll blow over,” Daphne said as we walked to our last class for the day. “As soon as someone else does something fucked up, which, let’s face it, will be soon.”

“It wasn’t fucked up,” Willa tried to defend. “He was her boyfriend.”

I smiled at her, weak but grateful.

Daphne laughed. “No one cares about the finer details, especially not when Dash and Byron are both involved.”

That didn’t exactly make me feel better. “That’s stupid.”

“It’s hot gossip.”

“Still nothing from Dash?” Willa asked, stopping outside the door.

I squeezed my textbook to my chest. “His phone’s been off.”

They knew the score now. Well, as much as I was willing to admit, which was mostly everything except for chasing Dash’s Range Rover down his driveway like some lunatic.

But it hadn’t really hit me until I saw he was going to close those gates on me—until he’d shut the garage door and spewed those venomous words in my face—exactly what I’d done. That by trying to keep things from escalating between us, by trying to salvage our lifelong friendship, and by trying to find something I wanted from him in someone else, I’d ruined it all.

No, I hadn’t just ruined it, I’d emptied a bucket of fuel over an already burning fire and caused our entire world to explode.

“He’ll calm down. You’ll see.” Daphne tucked some glossy hair behind her ear. “I know it sounds cliché, but you do just need to give him some time. He’s a hothead, but he’s obsessed with you, so he won’t stay mad forever.”

I wanted to believe her, and some tiny part of me did, but as the days crept by and the weekend approached, I was beginning to lose hope, and I’d run out of tears and patience.

Sick of Mom’s coddling and constant nagging for me to tell her what was wrong with me, I drove to my dad’s house on Saturday and stayed for brunch.

“Are you going to tell me why you look like you’ve eaten too many sour gummies?” Dad asked, sipping his coffee.

“No,” I said, then pushed my almost full plate of fruit and bacon aside. “Just teenager crap.”

His moustache twitched as he tried to contain a smile. “Teenager crap?” He shook his head, setting his coffee mug down. “As long as you’re not downplaying your feelings, Peggy Sue.” A bushy brow raised. “No use in doing that, it’ll only eat you alive from the inside out.”

I sighed, then got up from the table. “It’s not a big deal.” It was the biggest kind of deal. “I’m going to grab some of the presents from my room.”

After eyeing me for a long moment, Dad nodded.

My feet felt like lead as I hauled myself up the stairs and down the hall of the second floor toward my forever pink room. A shuddering breath left me as I shut the door and saw the little brown box still sitting on my bed.

The gloss