the birds chirping around them. The tranquil atmosphere soothed her nerves and she felt herself relaxing, filling her with a sense of serenity.
She couldn’t help but think it was odd that Will liked to hang out here. He didn’t strike her as the type to appreciate nature’s beauty so much… He seemed more like the type to hide in the back of a coffee shop, looking around with disdain.
“Do you think your friends will be okay?” she asked finally, looking over at him.
At her question, his eyes fell closed. When they opened again, they were impossibly dark. He shot her an arrogant smile. “Of course. If anyone can get out of that kind of trouble, it’s them.”
She fidgeted, fingering the edge of her skirt. “That’s good.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You should practice your sincerity.”
She flushed and looked down at her lap. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m glad they’ll be fine.”
“Really? Last I checked, it was their fault that the entire school is talking about you.”
The amused challenge in his voice, coupled with his words, made her flinch. So he had heard. The memory of the other students’ words came flooding back into her mind and she had to force back her tears, twisting her fingers in her lap. “It’s not their fault,” she argued quietly. “They didn’t put it in my drink.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right… It was, who…? Your friends, wasn’t it? The jocks you hang around? My friends might provide, but they certainly wouldn’t dose someone’s drink.”
She quickly slid off of the waist high wall, his mocking words stabbing straight into her heart. “I’m sure they were just trying to help me relax and have a good time,” she insisted quietly. “We should go. Can you take me back to school?”
He was in front of her before she could take another step, his hand holding her arm. “Really?” he persisted, his voice flat. “You really believe that?”
She pulled her arm away. “Of course I do,” she insisted. “Everyone always gives me a hard time about being uptight. None of my friends would maliciously try to—“
His derisive snort broke off her sentence. She scowled up at him, annoyance lighting sparks in her veins. “You can’t honestly be that naïve, Belle. They dosed you on purpose, and they did it to get in your pants.”
She flushed and turned away. “No,” she declared shakily, though even as she spoke, she could see Parker handing over a twenty to the boy pouring her drinks almost as if it were happening right in front of her all over again. “No, you’re wrong. You don’t even know them. How would you know?” She turned back accusingly, glaring up into his carefully guarded expression. “Your friends are the ones who brought the stuff in, weren’t they? Maybe they stuck it in all of the drinks and it was an innocent exchange. You don’t know!”
He crossed his arms and glared back at her. “Are you always this illogical?” he demanded, sounding like he was trying not to shout. “You’re like a ten year-old. You can’t think the best about everyone all the time, you know. They’re going to stab you in the back and leave you to drift down a river.” And then, as if he hadn’t driven his point home enough, he continued with a cold smirk. “Or date rape you, as the case may be.”
“Shut up!” she shouted angrily, shoving him as hard as she could away from her. She took great satisfaction in watching him stumble backwards, his smugly crossed arms falling to his sides to help him maintain balance. “Just shut up! You stand on the edge of everything, causing pain to your brother who loves you, and trying to kill your mother, who is sick and weak enough without you coming in and making it worse! You have no right to judge anyone!”
His eyes flashed coldly. “Since when did you learn so much about my family, Belle? You’ve been dating my brother for, what? A day? That doesn’t exactly give you the insight you need to be casting dispersions.”
She seethed at him. “You think people don’t talk? You think your mom doesn’t talk to mine? I know all about the heartache you cause her.”
Will’s expression was dark… almost murderous. “This song, again?” he asked quietly, his voice low and filled with fury. “Did my dearest brother ask you to talk to me about how I’m ruining the family? About how Mom’s failing health is all my fault and has nothing