The Wrong Path - By Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris Page 0,25
she didn’t know why. She had been the one to keep the truth from him, but he was apologizing to her? “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Annabelle.”
She could only hold him back.
***
Annabelle sighed as she entered her bedroom. It had been a long, long day, and all she wanted to do was sleep. Once Trevor had finally stopped apologizing, he had gone into his house to be with his mom, and she had spent hours trying to catch up on the homework she had missed. Then over dinner she had told her parents she had skipped school with Will because his friends had been taken away by the police and he had been upset—leaving out why she had been outside with Will in the first place—and guiltily listened to their lecture about skipping school. When they had finally finished, almost an hour later, they had written her a note excusing her from school that day. She still felt a little guilty, but she felt a lot better, too. After the lecture she’d dragged herself up the stairs to the bathroom for a warm shower, wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and was finally ready for bed.
She shut the door and flicked on the light, looking up out her window. She gasped and jumped back, her heart leaping into her throat. Will sat on the branch leading to her room, almost invisible under the cover of darkness. She hurried to the window and opened it, kneeling down to look at him. “Will,” she hissed, her heart pounding furiously in her chest. “What are you doing?”
“Trevor said you told him I spent the day with you.”
She flushed and dropped her eyes. “Well... you did…”
“He actually apologized,” Will announced, his voice unreadable. “For ‘wrongfully accusing’ me.”
She hesitated, not quite sure what to say. “Isn’t that… good?”
“What would you have done if he had accused you of trying to cheat on him with me? He doesn’t exactly think highly of me, so it wouldn’t have been out of the realm of possibility for him to jump to that conclusion. You couldn’t know that I wouldn’t lie.”
She felt her heart plummet into her stomach. “What?” she asked, bewildered. She shook her head, sure that she had somehow heard him wrong. “That’s ludicrous. Trevor would never be so cruel.”
He laughed softly and shook his head.
She hesitated again, but forced herself to speak. “My friends… They’re the ones who ratted out your friends. To save face for me. They said your friends drugged all the drinks, and someone called the cops. I don’t know who. I don’t think it was one of my friends, but…” she trailed off, not sure how to finish. “I just wanted you to know,” she concluded softly, unable to meet his eyes.
She braced herself for cold words, but there was just silence. Had he been so angered by her words that he had gone back into his own room? Slowly, she lifted her eyes, surprised and a little relieved to see him still sitting there as calmly as ever, watching her under the shroud of darkness.
“And?” he prompted.
She straightened, startled. “And what?” she asked, bewildered.
He cocked an eyebrow in something like cold amusement. “You want to make sure we’re not going to retaliate? What?”
She blinked. “Retaliate?” she repeated, a cold sweat breaking out over her body. “Y-you’re not going to, are you? They were just trying to protect me, and they’re not the ones who called the police, so it’s really not their fault—“
“I’m not going to do anything,” he interrupted, and she felt the air drain from her lungs. “Everyone knew my friends dealt. It could have been coincidence.”
She could have hugged him. Instead, flustered, she dropped her eyes, not sure what to say back.
“Here.”
She looked up, confused, and saw him leaning toward her on the branch, holding a book in his hand. She took it slowly, looking down at it even as she settled back. “Elmer Gantry?” she asked, looking up at him.
He stood on the branch. “It’s one of my favorites. I thought you might like it.”
She watched as he moved easily to the branch that led to his window, surprised to discover she was disappointed he was leaving. “Thank you,” she called over to him.
He paused on his branch and looked back at her. “You’re welcome,” he said, and then he was in his window. She pushed herself up off of her knees, looking down at the book. She climbed into bed with it, bewildered and a little pleased.