watching as he climbed into his own window.
As bad as tomorrow was going to be, as long as she had Will with her, she was pretty sure she would be able to get through it.
Chapter Fourteen
She had thought Saturday was the worst day of her life, but somehow Monday managed to surpass it. People she didn’t know kept coming up to her, offering congratulations on her win at Homecoming. Trevor stood with his arm around her shoulders, smiling proudly, oblivious to her discomfort as she accepted their words as graciously and sincerely as she could. She could feel the hostility rolling off of Claire a mile away, belying her own congratulatory words. The other girls in her group were being painfully nice, though she could see the resentment buried within their cold eyes. She looked around for Will and Ebony all day, even daring to venture out through the back doors, but it turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. They were nowhere to be found.
When school was over Trevor drove her home and offered to come in to work on homework together, but she turned him down, citing exhaustion. She ignored the disappointment on his face as he kissed her forehead and bid her goodbye, leaving her at the door. Once inside, she headed straight up to her room, pulling apart her curtains and opening her window, praying that Will would suddenly materialize and somehow make it all better. She even sat at her desk to do her homework, to make sure he could see her.
But she was left waiting. “Tomorrow” apparently did not mean the same thing to Will as it did to her.
After dinner she had to drag herself back up to her room, prepared to crawl into bed and hide under her covers until her mom or dad forced her to get up for school the next morning. With a heavy sigh, she opened her door, her lips parting in disbelief as Will stood from her bed. He grinned at her impishly, his dark eyes twinkling.
“Your window was open,” he teased. “Were you expecting someone?”
She felt a million emotions rush through her as she stared at him in the moonlight, too stunned to speak. She had spent all day looking for him, and he had been nowhere to be found. She had waited for him all night, and he hadn’t shown up. And now, just as she had given up and was prepared to curl up in bed and wait for the inevitable morning, he suddenly appeared?
And that was what he said to her?
No explanation of where he’d been all day. No inquiry about her day, even though he knew it would likely be horrible for her. Nothing. Just a joke.
She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.
His smile had already fallen, but his face turned serious as he slowly stepped out from the opposite side of the bed. “Bad day?” he asked slowly.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she stated flatly, so coldly that Will stopped short in approaching her. She lifted her eyes to his dark, unreadable ones. “Where were you all day?”
He was silent for a moment, staring back at her. Then in short, concise words he answered, “We skipped school and went to Dylan’s.”
An emotion she didn’t even recognize ran through her as she processed his words. While she had been going through one of the worst days of her life—a day he knew would be difficult for her—he had been having fun at his friend’s house.
She couldn’t even find the strength to reply as her eyes fell to his chest, unable to look at him anymore. Will had abandoned her. Left her on her own to fight her way through the school of piranhas.
But, she realized slowly, she really had no right to be angry with him. Will had no obligation to be there for her.
She had been counting on him all this time—depending on him to be there for her—but she wasn’t Will’s responsibility. Will had his own life to live, and it didn’t revolve around picking her up when she fell. He had been there to support her as a friend, but that was it. She was the one who had made it out to be more. She was the one who had read too much into his kind words. Will wasn’t the one at fault. She was.
Somehow, the thought made her feel worse than she had felt all day.
“Dylan,” he began slowly, startling her,