Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
At first, when Maya notices Wren waving, she smiles back. The sight of it makes my stomach turn, which is a shame because I just filled it with French fries. I wonder what she’d think if I threw up at the sight of her.
Then she notices me.
I didn’t see a roach crawl across her foot, but her body jolts like that’s what happened. Her face looks like it, too, with her nose wrinkling and her forehead creasing.
Before Wren can call out to her, Maya points to the back of her wrist and shrugs, then almost runs over to the cooler full of pre-wrapped sandwiches and packaged salads for anybody in a hurry. If I didn’t know better, I would think the cafeteria was on fire, and she’s trying to grab lunch before the whole place goes up.
Once I’m satisfied she’s not going to ruin my day anymore, I go back to my food, although it doesn’t taste as good as it did before. It doesn’t have as much flavor. I guess having to look at an evil cunt affects the taste buds or something. The weird thing is, Wren seems like a decent girl, really. Now that I know her a little better, I sort of feel bad for the way we bullied her before.
Why the hell is she friends with somebody like Maya?
Looking at Wren, I see she’s following Maya’s movement over my shoulder. I see her now out of the corner of my eye, paying for her food. She’s so nervous, she fumbles her wallet, and it drops on the floor.
A coward. In the end, that’s all she ever was. Enough of a coward that she can’t admit the things she’s done. When I make a choice, I own it. People like her pretend otherwise.
That’s right. Run away. You’re so good at that. “She needs to leave,” I mutter. As much as I want to look away from her, for some reason, I can’t. I’m glued to her every move. I want her to know I’m watching—that’s probably what’s making her so nervous. Let it. Maybe I won’t have to see her again while I’m trying to eat.
By the time Maya runs away, Wren has gone from staring at her friend to staring at me. “What’s up?” I ask. Not in a bad way, not like I’m trying to start a fight. I’m curious. “Did I grow another head?”
She snorts at the way I pat my shoulders like I’m checking there’s nothing growing there. “No, everything looks like it’s in the right place. I was just wondering…”
“About what?”
Someone needs to tell this girl she might as well write every thought across her face. It’s obvious she wishes she had never said anything, between the way she blushes and the way her eyebrows draw together. “It’s not important. Really, I swear.”
I wonder. Did Maya say anything to her about me? For some reason, the idea makes blood pump in my ears until I can’t really hear anything else. She would go and do something like that, wouldn’t she? She would have to make sure she’s the victim.
I could tell Wren a few things about her friend, but I won’t because I’m not that much of a dick. “I better go. I’ve got Political Science in ten.”
“Oh, before I forget.” Briggs gets his and Wren’s trash together as they stand. He can’t even let her clean up after herself. “I was thinking of having people over at the house. I don’t know exactly when yet, but soon.”
“So long as I’m invited. Just tell me when.” Now that his dad is MIA, Briggs has the run of the house. I never thought much about it before, but there were a lot of times he didn’t want us to come over. I get why. If my dad was like his, I wouldn’t want anybody to witness his bullshit, either.
It’s a sunny day, pretty much the opposite of the mood I’m in when I head for the building at the far end of the quad where my Political Science class is supposed to be. The first day of a new semester. Sometimes that means there are interesting newcomers around, people who transferred in or whatever, but all I see as I cross the quad is the same old faces. I lift my chin to a few of them when they do the same to me. I’m never going to be one of those people who gets all excited about school. If it wasn’t for Dad telling me I need a degree, I wouldn’t bother.
But now that I’m here, I have to walk into the arts and sciences building and go to the lecture hall on my course schedule, where there are already a lot of people waiting for class to start. There are free seats a few rows down from the back, and I take one, dropping into the chair before looking around to see if I know anybody in class.