Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
“Thought I was your home, Immy?”
“Once upon a time so did I.” I yank open the back door and slam it shut behind me. I’m shaking, I’m devastated, my body is cracking open and spilling out feelings I long since locked away.
He hits it with his fist and screams an elongated, “FUUUUUCK!”
Less than a minute later I hear a bike in the distance and know that it’s him driving away.
14 years old
I approach Kane, something I’ve never done before, desperate to speak to him about what I heard this morning. I hug my books to my chest and keep my eyes down.
Ren wags his brows at me, stitches no longer visible at the corner of his mouth from when I hit him. He has almost healed.
“Save me,” Ren jests, jumping onto Mallick’s back and making them both fall into the lockers behind them.
I shift my bag up my shoulder and stare at Kane’s collar. This is the first time we’ve spoken since that incident a week ago.
“Can we talk?” I ask him.
“You gonna look at me?”
I raise my eyes and huff. “What is it with you and eye contact?”
He doesn’t reply, just stares at me with a disinterested and vacant expression.
“Can we talk?” I repeat, with attitude this time.
“What’s in it for me?” His friends lean closer, all of them interested in whatever this is between us.
I bite my lip and give him an urging look.
“You gonna show me your panties?” His arrogant grin makes me want to punch him in his stupid fat head.
Shaking my head with disbelief, I go to walk away and I’m surprised when he shifts in order to follow.
“Woooooo!” Ren cheers, laughing loudly when I glare at him. “Kane’s getting midday laid!”
“Shut up Ren,” both Kane and I chorus and their group around them laughs.
I glower at Kane as though it’s his fault we spoke at the same time, but he just grins down at me and pops a piece of gum into his mouth.
Maisy, who wasn’t even in this corridor when this began, skips over to us and throws her arms around Kane’s neck. She plants her lips on his and steals the gum out of his mouth, all the while keeping one eye on me. That’s gross.
I make it obvious that I find her vile.
“What are you guys doing?” she asks him, her tone whiny and annoying.
“Be back,” Kane whispers to her, sucking on her lower lip for a moment and I wonder what that feels like. My cheeks heat and I look at everything but them.
“But—”
“Mais, get the hell off my neck,” he says firmly and pushes her away. “I go wherever the fuck I want.”
She guffaws as though she can’t believe he just spoke to her like that. What on earth did she expect? It’s Kane!
I lead him through a door to the right, not realizing it’s a closet and immediately regretting my decision.
“This isn’t science class,” I mumble, feeling like an idiot for not paying attention to the door numbers. In my defense they all look the exact same. It’s confusing.
“This is intimate,” Kane comments, laughing lightly.
“I didn’t realize it was a—” I blow out a breath of frustration. “It doesn’t matter. We need to talk.”
His eyes narrow into slits and his lips rise at the corners. “I told you, you gotta show me your panties first.”
I punch his chest, right in the middle and he goes red faced with a cough. I can tell he so badly wants to react. I got him right in the diaphragm.
“Can you not be serious for one minute?”
“I was being serious,” he rasps. “Figure since I saved you from being molested, the least you can do is show me a bit of what I’m missing.”
“You’re gross. I will never show you my panties.”
“You really think so?” His tone is hushed and bitter, his eyes glowing in the dim light that comes from the glass pane above the door. It highlights the dust particles in the air making this small space sparkle. “Sounds like a challenge to me.”
I go to hit him again to get his attention but he grabs my wrist and holds it tight.
“He’s fucking dead, Kane,” I hiss, ignoring his pain and kicking an empty metal bucket out of the way. “This isn’t time for jokes. What are we gonna do?”
“Relax,” he says with a roll of his eyes. He looks better now. The pain must have passed. What a shame. “They’re closing the case.”
“What?”
“He fucking shot himself. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know but—”
“Except for you because you stole something from his pocket.” He grins evilly. “Didn’t know you had it in you to be honest.”
I think of the money I hid inside the seam of my schoolbag, underneath all my books, the only way to get to it is through a hole in the inside pocket which I made to stash my phone. It has been burning a hole there for a week. I’ve been terrified of spending it in case they somehow know I stole it and are tracking it. It’s stupid really, but what if it’s possible?