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“You’re not gonna be . . . weird about this, are you?” she questions. “It’s been like three years. That’s long enough to be over . . . whatever it was going on between you guys, right? Because, girl, I love you and all, but I can’t have you being all sad Zoey again and making us stay home when the parties are going down. That would be social suicide.”
Nah, hate this girl already
Her smile is so fake that it leaves me desperate to see a real one—the one that used to be reserved for only me.
“You and me—we’re nothing. Not anymore. I don’t need you, Zoey. I haven’t needed you for three years, and I sure as fuck don’t need you now. So, let’s get this straight because I don’t want you trying to recreate something that will never be. I’m only here to play football, and that’s it. I’m not here for you. At this school, we don’t know each other. Whatever the fuck we used to be, doesn’t exist anymore. You see me in the hallways, you look the other way. You see me outside, you go somewhere else. I’m not some fucking project for you to save. Got it?”
The Zoey I knew would never talk that way, and I’m not going to lie, her disgust and judgment stings.
Pot meet kettle
“For what it’s worth,” she grits out, determination flashing in her hurt stare. “I was only doing this for your mom because she came to me yesterday, begging me to help you out because she’s so scared that she’s losing you. But you know what? She was right to be scared. You’re long gone, Noah. The kid I used to know . . . I can’t even see him in there.”
CLOCK HIS ASS GIRL
“You should have stayed away,” she tells me, her voice filled with the type of venom that somehow darkens my already blackened soul. “I was better off without you.”
Finger claps
Fuck, those words keep circling my mind. Why the hell do they hurt so much? She’s lying.
DOESNT FEEL GOOD, DOES IT?
Our souls formed an impenetrable bond the day we first met, and since then, it’s only gotten stronger.
“Oh no, no, no, girl,” Tarni laughs. “He’s far from in the past. I mean, look at him. Someone who looks like that cannot be in the past. I’m sorry to break the news, Zo, but you’re gonna have to get used to seeing him around because I wasn’t kidding this morning. I need to get closer to him. I’ve been obsessing all morning! I have to sink my claws into that.”
Ooooooh shes gonna piss me off so much throughout this book, i fear
I’ll deal with her the way I see fit.
PARDON?????
Little Zoey walked so that I could run. Hell, I’m not just going to run, I’m going to fly, whether it’s with Noah or without.
“Exactly.”
oh! Thats not-
“Jesus Christ, Zoey,” Tarni says. “Lay off. It’s not like she was suggesting Noah did it, just telling us the rumor she heard today.”
OOOOOOOH IMMA SMACK A BITCH
“Maybe you’re right, but I know that Linc would despise this asshole you’re pretending to be. He’d be so ashamed of you. I mean, sure. The whole bad boy, I don’t give a shit vibe really suits you. It’s hot, and I’m sure every girl across the state wants to be the one you take to bed, but it’s a lie. You look like a joke, Noah.”
“Seriously?” I say, my lips twisting in disgust and boredom. “This is really the kind of bullshit that gets you off? Don’t you see how pathetic this makes you look? The popular cheer captain picking on the typical good girl. You’re such a cliché, Shannan. It’s lame and embarrassing.”
“But he was already hurting after Linc died. Maybe he just doesn’t remember how to love you.”
MY SWEET BABY ANGEL
“What are you saying, Mom? You think you’re old and boring?” “Who? Me?” Mom grunts. “No, not at all. I’m talking about your dad.” “Hey!” Dad mutters, but Mom completely ignores him.
“Seriously?” Zoey laughs, waving around her at the overwhelming show of cheerleaders surrounding her. “Is this supposed to intimidate me? You’re a joke, Shannan.”
“I’d prefer to die a virgin than have screwed my way through the whole football team before the end of school. Tell me, do you have a rotating roster or is it a first-in, best-dressed kind of situation?” Zoey argues,
“Congratulations,” she says, her broken tone cutting right through my chest as she glances up and meets my stare once again. “I hope that watching me suffer sparks some kind of light in your cold, dead heart.”
“I told you that you were the greatest love of my life,” I tell her, the words so hard to say out loud, but I know I meant every fucking word, maybe I still do. “That I would make you the happiest girl in the world and protect you with my life.”
“Maybe it was because I was so young, and you were all I knew. You were my whole world, Noah. I never could have dreamed that you’d be the person I’d need protecting from.”
We’re two halves of the same whole, and no matter how much I try to pull us apart and burn that tether between us, we’ll always be forced back together. It’s inevitable.”
“Well, I umm . . .” I wince. “I sort of stole his car and did a burnout down the street in front of the whole football team.” “YOU DID WHAT?” Mom sputters as Dad gapes at me, his eyes going wide with pride. “In his Camaro? Wow. How was it, sweetheart?” “Henry!”
Scurrying out of the kitchen and into the dining room, I get ready to set the table when I hear mom turn on my father. “Now you,” she says. “Where do you get off butting into Zoey and Noah’s business?” “What?” Dad responds. “She steals a car, and I’m the one getting in trouble? Where’s the sanity in that?” “Oh God,” Mom says. “I knew I should have bought more wine.”
She stole my fucking car.
AS SHE SHOULD
Hazel doesn’t say a word, just watches me, only unlike her big sister, there’s no disdain or confusion swelling in her green eyes, just plain old curiosity. A smirk pulls at the corners of her lips, and with that, she lifts her hand, her fingers hovering in front of her eyes before turning them on me, the universal sign for I’m watching you.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Noah Ryan coming to beg for forgiveness,” she chides, proving that while she’s certainly very different from her big sister, there are also a lot of striking similarities. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Or did you finally realize that you pushed away the one good thing you had left and now you’re desperately clinging to any piece of me you can get your hands on?”
“Just . . . When you finally realize that you deserve to be happy, come back to me.”
“You’ll never not be what I need,” I promise her. “Then I’ll never stop fighting for you.”
Hazel whips around, her head held so damn high I almost don’t recognize her. “Noah’s eleven-year-old sister,” she finishes for me, slightly changing how the end of my sentence was supposed to go. Shannan’s face falls. “Wait you’re—” “A child? Yeah,” Hazel spits. “Now, I don’t know about you, but my brother probably isn’t going to be too happy when he learns about this. I can only imagine what he’s going to say. You know, he’s very protective of me.”
“Right. Fun. That’s what we call sexualizing children.”
Understanding dawns, and horror flashes in his eyes as he quickly closes the distance between us, grabbing Hazel and pulling her against his chest, his arm circling around her body. She tries to hold herself together, but it’s clear that Shannan’s words are still hitting hard.
“Dare I ask what icky things you think I want to do with her?” Her whole face turns bright red as though she’s about to burst from the seams. “You want to touch her boobies.” Ahhhh, fuck. I just had to go and ask.
Making my way toward him, my heart races, but I don’t stop until I’m stepping right into him, settling myself between his knees as my fingers brush through his hair. “Are you alr—” I don’t even get to finish my question before his arms are around me, pulling me into him as he presses his head against my torso, taking deep, shaky breaths. I wrap my arm around the back of his head as the other hangs over his shoulder and down into the center of his back. My fingers roam over his back, giving him the time he needs to make the pain go away.
“Don’t think for one second that you can ask me about this at our next session.” “Mmm-hmm,” she says, clearly making a mental note to do just that. “What’s the matter?” I tease, nudging Noah. “You don’t want to talk about me?” Noah scoffs. “Baby, I talk about you every fucking chance I get.”
“Besides, I have it on good authority that you like bad boys.” I gape up at him. “Who the hell told you that?” “Who do you think?” I shake my head, not bothering to respond. It seems I need to have a little chat with my sister when I get home.
Noah: So…back of my car? Zoey: You need to work on your pick-up game. This is terrible! It’s a mystery how you have so many girls desperate for your attention. Noah: A mystery? Have you seen my face? I’m fucking gorgeous.
“When you’re with Zoey, you’re going to start having some urges—” “Ugh, Mom,” I say, cutting her off, horror filling my veins. “Tell me you’re not about to have the sex talk with me. You should know I’m well aware of how it works.”
“Get the fuck off me,” Noah growls in disgust, using his other hand to shove her back. Tarni gapes at him, her brows furrowed. “But I thought . . . you were looking at me.” Noah scoffs, and I have to really concentrate on keeping my face neutral. “You thought I was looking at you?”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
God this felt so good
“You are right though. She’s been a terrible friend for way too long, but if I didn’t have her every day at school, I’d be alone, and as much as I wish I could break away from her. I owe her too much.”
NO YOU FUCKING DON'T BITCH
“I’m pathetic?” Zoey fires back at her. “Look at yourself, Tarni. I came over here to try and make things right, but you would rather put on a performance. Wasn’t the performance you put on for everyone on Friday night humiliating enough?”
“I’m the whore?” Zoey demands. “You’ve spread your legs for nearly every guy in the school. Oh, wait, not Liam, though. But that didn’t stop you from trying on Friday night, did it? Tell me, what were you offering to suck?” “What?” One of Tarni’s little bitch friends demands, her eyes going wide as she gapes at Tarni. “Tell me she’s lying. You didn’t. You wouldn’t do that to me. You know how I feel about him.”
Her eyes are wide, filled with fear, and I revel in it, hoping it fucking cripples her, just as she’s done to Zoey. “From here on out,” I announce to every last bastard in the room, my gaze remaining locked on Tarni. “Tarni Luca does not exist. Anyone who wishes to object to that will see the same fate.” Tarni’s eyes go wide, and I watch as her two friends inch away from her. “Let me get one thing straight,” I tell the crowd, shifting my stare away and focusing on the people around us, all too aware of the way Tarni sinks back into the crowd and disappears without a word, suddenly no longer in
...more
Her brows furrow, but she allows me to pull her along, stepping into my side as we make our way back to my car. “Where are we going?” she asks as I open the door for her, knowing how my mom would clip me over the back of the head if I weren’t the perfect gentleman.
King
Fresh flowers rest on his grave next to a football and his jersey from middle school with his name and number on the back—a jersey he earned during tryouts but never got the chance to use.
When my feet strike the pavement at the bottom, I propel myself toward the field as Noah shoves past his teammates.
"where's the trophy, he just comes running over to me" type of vibe
YOU’RE REALLY FUCKING LATE FOR SCHOOL
“Okay, Noah,” he finally says with a slight nod. “Go get our girl.”
