What Happens After Midnight

by K.L. Walther

Why students had a firm dress code but faculty did not was something I would never understand.

me too sis

Hubbard Hall looked like a mansion that once belonged to the last great American dynasty.

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It would sound like bickering to anyone else, but Leda was the ray of sunshine to Josh’s seriousness. Any true romantic would agree that they were a perfect match.

“Excuse me, but endlessly exasperating?” my mom said once her boyfriend had disappeared into the kitchen. “I’d say he finds us endlessly fascinating.”

A promposal might not exactly be a promise, but it was a commitment. I didn’t break my commitments.

But was it difficult that my teachers were also my neighbors and friends? Yes, sometimes. I could never truly leave school.

“I knew your emails would get personal.”

“If Alex isn’t nervous, then I tell myself I have no reason to be either,” he once said, then added, “And I feel safest with you, Hopscotch.”

knew he had an answer, but I also knew it wouldn’t be what I so dreamed of hearing. I asked you because I trust you. I asked you because I miss you. I asked you because I love you.

“Because I’m really tired, Tag. I’m really tired of playing all these games and tuning out the noise. I love you so much, but I can’t do this anymore.”

If he didn’t realize the gold rush of attention he got from girls and how hard it was for me to handle, it meant he was enjoying it. Breaking up, then, really was for the best.

I told Tag no commentary while I climbed. That had been one of the worst parts of climbing as a freshman. While the Keep going, Lily! and Yay, Lily! cheers were meant to be encouraging, I also couldn’t help but feel like I was being peer pressured.

that's so real

“What about you?” I asked. “What scares you?” “Never talking to you again,” he answered.

Don’t say friends, I thought. We can’t be friends. Because there were only two options when it came to Taggart Swell: loving him with every bone in my body and beat of my heart or cutting ties with him completely. For me, we were everything or we were nothing. I couldn’t fathom how he thought we could meet somewhere in the middle.

“I shall either find a way or make one.”

“Lily Hopper’s Birthday” might as well have been a national holiday. Ames’s dining hall always served my favorite foods for lunch.

The golf cart served as our getaway car, but it turned out a getaway car wasn’t truly a getaway car if you were taking what you wanted to get away from with you.

You’re about to play him, a voice in my head said. You’re about to play him like a fucking violin…

In her heart of hearts, she did have a soft spot for him.

“You dropped his heart, Lily,” he said. “You dropped it and shattered it. And I tried to pick up the pieces and put them back into his chest, but one is missing and the others won’t work without it.”

“Again and again, he goes back to Blair because he’s missing the most important piece of sparkling glass,” Alex continued. “He keeps patching up the dark hole with the same bandage because he believes you are lost and that he’s never going to find you.”

“God, I hate you,” I said, laughing. Alex shook his head. “I don’t believe you.” “Why not?” I asked. “Because,” he said, “you’ve got Tag’s favorite smile on your face.”

He was right; Tag’s and my communication skills were terrible. We had to stop skirting around the truth, no matter how scary it was. I couldn’t let another night pass without telling him.

you JUST realized

“I’m not pretending,” I said. “I know everything has changed, but at the same time, nothing has—at least for me.” I swallowed hard. “I’m in love with you, Tag. Truly and totally and still falling in love with you.”

“I’m not pretending either. Not even close.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “I’m in love with you too. I love you and only you, Hopscotch. You’re it. No matter what’s happened…” His voice caught. “You’ve always been the one.”

I was yours, Hops. Yours to the point where, even if you weren’t in the room, I could still feel you all over me.” His voice dropped. “You will always be all over me.”

I probably went in circles with Blair was because I should’ve been alone for a while after we broke up, but I was unhappy being single and wanted someone, and while that someone was you, you didn’t seem like you wanted or needed anyone.” “Because I didn’t,” I told him. “I didn’t want or need anyone; I wanted, needed, and burned for you.”

Tag gave me a look. “Did you just quote Bridgerton?” I gave him a look back. “Did you just admit to watching Bridgerton?”

Golden hour? I wondered, because that was Tag’s favorite, but when I turned, I saw the sun had nearly slipped from the sky. Instead, the world was now rose-tinted with flashes of fluorescent blue. “Not sunset…” I murmured. “No, not sunset.” Tag rejoined me at the window. “We’re beyond that.” He grinned, then raised the camera with me in its crosshairs. “This is the afterglow.”

“Me!” My spine straightened. “You want me to hide it? Why me?” “Because it needs to be you, and you’re the only one of you.”

“To the Jester!” my friends echoed. “And to us,” I added. “For he assembled one fantastic band of fools.” “And to us!” “Cheers.”

“I don’t care about Blair, Tag. I care about you. I know you love this place; you’ve always loved it.”

“This is happiness,” Tag said reverently. “Happiness, all because of you.”