Buried secrets, two girls with the same face, and a boy who loved too much.
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When Travis and Nicole meet on a bus for the first time, he thinks she's his ex, Rachel, who broke his heart two years ago. But he doesn't understand why she's pretendin...
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"You guys went to Brooklyn to see a live band?" was Merlinda's dramatic question the following day at lunch, after Travis's and my escapade.
"I believe you heard me clearly two minutes ago." Inspecting my nails coolly, I avoided the greasy lunch pizza as well as eye contact.
"This is so sweet." She looked like she was about to cry, and my eyes immediately widened in alarm.
"Merlinda—"
"He freaking gave you an adventure! How do you expect me to not be emotional?"
"You all have been giving me adventures." I forced a shaky smile and nervously looked at Marilyn and Jahdiel for help before Merlinda decided it'd be pretty to burst into tears of joy. "Right, guys?"
Marilyn scoffed. "Well, yeah. If stealing my car isn't an adventure," she said dryly, "then I don't know what is."
"I didn't steal your car! I just drove it without your permission."
"Stealing," she dismissed my protest with a shrug. "You are so evil."
"I'm still waiting for the part where he kissed you, though," deciding to be oblivious to the exchange between Marilyn and me, Merlinda said in her usual dreamy tone.
"Merlinda, your love life is going too great for your own good." I couldn't help myself from snorting. "I just met him; we weren't supposed to go around kissing and whatever."
She turned to Marilyn. "The Bible asks us to greet one another with a holy kiss, right?"
"I refuse to be used as bait," came her dry retort.
I noticed how Jahdiel hadn't said a word and wondered if the others noticed too. When lunch was over, I tried walking with her to pry some sentences out of her. As if sensing my intention, she hurried alongside Marilyn, and they made their way to physics class together.
On Wednesday, I was forced to endure Dylan's embarrassed stares during chemistry in the afternoon. He looked like he wanted to talk to me but was intimidated at the same time. I sauntered out of class immediately; I was long gone before he could even try to muster courage and approach me.
Jahdiel kept up our game of hide-and-seek. It was seriously getting tiring. All I wanted was to talk to her and listen to what was happening with her life.
On Thursday, she wore her blazer from morning till school was over, and my heart sank.
Something was terribly wrong with her, and she refused to talk and instead hid in her own little cocoon.
