...
❝He was the poison I was dying to taste on my lips.❞
...
I was a coward.
The coward who wanted to leave behind the wreckage of her life for the man who had tormented her for as long as she could remember. The boy who had spit venom at me gro...
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THE ENTIRE CANTEEN seemed to be buzzing at lunch, full of life and excitement, and I glanced at Faye in the queue, curious.
"What's going on? Did someone win the lottery?"
She laughed. "Girl, you think these people would be so happy to win the lottery? That's like getting pocket money to them."
"Then? What happened?"
"No idea. But there seems to be a mini crowd at our table. Wanna bet if it has anything to do with one of the four boys?"
A quick glance behind told me that there was, in fact, at least a quarter of the sixth-form population surrounding our table. "Oh, I think it has everything to do with them, so no. I'm not betting anything."
"Sucks," she sighed, pouting, before laughing when I elbowed her.
"Don't even."
The queue moved quickly and after getting lunch, we made our way to our usual seats, manoeuvring through the thick crowd of people standing in one area of the gigantic hall. But the second I set my tray down on the table and made the mistake of glancing up, something sour churned in my stomach at the sight of a girl sitting in River's lap, playing with his tie as she laughed at something.
My eyes narrowed as I sat down, wondering when River had turned into such a comedian, and looked up at the group of girls standing behind him, staring reverently, as if they wished it was them in his lap instead. I internally sighed, stabbing at a potato with my fork, having lost my appetite.
Heira was talking a mile a minute, right beside Kaiden as she always was, and I noticed the wide grin on her face. She looked happy — not that it was out of the ordinary, but it seemed to be up a notch today — and I wondered what caused such contagious excitement.
Faye, the best friend that she was, leaned closer to Heira and Kaiden, asking them what was going on.
Heira smiled at her, bouncing a little in her seat as Kaiden sat back, waiting for her to respond. "Kaiden got an offer from Cambridge!"
Our eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. That's amazing, Kaiden. Congratulations," I praised, feeling genuine happiness for the boy who'd become my friend. He was so completely different to River, warm and welcoming instead of cold and insufferable.
"Seriously," Faye added. "Never doubted that you'd get in though, D."
"It explains the crowd around our table, at least."
"Oh, that's not exactly why everyone's here," Kaiden revealed. "River announced a party to celebrate and everyone's dying for details."
"River is planning a party?" I asked in disbelief.
"No, that's all me, actually," Lyle chimed in. "I suggested the idea to him and he took it in stride, surprisingly. Wonders never cease."
"You do realise that he's literally right next to you right?" Faye eyed River beside him, who hadn't paid any heed to our conversation. "He might hear you and cancel your grand plan."
