Cruel Me

Chapter 27: I Can't Make You Love Me

I ran my ass off.

As quickly as I could, I headed to the covered court, ignoring the uneasy feeling of not belonging in this part of the school. Sure, I've been here before - just not in this time of day.

I hurried my steps when I caught sight of the double doors. I pushed inside, hoping so bad that Halo was still here. I texted her earlier that I got detention, and that we could still meet up afterwards. But an empty gym met me.

I scanned the place. Maybe she was still around here somewhere.

"You're too late."

I turned my head to the direction of the voice, scowling when I saw who it belonged to. Finn stood up, jumped off the bleachers, and walked toward me.

"They already left," he said casually.

I raised an eyebrow. "'They'?"

"Halo," he shrugged. Then, he looked at me. "And Scout."

My body tensed. Finn noticed, because the shithead sneered.

"Scout gave her some pointers to pass gym class. Wish you could've seen them. There was a lot of touching," the fucker continued, clearly enjoying this. "Guess her 'boyfriend' was too busy getting dirty with his ex to do it himself. Seriously, I felt bad for her."

Rage surged within me, but I reigned it in. I wasn't gonna give this cocksucker a reason to get me in trouble.

"Do you ever shut up on your planet?" I wondered mockingly, but with an underlying threat in my tone. I hoped he wasn't stupid enough not to notice it.

"What, caught between two lovers?" taunted this dipshit, grinning. "Didn't know you could be that cliché."

I was so fucking close to cleaning the floor with his motherfucking face.

He had no idea what the hell he was going off about. I knew he was only trying to get a rise outta me. But hell, if his words didn't piss me the fuck off.

"Hold on," I said, raising a finger as I looked up. "I'm looking for fucks to give."

But what I was really looking for was a good reason not to bust his face in. Coming up real short on this one, though.

He nodded understandingly.

"I get it. You're with Halo now. You don't wanna face the fact that no matter what you do, you still can't get over Snow despite everything." He paced around, before shrugging and turning to me with a sad face. "Poor Halo. Everybody knows it's hard to forget your first."

I laughed humorlessly, the cold sound echoing around the gym.

"Can I be the first to break your nose, then?" I asked, suddenly all pokerfaced.

"That's funny."

"It's not funny at all," I replied, still keeping a straight face. "But your life," I paused to snort, "now that's a joke."

His lip tightened. Looked like I hit a nerve.

"Always one with the comebacks, huh?"

I shrugged. "Should I keep going 'til you cry or are we done here?"

Something flashed in his eyes. They turned dull, as if almost . . . dead. I knew that look so well. I knew that underneath those expressionless eyes were hatred. I knew because I wore them sometimes, too.

"How does it feel?" he asked, staring intently at me.

I looked back at him, waiting for him to continue. Then, I blinked in realization.