cigarette daydreams

/7

School the next day was different. Foggier. Karden didn't want to admit it, but he worried it was because Lydi had been at least a little right about those cigarette daydreams.

Connor met him at his locker. He was grinning, as always. "So, you talk to Lydi yet?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. And?"

"And nothing." Karden yanked his books out of his locker harder than he needed to. "The words she says . . . they don't make sense together."

"Hot."

"No, not hot. Strange. Screwy." Karden slammed his locker shut and started walking to History. Connor kept pace beside him. "It's like the world doesn't work for her."

"Do I need to remind you that the world didn't work very well for you either this summer?"

Karden stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. His teeth grit together, and he shot a glare at his friend. Under his breath, he hissed, "I told you that I'm never going to talk about it."

"The world is going to have to find out eventually, bro."

"And until that 'eventually' happens, I'm not going to say a word. And neither are you, especially not to Lydi. She'll . . . twist it and use it to prove her point, or something."

Connor raised his hands in defense. "Whatever you say. Just don't forget that you are being a complete and total hypocrite right now."

"Isn't that word a bit big for you, Connor?"

Connor scowled, then stepped back. "Since when are you a dick?"

He walked off down the hall before Karden could get a word in.

Karden scowled too. He knew since when: since he started talking to Lydi. It was all Lydi's fault. That was the reason that, when he walked into History, he didn't even look for Lydi. He didn't care where she was. Not an inch. (Or so he told himself).

He sauntered over to where Amber was sitting, and sat down beside her. She giggled and drew a heart on his hand. He forced a smile to his lips, and didn't look at Lydi for the rest of the class.

For the rest of the week in fact.

He called it an accomplishment.