Invisible

Invisible Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Confess

(Olivia)

Driving to school with Mason and Evie is torture. Mason at least had the decency to sit in the back today. Evie tried to come talk to me last night about everything that happened, but I couldn’t stand the idea of reliving it one more time and refused to let her in. She sits beside me quietly as we pull into the parking lot.

As I kill the engine, Evie looks over at me as says, “Come find me if you need me today, okay?”

All I can do is nod. She slips out of the car, and I follow quickly, desperate to get away from Mason. He keeps his distance as I make my way to my locker. Mom offered to let me skip school today and rest up, but I have a research paper to turn in. In all honesty, though, I didn’t want to stay because I knew Mason would stay as well and the idea of being trapped in the house with him all day is a million times worse than showing up at school looking like I got in a bar fight.

As I step into the building, it’s acutely obvious that my makeup isn’t doing nearly enough to hide the black eye or split lip. Furtive glances dart at me as I walk down the hallway. I’m sure they’re all wondering, but I don’t care to fill them in. I spot my locker and make a beeline for it. I’m yanking open the door when Hayden slides up next to me.

“Hey,” I say.

He smiles. “That’s all I get? A hey?”

“Sorry,” I say with a half-smile—the half that doesn’t hurt to move. “Not feeling like my usual peppy self today.”

“You have a usual peppy self?” Hayden asks. “Why have I never seen it?”

I roll my eyes, amazed at his ability to cheer me up. “Okay, I may not have a peppy side, but I’m certainly feeling worse than my usual quiet, loner self. How’s that?”

“Much more accurate,” he laughs.

Hayden’s fingers brush along my cheek carefully. I try not to wince, but even breathing on that side of my face hurts. His fingers slide down to my chin. Thankfully he doesn’t get too close to my lip. His mouth turns down. “You look even worse than last night.”

“Thanks, that makes me feel better,” I grouch. “You do too, by the way.”

He grins. “I know.”

“How’s your side?” I ask. I remember the attacker punching him repeatedly in that area.

Hayden lifts the edge of his shirt and I gasp at the mottled bruises covering nearly half his stomach. Several of the students around us stop and stare. “Oh my gosh, Hayden! That looks terrible!”

“Yeah, I won’t be playing basketball for a few weeks, which I’m sure you’re devastated about, but I’ll be fine.” He drops his shirt back down and leans against the lockers. I can see him wince at the movement.

“I feel so terrible about last night. It was my fault you were there so late. If you hadn’t been there trying to make me feel better …”

“If I hadn’t been there you may have gotten hurt a lot worse, or taken, or…or other things I’d rather not think about,” Hayden finishes. He grabs my hand and pulls me over to him. “But if you’re feeling guilty, you can always make it up to me by having lunch with me today, and every day.”

“Lunch?” I stare at him. How is he being so calm about all of this? “Uh, sure. Okay.”

Hayden grins and pushes away from the lockers carefully. “See you at lunch then.”