꧁꧂
"𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮," he says into my hair, "𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙤 𝙨𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮." The sound of his voice breaking causes the tears to finally fall.
"You came back," I sigh into his chest. He pulls away, holding my face in his hands, and my heart flutters...
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| Lily |
"Do you mind if I just head on home Anne, I don't think--"
"What?! You can't leave!" Anne protests, trying to get me to join her and our other classmates in a game of spin the bottle, "you probably won't even have to kiss anyone."
"Then there's no point in me being there, this isn't for me," I tell her, but my attempts are rendered useless by Anne's objections, that and her firm hand on my arm, pulling me back into the schoolhouse. "There was no way I was going to participate in this!"
"Please," she says, stopping in front of the door, "I promised the others that you would come, they'll be mad if they think I lied." I look at her, not wanting to let her down.
"Fine," I give in, "I'll come, but I'm not kissing anyone." She squeals in excitement and drags me further, an eager smile on her face, and I'm already regretting my decision.
ꕥ
"I'm not kissing that ugly orphan," Billy scoffs, earning matching glares from Diana, Anne and I.
"Have Lily go instead!" Charlie says from beside me, making my skin crawl. A chorus of "yeahs" circulate around us as I look at Diana fearfully, just last year most of the people here couldn't even stand to be around me, but ever since I "recovered" everything has changed. This was an awful idea.
There's no way I'm doing this.
"No way," I decline, shaking my head, "pick someone else."
"Why," Billy speaks up from across the room, "it's the rules." An uncomfortable smirk makes its way across his lips. Everyone is staring at me now. I look at Anne, annoyance written on every inch of my face. I want to go home.
With a huff I hesitantly lean forward, spinning the bottle in front of me. A new silence blankets the room as we wait for it to come to a stop, the tension between Billy and I accompanies that silence. What's his goal here?
I can tell that the bottle has stopped from the inaudible gasps that fill the room. I look down, and the realization of who it landed on hits harshly.
Billy
"No," I say, and immediately stand up, prepared to go home this second. He stands as well, stepping into the circle as if this is actually going to happen.
"Well," he says, waiting patiently. I can feel his eyes piercing into mine, watching every move to see what I'll do next.
"It's the rules, Lily, you have to do it," Josie speaks up out of nowhere, a hint of jealousy on her tongue mixed in with the thrill of embarrassing me.
I find myself in the middle of the circle now, my cheeks hot and flushed from the embarrassment, rage building up inside of me with every passing second. Billy stands in front of me bunglingly, his stare leaves me nauseated. The whispers and comments in the room don't cease until he starts leaning in.
