UNSTEADY 🅰️ LUCAS GOTTESMAN [book one]

KINGDOM OF THE BLIND

...

STANDING in the doorway to the courtyard, the girls watched with rapt attention as Jenna read through her Braille textbooks.

"God, what a performance." Hanna scoffed.

Emily nodded with a frown "Imagine faking it for so long."

"I'm don't know but I'm kindve relived." Haley admitted as they began to make their way inside.

All head's whipped to her in disbelief and Spencer almost spluttered "She saw you that night, like actually saw you and possibly drove you to Ali's grave."

Haley sighed "Guys we made her blind in the first place. And now she's not. Aren't you happy about that?"

"What do you think she's planning?" Aria questioned when no one knew how to respond.

"That's your job to find out." Spencer told her "She obviously wants you to think she's trust you by inviting you over to her place to play piano."

Emily looked to the Hasting's girl "Has your mom said anything to you about taking on Garrett's case?"

"Not yet but Melissa's coming home tomorrow so she'll probably tell both of us at the same time." Spencer rolled her eyes "Because that's how it works in my family. We keep the one-on-one's to a minimum."

"You're not helping yourself Mr. Gottesman!" At the shout of Vice Principal Hackett, the girls looked over to see him rushing after Lucas "This all goes on your permanent record."

Lucas simply waved a piece of paper at him before accidentally coming face-to-face with Haley. But before the Marin girl could speak, his eyes widened and he rushed off. Haley ignored her friends protests as she rushed after him, finding him inside their English classroom "Lucas? Why's Hackett so pissed at you?"

"I'm supposed to give this to my parents. It looks like I've lost my positive attitude." He mocked, pulling open the letter and reading from it "It's negatively impacting my social interactions and grades. Heh. Impacting? That's not even a word."

Haley frowned as she neared "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm just fine."

The Marin girl bit her lip before peering up at him "Are you ever gonna tell me the truth?" She watched him swallow thickly "About the dance... about us?"

Lucas' jaw clenched as he stared down at her hard before shaking his head and pulling out a lighter. Haley's eye's widened as she watched him set his letter alight "Lucas what are you doing? Stop!"