Page 73 of All of You
I have one left from my stocking last Christmas. I turn off my light then loop the straps over my ears, letting the warmth soothe my eyes and sinuses.
I wonder if anything will ever be the same as I drift to sleep.
Thirty Six
Langdon
School.
The absolute last place I want to be.
My mind is tied up in Delia and last night and this morning.
After each of my classes, I pop by hers.
Mrs. Delvey in the office was nice enough to give me Delia’s schedule so I can collect her assignments for her. All I want to do is bring them over to her and see her face.
I fidget with the friendship bracelet on my wrist. My last gift from Olivia. It’s stained and dull and threadbare but I will wear it until it breaks and even then I will keep it.
“Lang!” I turn and see Hailie stomping down the halltoward me. “Wait up,” she says.
Her face looks like it’s been hit by a Mack truck. Both her eyes are bruised and her nose is swollen. A plastic-surgery-gone-wrong kind of look. I shudder a little.
“What’s up?”
She pouts. “You didn’t text, or check in on me. That’s what’s up,” she says.
Dumbfounded, I stare at her. Check in on her? What was there to check in on? She picked a fight with Delia and lost. Anger bubbles in my gut. I am so sick of Hailie and her bullshit thatI could punch her.
“It hadn’t occurred to me to care,” I say.
Her mouth hangs open, gaping, which makes her look even more ridiculous. “What did you say?” Her tone is venom.
I straighten to my full height. “I know what you did, Hailie. You started a fight you couldn’t win this time. Why would I check in on you? What you did was bullshit. It was mean and for what? We’renottogether. We never will be. Stop being so crazy obsessive.”
Hailie glares at me. “Apologize, Lang.”
I glare right back. “For what?”
Niko is heading our way. He lifts a hand to wave but drops it when he sees Hailie’s expression.
“Everything okay here?” He asks and hesitantly slings an arm around Hailie’s shoulders. She shrugs him off with a huff.
“Yup,” I say to him. I take one last look at Hailie and head to the cafeteria.
“I will ruin you!” she screeches.
“Woah, easy there, killer,” Niko says.
I don’t look back.
I sit at Delia’s usual table in the cafeteria and eat my lunch alone. I’ve never eaten alone. Not even Niko comes to sit with me. It’s a shit feeling honestly and it makes me wonder how Delia’s done it every day.
Watching everyone else sit together and eat, chat, laugh. It’s disheartening and depressing. It makes my insides roil with guilt. I should have sat with her or at the very least invited her to sit with me. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t have because the popular kids don’t do that. Olivia would have been so mad at me about that. She would have been so disappointed. She would have said, “I thought you were a better big brother than that.” And she would have been right.
I’ve been such a dick. I laughed at Delia with my friends when she freaked out during her presentation. Ilaughed.It wasn’t that it was funny. Lucas had been cracking up and elbowed me and I’d just… joined in. Just because.
I scrape a hand over my face and groan. All my actions and inactions float through my mind. As all my offenses add up I wonder why Delia has continually given me the time of day.
