Page 160 - My FlipBook

L IS A J. L A W R E N C E

He slumped against a nearby counter. “I’m glad you left.”
“Dylan hit you?”
“Some other knuckle-dragging cretin on the basketball
team.”
“I left you. I’m sorry. I couldn’t—”
“Greta, it’s okay.”
“What were you thinking, attacking him in front of the
whole school?” Blood moved through her body again, shifting

her forward in her chair.
“You feel bad for that guy?” Ash’s voice rose.
“No, not him.” Dylan hadn’t ask her if she wanted to.
She didn’t get a choice. And when she did have a choice,
he decided it was the wrong choice. Discarded her. What
would’ve happened if she hadn’t been able to get cell recep-
tion at the cabin? Hitchhiking home in the middle of the ADVANCE READING COPY

night, a flimsy jacket against the cold? A blaze lit in her
center, waking her body. After humiliating her, they had put
her in a position for more abuse.
“I don’t feel bad for him,” Greta said. She didn’t fault Ash
for beating him. Dissecting that moment, peeling away the
terror for Ash as the entire student body roiled around him,
something else remained. Justice. Satisfaction at seeing Dylan
flinch in pain, knocked flat, weak in front of every person at
West Edmonton High. She wouldn’t apologize for the feeling,

even if it meant she was a sociopath. Sorrynotsorry.
“I was really scared for you though,” she said. “And you’ll
never walk safely in that school again.”
“I was expelled. I can’t go back.”

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