Page 45 of Science Project

And that look … was the most precious thing to me.

Now, I had broken the trust between them.

Imani suddenly enveloped Allie in her arms and pushed her into a car. After slamming the door, Imani twirled around, said something snappy to Jace, then drove off with Allie in tow as Jace stood there, defeated.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and wished people at Redwood could mind their business instead of now gossiping about Allie and Jace, but the people surrounding Jace were whispering tensely with each other.

Jace and Allie might’ve been stepsiblings, but before their parents married … they had been together. And I had been the one to rip them apart. All because of Dad. All because I hadn’t been strong enough to stand up to him.

All because I feared that he’d kill me if I didn’t listen.

Aimlessly looking around in the crowd, my gaze locked on to Akio, who stood by himself on the sidewalk on the outskirts of the mob with his hands stuffed into his coat pockets, his body turned toward me and his glasses all foggy from the cold, but somehow, I knew he was looking right at me.

Akio turned on his heel and headed in the opposite direction, shoulders slumped forward.

I had seen him at the game tonight, had forced myself to be extra loud with the cheers, to hit the stunts perfectly so he’d notice me out of the rest of the girls.

And now … I had betrayed his trust too.

I exited the car, slammed my door, and ran across the parking lot to the pack where Akio had disappeared. “Excuse me. Excuse me!” I pushed through the horde, elbowing people so they’d get the hint. “Move!”

After I finally made it through the herd of students, I glanced around in the dark in hopes of finding Akio, to explain myself, to promise that I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to, but because I had to.

But he was already gone.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FIVE

AKIO

Ten at night on Saturday, I sat in Imani’s car, driving around Nicole’s block.

I didn’t want to be here with Imani, sitting with my thoughts and imagining what Nicole was doing with Jace in her living room. I balled my hands into fists by my sides and stared at her house as we passed, wishing that she were with me.

The only reason that I’d actually gone to the football game last night was to see her cheer. I usually didn’t do school activities, but Nicole had made me feel things that I had never felt before at my house … then in the hallway the other morning.

“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath.

Imani glanced in the rearview mirror at a car parked a little ways down the street, and then she clutched the steering wheel tightly and looked back at Nicole’s house. She had told me that we were here to spot Jace Harbor in the act with Nicole so she could protect her best friend, Allie. But with that look on her face …

“Are you okay?” I asked Imani. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“Not a ghost,” she said. “But maybe my death …”

I peered into the rearview mirror to get a better look at the car Imani had spotted and saw João, Landon, and Kai from Poison sitting inside it. What the hell were they doing here? This late at night and two doors down from Nicole’s place?

“Fuck it,” Imani mumbled to herself and parked across the street.

Why are we stopping?!

After she cut all the lights, she pulled out a pair of binoculars from the center console.

“Why do you have binoculars in your?—”

“Bird-watching, Akio,” Imani snapped, zooming in with the dial on the top, “aka none of your business.” She nodded to the glove compartment. “There is another pair in there for you if you want to snoop. I know you like her, so you might as well see how big of a bitch she is.”

When I opened the glove compartment, sure enough, there was a pair of binoculars.

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