Page 114 of The Glittering Edge

“I was the one who told you what happened in PE class, when Eric Lim broke his arm. They ran into each other. It was an accident.”

“It wasn’t,” Corey says. “You told me it wasn’t.”

“No. You decided it couldn’t have been an accident. And when the football guys were talking about it the next day, you said Alonso had wanted to break Eric’s arm. Suddenly, everyone in school was talking about it as if Alonso had attacked him. That was because of you.”

Corey’s hands were in fists, but now they’re limp at his sides. Dylan is lying to mess with him. He remembers her saying Alonso was… he was…

“I’ve seen you start fights with him,” Dylan says. “But somehow, Alonso always gets the blame, and I’m not sure he deserves that.” She steps closer to Corey, angling her face so that he has to meet her eyes. “How many of the rumors about Alonso came from you? The fights, the spells, the bad blood between your families—is any of it real?”

“Of course it’s real,” Corey says, but Dylan barrels on.

“How hard have you worked to ruin his life, just like I’m ruining Penny’s?” Dylan laughs. “Maybe we’re meant to be after all.”

Corey is unsteady on his feet. He came here to put Dylan in her place, to tell her to stay away from Penny. That he would never do the kinds of things Dylan has done.

Except he has. He already lied about Penny’s feelings for him to get Dylan off his back, and he didn’t think twice about it. He knew Penny could get hurt, but if it meant saving himself, he was willing to do it.

This really is Corey’s fault.

“You always say Alonso is so dangerous,” Dylan says. “But I think you want to believe that.”

“I’m not like my grandpa,” Corey mutters, running his hands over his hair. “I’mnot.And there’s so much you don’t understand about Alonso’s family.”

Dylan throws up her arms. “Maybe I would understand if you opened up to me! But every time you look at me, it’s like… it’s like you’re lookingthroughme. Like I’m a placeholder.”

“Is that why you hooked up with someone else?” Corey sneers. “To get my attention?”

Dylan gives him a bitter smile. “Did it work?”

She looks exhausted. Desperate. Broken. Was Alonso right when he said Corey was bulldozing through people’s lives? Did he do this to her?

“You need to take that video down,” Corey manages to say. “Now.”

Dylan’s face is blank. But after a moment, she takes out her phone and opens her feed. He watches her delete the video, and he should feel relief, but he can’t. He’s numb.

“I should’ve told Penny what kind of guy you really are,” Dylan says. “She’s wasting her time.”

The words almost pull the truth from Corey’s mouth, but Dylan sees it written on his face before he can say a word. “Oh god. Was that a lie, too?”

Somehow, Corey makes it down the stairs.

“You never would’ve shown up at someone’s house in the middleof the night to protectme,” Dylan calls after him. “I guess this means you really want her, right? Penny is that special?”

It doesn’t matter what Corey thinks of Penny. He doesn’t deserve her. He doesn’t even deserve Dylan.

His head is pounding, threatening to split apart. He gets in his car. Turns it on. Drives away, leaving Dylan standing barefoot in her driveway, the headlights casting skeletal shadows across her face.

Corey doesn’t know where he’s driving. All he knows is that he can’t go home. Above him, the stars are bright, and he wishes he could fall into the sky.

Penny

THE CHECKOUT PERSON SMACKS HER GUM, STARING AT THE FIFTY-FOOTcoil of rope sitting on the conveyor belt.

“It’s for a project,” Penny says. “I have to hang a… tire swing.”

“Uh-huh.” She rings Penny up and hands her the rope. But right as Penny is about to leave, the girl leans in conspiratorially and says, “Hey.”

Penny stops. “Huh?”

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