Page 60 of Feral Touch
I rubbed my hands over my face, glad to see that I wasn't leaking tears anymore. “I'm going to take a nap. Maybe I'll feel better in the afternoon.”
“Maybe he'll come to his senses,” Jen suggested. “Maybe you'll wake up to a dozen text messages apologizing for running out on you.”
A small glimmer of hope lit up in my chest. Maybe Jen was right. Maybe Ren would regret breaking up with me. Maybe he would take it all back.
But there were no messages waiting on my phone that afternoon. Or that evening, or the next morning.
Ren really had left me.
CHAPTER 15
WHAT'STHATWORD? That word for when you first become aware of something and from then on keep seeing it over and over again.
That's exactly what happened to me.
Before I'd run into Ren again, I'd never heard of the band Feral Silence. After he broke up with me it seemed like the band was everywhere I turned.
Teenagers on the bus were hunched over their phones talking about the newest photos posted on the Feral Silence social media accounts. Ads for their new tour were all over my web browser when I went on the internet. To top it off, I saw a girl wearing a Feral Silence band t-shirt while I was in line waiting to order at a coffee shop.
It was driving me crazy—so crazy I actually looked up the word.
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.
Great. Ren dumping me caused me to experience aphenomenon.
I flipped down my laptop and leaned back in my chair with a hopeless sigh. Ren still hadn't contacted me. He hadn't responded to any of my messages or voicemails.
Since it happened, I hadn't felt like eating. I was barely holding myself together in class. I couldn't concentrate on studying to save my life. I'd been avoiding Temsah, not wanting to hear his admonishments. I knew he'd noticed my performance slipping.
I was turning into a complete mess.
The worst thing, though?
The worst thing was that I was no longer working with Ren on our song. With no hope of making money from sales, I was at risk of being kicked out of Opus Academy.
It felt like my whole life was falling apart.
I forced back tears for what felt like the hundredth time.
Why had Ren dumped me?
It was eating away at me. No, it was even worse than that. Not knowing was slowly killing me.
I swiveled in my computer chair and reached for my music theory textbook. I probably wouldn't remember a single word, but with the book open on my desk, I could at least pretend to study.
My phone pinged. My heart jumped. Was it Ren? I jumped to grab it.
Unknown number.
It’s online.
I frowned, confused. What was online? Who was sending this? Before I could respond, I got another text.
Fifteen years ago. In your hometown. On his birthday.
I stared at my phone, uncomprehending. Then, slowly, I reached for my laptop again and opened it up. I typed in Ren's name, our hometown, his birthdate and the year. Several newspaper articles popped up. I clicked on the first one and skimmed it.
My heart sank.
