Page 129 of Faux Real
“You did this?” I narrow my eyes, scanning her flushed face. “Wha—”
“You’re a real snake, Kennedy,” Corrine states, disgust in her voice. “I mean, I knew you hated me, and honestly, I was a fucking idiot to trust you, tobelieveyou, but you can’t change who you are, can you?”
“The blast?” I ask, ignoring Maxine’s confused stares. “You think that was me?”
“Or her.” Corrine’s gaze briefly snaps to Maxine before landing on my face. “Or both of you.”
“Wait,” Max says, clueing in as she looks at me. “You knew about—” She not-so-discreetly nods at Corrine. “The thing?”
Corrine rolls her eyes. “Nice try but your acting needs some work.”
“And your need to be a vindictive bitch needs some work,” I growl, taking a step forward so that we’re face to face. “What is wrong with you?”
“Hah,” Corrine huffs, crossing her arms. “What’s wrong withme? What the fuck is wrong withyou! I knew you were a lot of things,Kenny, but I didn’t think you were a liar. Iactuallythought you might keep it a secret butclearly,I was wrong.” She sighs. “Now I guess your little boyfriend will suffer the consequences of your snaky actions. Sorry, not sorry.”
“You’re a fucking idiot, Corrine,” I state, a vile taste in my mouth. “I didn’t say shit to anyone, okay? Not even Maxine.”
“Lies, no one else knew,” Corrine says, glaring at me. “How’d you even know it was Zeek, huh? Lucky guess?”
I blink. “What?”
“Cut the shit, Ken,” Corrine says. “Running back? Quarterback? It was clever, even for you.” She tousles her hair. “If only I didn’t see that little mint tin, hey? Oh well,c’est la vie.”
“Oh my God, you were fucking Zeek?” Max pipes up, unable to stay silent any longer. “Dude...”
“You were cheating on Sawyer...” I cringe. “With Zeek?Ew.”
Corrine’s nose flares. “Fuck you, Kenny.”
I bite my tongue, stopping myself from saying something that will hurt me more than it’ll Corrine. Rise above. You are not this person. Making her feel bad won’t help you feel better. It won’t change anything. It won’t help fix the situation.
“You know what?” I tilt my head. “I feel really bad for you, Corrie. I really do.”
“Yeah?” she asks defensively, her body tensing. “And why’s that?”
“Because Sawyer was right,” I explain. “Youareinsecure.”
“I’m not—”
“I didn’t tell anyone, Corrine, that’s a fact,” I continue, cutting off. “So if you’re looking for someone to blame, I’d maybe look a little closer to home.”
“No one else knew,” she states firmly. “No one.”
“Really? No one else knew you were banging Zeek?” Max asks. “Not even your dumb friends?”
Corrine stiffens.
“That’s what I thought,” Max says, taking a step forward. “You should thank your lucky stars that I’m practicing non-violence.” I shoot Max a curious side-eye. Since when? “Otherwise, I’d break your fucking face right now.” My eyes widen as her fist clenches, and she takes a deep breath. “So,solucky.”
“Down girl,” I whisper, tugging the hem of Max’s shirt. I look up at Corrine once I’m confident Maxine isn’t going to go all Black Widow on Corn’s ass. “I’m sorry that your secret got out, okay? But you really fucked up.” I check my phone. Damn, it’s late. “And now I gotta go fix it.”
“Ken—”
“Go back to the cabin, Max,” I say lifelessly, a wave of exhaustion washing over me as I walk away from Corrine, leaving her standing alone in the dark. Where she belongs. “It’s over.”
Max doesn’t follow me. Maybe she understands now. Maybe she sees why I need to do this. It was my decision to start taking Adderall. It was my choice. I did that. And every decision, despite its intentions, matters.
I just needed to stay awake. I needed to concentrate. I needed to be the best. Always the best. There wasn’t another option. I’m a Carmichael. We can’t fail. Failure was not an option. Mediocrity was not an option. I needed help. It wasn’t supposed to come to this. It wasn’t a problem. I didn’t think it was a problem.
