Page 62 of Unspoken Words
“At least seventy for a course in Darwin, and seventy-four for the ones in Canberra and the city.”
“Darwin?” His crumpled expression crumpled further.
“Yeah. Northern College of the Arts. It’s meant to be amazing.”
“That’s a long way from home, Ellie.”
“It is, but I’m really excited about it. I want to branch out and spread my creative wings.” I opened my arms like a bird and leapt forward, turning one-eighty degrees and flapping while walking backwards. “You catching the bus or are you just being a gentleman and walking with me?”
He picked up his pace to keep up with my hurried steps. “Both.”
I smiled and kept flapping.
“So … does that mean you and Connor have definitely split then?”
My flapping stopped. “What? No. Why?”
“Because you could be heading to Darwin, and because he’s taking my sister to their formal.”
My eyes heated to a sear. “Couldbe heading to Darwin,” I said, my tone firm. “And, anyway, Connor might be heading there, too, if that’s what’s best for him. Or we both might stay here in Melbourne. We’re gonna see what happens.” My arms fell to my sides. “And I know he’s taking Lilah. They’re friends. It makes sense.”
Tristan jogged past me and opened the gate to the bus stop. “She wants them to be more than friends. You know that, right?”
I paused and searched his ink-coloured eyes.
“I’m sorry, Ellie, but she’s adamant you two have split.”
“We haven’t split. We’ve just been taking a breather.”
Butterflies swirled in my stomach as the roar of the bus’s engine sounded in the distance. Connor would be on that bus, and I desperately wanted to see and talk to him. Exams were over. School was finished. We could finally make things right again.
“A breather? What even is that?”
“It’s some time apart to catch your breath.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
“I do.”
Covering my nose and mouth with my hand, I hurried through the dust cloud following the bus as it pulled to a stop and parked on the gravel, then I climbed the steps, my smile faltering when I spotted Connor with Lilah, his arm stretched across the back of the seat they were both sitting on.
Our eyes locked, and his body tensed. My feet froze in place, dead weights in the aisle, until Tristan lightly nudged me forward.
“There’s a spare seat to your left,” he whispered into my ear.
Swallowing what felt like a mouthful of dust, my eyes moved from Connor to Lilah who shuffled in her seat closer to his side, a victorious smirk on her vindictive stupid face. I wanted to storm up the aisle and punch her in the nose, pull her hair, and just … hurt her. She was hurting me, deliberately, and I didn’t understand why.
Lilah Perez was just an outright bitch who derived pleasure from seeing others suffer, and I didn’t understand that. And I no longer understood Connor, either.
He’d changed.
Blinking back tears I refused to let fall, I quickly ducked into the seat and scooted across to let Tristan sit beside me. I could barely form a sentence but did so anyway. “Are they together?”
“I don’t think so. Lilah would’ve said something if they were.”
I choked, my mouth still bone dry. “They sure as hell look together.”
He turned in his seat and glanced back at them, cringing. “Yeah, they do. I’m sorry, Ellie.”
