Page 44 of The Prom King & The Ice Queen

Leo

I haveno desire to go back and make small talk with my friends in the cafeteria. So I don’t. They’re all pissing me off today, and I can’t even say why.

They’re not acting any different. But Savannah is.

I am.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I got to school today, but it wasn’t this. The same old, same old from Savannah.

Except…it wasn’t exactly the same. Her ignoring me? Yes. But the way she ran out of there, the way she stared at me like I was the boogey man when I came after her?

That’s not the Savannah I’ve come to know.

But it is the girl I’m dying to meet.

I wander the halls aimlessly for a bit before heading to the courtyard. It’s too cold for anyone to be taking lunch out there, and I could use the fresh air to clear my head.

But I’m wrong. It’s not too cold for Vince, apparently. And his girlfriend Addie is buried in his sweatshirt as he holds her close to his side.

They spot me before I can turn back.

“Hi Leo!” Addie chirps.

Vince gives me a nod of acknowledgement. That might not seem like a warm welcome, but from Vince it’s as good as a hug. So rather than turn back around, I go over and join them.

“What are you doing out here?” Addie asks. She says it so sweetly and with such a welcoming smile, like my being out here is such a treat.

“Just needed some fresh air,” I say.

“Join us,” Addie says, all wide-eyed with excitement. She, like my mom, is so very eager for Vince and I to ‘bond’ or whatever.

Me and Vince? Not so much.

Though we have been getting along better since I offered the olive branch at Addie’s birthday party.

I sit across from them at the picnic table.

“Do you want some food?” Addie asks. “Vince brought enough for both of us plus an army.”

I hear him mutter something about how she doesn’t eat enough, and her hissing something back about it only being one time.

Vince gives her a little squeeze like he just can’t help himself, and I look away from the happy couple.

I’ll admit it, these two are kinda cute together. I wasn’t exactly Vince’s biggest fan when he came to town, but now that he and I have kinda sorta formed a truce, I’m realizing that my issue was never really with him.

It’s with my family for keeping their secrets. For not being the kind of people I like to think we should be, even though I know that we’re not.

But still…I don’t want my family to be the big baddies that Savannah thinks we are. Vince too.

I want us to be better than that.

I’d given up on my ‘dad’ a long time ago, but my mom is all that’s good in the world. I’d thought my grandparents were the same until I’d realized how much I didn’t know about them.

How much I still don’t know.

“How’s things at the house?” I ask.

Addie beams at me. I’m pretty sure I just got a gold star in her book for making an effort.

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