Page 63 of Reject (Academy of Misfits 2)

“Kate?” I whisper.

She looks up at me, clutching something to her chest. Her face is pale, blotchy from crying. When she sees me, she wipes at her eyes and nose, a trail of tears and snot on her cardigan.

“What are you doing here?” she hisses.

“The same thing as you, avoiding class. Wanting to be alone. Sick of today, most days actually,” I reel off.

“You made your bed,” she bites out, moving to get up.

“Hey, don’t go. I’ve been meaning to talk with you.”

“I’ve got nothing to say to you, Asia.”

“Just a minute. Then you can cut me out.” I sit down next to her, pulling my legs up. She stays and a spark of hope alights. Maybe I can save our friendship after all.

“You were the one who cut us out. You were the one who joined the HH crew and cast us aside. What were you thinking?” she chokes on the words, but her tears aren’t for me or the loss of our friendship. These tears are for someone else.

“Want to tell me what’s up?”

“No,” she snaps. “You answer my questions first.”

“Someone hurt you bad, huh?” I continue, ignoring her.

She side eyes me. “Everyone hurts me eventually. I must have a sign that says; ‘shit on Kate’ in big neon letters above my head.”

“That bad?”

“Worse…” She leans her head back against the wall, a loan tear rolling down her cheek.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Kate. I did what I had to do…” I say quietly.

“He said something similar before he fucked off and left me.”

“Someone you cared about?”

“Someone Iloved. I loved him Asia, and he left. The only person who ever truly understood me ran away from what we had. He ran because he wasafraid.”

She looks at me then, her pretty hazel eyes blurred with bitter tears.

“Where is he now, Kate?”

“He’s in the army. Some undisclosed location on the other side of the fucking world.”

“What happened between you?”

“He left me because he couldn’t face up to his true feelings. He left me to face those bitches at Cherrystone Prep on my own. He left me because he couldn’t forgive himself. Si was my friend, my protector, the other half to my heart and he fucking ran away when shit got hard.”

“Why?”

Kate hands me a photograph. In it is a younger version of Kate, maybe thirteen or fourteen. Two boys are standing either side of her. One is dark haired like Kate with a similar nose and straight white teeth. He has his arm slung around her shoulder, grinning widely. On the other side of her is a blonde kid with the frame of a child, but the beginnings of adulthood in the shape of his jaw and the way he holds himself. Kate is looking up at him, whilst he looks down at her, a secret smile on their lips. I know love when I see it.

“That’s Si,” she says, pointing to the blonde. “He was my brother’s best friend and that’s Luke, my brother,” she says tapping the kid who looks like a male version of her. “We all grew up together. Si was one of the family, until the day he became so much more.” She swipes at a tear on her face.

“Tell me what happened, Kate.”

She looks at me, taking the photo gently from my fingers and placing it back into her rucksack sitting next to her on the floor. After a moment of rummaging around she pulls out a small cellophane bag of marijuana, cigarette papers and a lighter. I watch her in shock as she rolls a joint, puts it in her mouth lights it then hands it to me whilst she holds the smoke in her lungs.

“What the fuck, Kate? I didn’t know you smoked Mary-J.” I laugh, shaking my head.

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