Page 39 of Until the Ribbon Breaks

“He was.” I set my spoon down and sit back, having lost my appetite. “He goes to my high school.”

They stare at me in surprise.

“Do you know why he’s here?”

“Aside from having a severe case of assholery, no.” I take my tray and get up from my seat, needing some space.

“You didn’t eat much,” Marcus notes when I throw out the other half of my dinner.

“Not hungry. Can I go to rec?”

He nods his approval. “Nurse Shanice is already down there.”

Without a glance back, I duck out of the cafeteria and head to the rec room. As if my day couldn’t get any worse, I’m now living with a person I despise. If this were any other situation, I would just bail, but I can’t, and neither can he. We’re stuck here together. It’s beyond humiliating. No doubt he’ll tell everyone back home about me being locked away in a loony bin while he spinshisreason for being here. They will buy it because they look up to him as if he’s some god or something.

“Already done with dinner?” Shanice asks when I walk in.

“Yeah.” I grab a deck of cards and situate myself at one of the tables before shuffling and starting a game of solitaire.

The room is silent apart from the soft background noise coming from the lame cooking show Shanice is watching while she waits for everyone else to arrive.

Flipping three, I play the four of spades, but I can’t distract myself from Sebastian. There’s no way I’m going to be able to avoid him in a place like this.

I can’t believe this is happening, as if this day didn’t suck enough with my father refusing to take me home. I swear the world is plotting against me in the cruelest of ways.

“Olympics!” Wes announces enthusiastically when he enters the room ahead of the crowd from the cafeteria. “Shanice, change the channel.”

The summer Olympics recently started, and every night after dinner, they all huddle around the television to watch. It’s the highlight of their day, seeing athletes live out their hopes and dreams. Too bad it only serves to remind me that I have none of my own.

Wes squeezes my shoulder as he passes, asking, “You joining us tonight?” He doesn’t stop to wait for my response though.

“Can I play?” Max asks when she takes a seat next to me.

“It’s solitaire. Not really a two-player game.”

“Oh, okay. So, how did the visit with your dad go?”

“Peachy.” The bitterness of pessimism stains the back of my tongue, and I flip three more cards. “He doesn’t believe me.”

“About your mom?”

“About me being okay to go home.”

“I’m sorry. But he knows about what she did, right?”

“I didn’t tell him, and I don’t think she did either.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

I look at her, and when I do, Sebastian strolls in. He stands awkwardly with his hands shoved into his pockets as he glances around the room, which is filled with noisy chaos. When Max turns to see what has caught my attention, I shift my focus to her. She blushes again and coyly places her hand over her nose in an attempt to hide the feeding tube.

“I’m serious,” I say, drawing her back to me. “He’s not a nice guy.”

Timidly, she shrugs and asks again, “Why didn’t you tell him about your mom?”

“I guess I got scared. I don’t know ... I couldn’t hurt him like that.”

“But he left you here.”

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