Page 49 of The Other Half

“Get away from her,” a deep voice cuts coldly, and I spin around to see Oliver standing behind me. How did he get over here so fast?

“‘Scuse me, little boy?” Aaron says as he stands up and shoves his sleeves up his arms.

“I said get the fuck away from her,” he spits, unflinching.

He chuckles and sweeps his gaze between Oliver and I. “You her keeper?”

“Something like that.” They stare at each other, but neither one makes another move.

I shake my head in disbelief. “Oliver? What are you doing?” I glance over at the girl he was just with, she looks equally confused.

“What am I doing? What are you doing at a party full of drunk college guys trying to roofie girls?”

I glance down at the cup in my hand and immediately feel a wave of nausea. Oh my God.

I shove the cup back at Aaron and start stalking towards the house. I need to go home.

“Oakley!” I hear Amber call out behind me, but I ignore her. She was going to just sit there while a creepy guy gave me a drink like that? Some friend she is.

I feel a hand grab my wrist and I shake it off. “What are you doing here, Oakley?” he grits out.

“I came with Amber.”

He rolls his eyes. “You shouldn’t be here. Go back to where you belong. And this time, stay there.” He looks down at my feet with a sneer on his face. “With your ridiculous fucking shoes.”

I gawk at him, my heart sinking.“How is it any of your business where I go?”

He points over to the firepit. “I just saved you from getting assaulted. You shouldn’t be here. Amber knows better than to bring someone like you here.”

Someone like me? I’m not even sure what he means by that exactly, but it hurts nonetheless. “If you hate me so much, why’d you even say anything to that guy? I can take care of myself.” I’m trying to sound brave, but my voice cracks.

His expression goes soft for a split second as he looks into my eyes wistfully. He wears that same expression he did when we had our first argument, when I found out he was drinking that night he almost kissed me. He looks remorseful. He takes a ragged breath and turns on his heel, marching into the house and leaving me without another word.

“Come on, let’s go back to your house.” Amber says, grabbing my arm for the third time tonight and pulling me inside. I’m getting pretty fucking sick of her doing that. “I’m sorry, I had no idea Oliver would be here.”

“Did you know that Aaron dude was a rapist?” I ask with a bite in my tone.

She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “He was just being nice, Oakley. Oliver is clearly just jealous.”

Nice? I hate assuming the worst of people, but why would Oliver bother getting involved if the guy wasn’t known for being a scumbag? It was pretty obvious he didn’t want to see me here, so I don’t think he would go to the trouble of making it up.

We get into her car and I stay silent the entire ride back to my house. I want to like Amber, overall she’s pretty fun to be around, but part of me still doesn’t trust her.

“I’m sorry it wasn’t a good night,” she says as she throws the car in park.

I nod once. “It’s not your fault.” I don’t see any point in picking a fight with her. I made the choice to go to a party knowing it was a terrible idea. I have to learn how to say no to people.

We sneak inside quietly through the same window we snuck out of before, somehow she was able to disarm the security system without my parents knowing. I’m glad I didn’t get caught, but I could have done without this entire night even happening.

I lay down and try to fight off the memory of Oliver sneering at me the way he did, his arm around that girl, and the way he looked at me for a split second like he had something left in his heart for me besides hatred. It takes me hours to finally fall asleep.

Chapter 39

Oakley

It’s almost Christmas now. It should be any day now that I’ll be receiving my letter from Angelwood. I applied at a couple of other schools closer to home, but I know that my dad won’t let me go somewhere else unless Angelwood rejects me. Part of me hopes that they will. I’m so sick of having every aspect of my life planned out for me.

I stare at the giant Christmas tree in our foyer, covered with blue and white ribbons and ornaments. It’s pretty, but it always feels kind of soulless in our house this time of year. My parents hire someone to decorate for us, so I don’t experience that warm and fuzzy feeling you’re supposed to get when you hang your favorite ornament on the tree while sipping hot chocolate. We don’t really spend a lot of time together as a family even during the holidays.

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