Page 72 of A Vicious Rumor

"Get off me!" I yelled at them.

Paper stepped forward and then between me and Scissors, who was smirking at me now. "I honestly am exhausted by all of this," he said, likely the only one at the entire party who was entirely sober. "I've always stopped you two from fighting, but maybe that's precisely what you need. Except, we're not going to do it here, like uncivilized animals. If you want to cut a deal, I'll paper it. Go on, let me know the terms," he said calmly.

My team loosened their grip on me enough so that I was able to stand comfortably, but they didn't completely let me go. "I want him to stop dating Lily," I said. "I win the fight, they break up," I said. "And don't try and tell me it's a real relationship and she has a say because I know that's bullshit," I said.

Scissors ran a hand through his impossibly blond hair and smiled at me. "Fine. But, if I win, she's mine." He smirked, "in every possible way."

I tried to lunge forward at his suggestive tone, but my team kept me firmly rooted to the spot.

"Good," Paper said, pulling out a notebook. "We'll hold the fight Monday after school, at the usual place."

I spit on the ground and glared at Scissors. "You're fucking dead," I said. I pushed my team off of me as I started to walk the other way and back towards my car. Kitty was gone, but I expected her to be. She wasn't going to hang around for something like that. Not only did I need to worry about the fight Monday, but I also had to worry about whatever she was going to try and pull in the meantime.

I tried to put eyes on Lily, but she was gone. I ran up the stairs and checked her room. Nothing.

I checked the clubroom, ran around the entire party, the perimeter of the house. She was nowhere.

I went back to the firepit where the whole incident had started and looked down to try and find something that would help me see where she'd gone. Something reflected to my right and I saw one of her stone bracelets in the mud. I picked it up and put it around my wrist, right next to the bracelet she had fixed for me and ran off into the woods after her, following her muddy footsteps through the grass.

22

LILY

It hurt when he left me the first time before the semester started.

It hurt when I saw him in school every day.

It hurt when he showed up in my room at the party.

It hurt when he left me just sitting there on the floor after completely using me.

But it ravaged my heart when I came downstairs and saw him making out with Kitty.

When he told me my feelings didn't matter.

When he ignored what I had to say.

That wasn't the Tyson that I knew.

That wasn't the Tyson I'd uprooted my entire life to try and be with.

That wasn't the Tyson that I'd fallen in love with.

My mind reeled as I realized I'd fallen in love with a boy that might no longer exist. Did I even love him? Or did I just love the idea of him? Did I create some version of him that didn't exist? Was this how he'd behaved all along? Was everything that we'd experienced over the summer some weird figment on my imagination?

My heart began to beat rapidly and I couldn't be there anymore. I couldn't be standing next to him. I couldn't hear him trying to fight Zachary for me.

I wanted to go home.

I wanted my mom.

I wanted to talk to Ronny.

I needed someone to tell me what I was feeling, because I couldn't figure it out for myself.

I turned on my heel and ran towards the woods. I lost my footing and fell in the mud, catching myself with my right hand. I could feel one of my bracelets slip off my wrist, but for the first time in forever, I didn't care about any of that. I just wanted to be out of there as fast as possible, and I didn't want anyone chasing me.

I made it into the tree line. It was dark and for the first time for the entire school year, I felt like I could take a breath. I felt like I could breathe in the air of the trees and just think.

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