Dusk (Young Adult Paranormal Romance) by Amy Durham Page B

control.”
    He was being awfully cryptic, but I think I got the point. “Are you afraid your parents will insist you go to Europe to be with them?”
    “Something like that isn’t outside the realm of possibility,” he said. “And if that happens, if I have to leave, I want things solid between us. I don’t want to have to leave until you and I are, well… until we’re are a unit.”
    I liked that idea, the two of us as a unit. I also knew he was right. About all of it. I just didn’t know how to make it happen.
    “I’ll try,” I said. “I’ll work really hard on the forgiveness thing.”
    His face lit up, hope and happiness evident in his smile. “I’ll help.”
    “You already have.”
    I meant what I’d said about trying. But not even the look in his eyes could kill the doubt in my soul. Somewhere deep in my heart was the firm belief that I would live with this misery for the rest of my life.
    And that I absolutely, positively deserved it.

Chapter 15

    A wful didn’t even begin to describe the next morning at school. The bright-white walls of the new school felt like a prison, plain and colorless, confining me to the humiliation I’d suffered here the previous day. When I wasn’t fielding questions about the validity of Courtney’s claims, I was enduring looks of the poor-pitiful-Zoe variety from every direction.
    I lost count of how many times I said, “My parents’ marriage was their business before my dad died, and it’s still their business”, or something to that effect. I felt like I was at a never ending press conference and all I could say was “no comment”.
    For the most part, I said nothing else. Until I encountered Viv and Daniel at my locker.
    “Is it true?” Daniel spoke while Viv looked at the floor. “Or was she just being a bitch?”
    Since they’d witnessed the messy exchange yesterday, I felt like I owed them the truth. Then there was the fact that my father’s infidelity was the part of the story I’d withheld from Viv, and I figured it was time to come clean.
    “She was definitely being a bitch,” I began. “But what she said was true.”
    “And you didn’t know?” Daniel asked.
    Viv looked up at me then, all kinds of confusion swimming in her eyes. Compassion and regret, and at the same time distrust and uncertainty. In that moment I wished so badly that I’d told her everything. She would’ve been there for me, no questions asked.
    Hindsight.
    “I knew about the affair,” I admitted and watched Viv’s eyes turn misty and sad. “Just not who it was with.”
    The hurt in Viv’s eyes cut me to my soul. I knew she thought I hadn’t trusted her enough to confide in her and I searched every corner of my brain for words to express that it had nothing to do with not trusting her and everything to do with how ashamed I was of the situation.
    Still she said nothing. She just looked away.
    “Well, that really sucks,” Daniel said. “And Courtney totally sucks for telling you that way.”
    “Viv, I just wanted to forget it,” I whispered, stepping around to stand directly in front of her.
    “You could’ve told me,” she replied, eyes still glued to the beige tile floor. “I’d have listened.”
    “I know. I was just so embarrassed. I didn’t talk about it with anyone, not even Mom, until Adrian.”
    Her eyes shot to mine, narrowing in disbelief. “You told Adrian?”
    And yeah. That had not been the best thing to say.
    Daniel had the good sense to slip away.
    “Telling him just sort of happened the other night. Mom and I almost had a fight and I went for a walk. I ran into him and just sort of unloaded.”
    “I’m your best friend,” she said, her voice an eerie, startling kind of calm. “Or at least I thought I was. You spent the whole summer with those two skanks, and now that you’ve detached yourself from them, you turn to Adrian instead of me?”
    “It’s not him instead of you. It’s just…”
    “Forget it.” She interrupted me.