5
It had been almost two weeks since I transferred. I was renting a small apartment near my new school. M parents, terrified Bill might see me and get angry again, had basically told me not to come home.
Westwood and Crestwood. In the same city, but worlds apart. If you weren’t looking for someone, you’d nev
er find them.
Hey, Tessa Shaw. Come watch me play basketball today.”
The speaker was a boy in a black and white jersey, a playful glint in his sly, fox-like eyes.
When I first arrived, a girl in my class had warned me about him. “That’s Leo Sterling. He’s as famous fo
being a player as he is for being handsome.”
The other students pretended to be busy with their own things, but I could feel their eyes on us.
‘d lost count of how many times Leo had approached me over the past few weeks. They said this was the
irst time he’d ever chased a girl for this long. At our age, everyone secretly hoped for a dramatic campus
ove story, either for themselves or for someone they knew. They were already whispering that Leo, the play. Joy, was finally ready to settle down.
But a player reformed is still a player at heart. And his past was messy..
shook my
head gently. “I can’t. I have homework.”
He glanced at the workbook on my desk and raised an eyebrow. “You know I’ve been trying to get you to go >ut with me for two weeks, right, Tessa Shaw?”
And?”
He let out a soft chuckle. “So why do you keep saying no?”
The classroom was nearly empty now. Outside, the sun was beginning its descent, painting half the sky in shades of fiery orange. I remembered something I’d read once: the evening breeze is free, the sunset is free, and I am one of a kind.
Tessa Shaw, you know, there’s a very strange contradiction about you…”
The sharp blast of a whistle from the basketball court cut through the twilight. I looked at him. He smirked. ” It’s this weird mix of… like, a deathly stillness and this fierce, stubborn spark.”
‘It just makes me more interested.”
Chapter 1
I shot him a cold look. “The game’s starting,” I reminded him.
“It’s against Crestwood High today,” he said, his voice a low, meaningful murmur.
As if anyone cared.
I looked back down at my textbook. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and walked away.
Once he was gone, I glanced up at the silent clock on the wall. That post on the Confessions page… I had a pretty good guess who had written it.
But what did he stand to gain from it?
Unlike Crestwood, Westwood High cut the power to the classrooms on the dot. At six-thirty, the lights went
out, leaving only the fading glow of the sunset.
packed my bag and headed downstairs.
A gentle breeze rustled through the crabapple trees, sending a shower of petals to the ground. They scatter
ed, then were swept away by the wind.
I stood there for a a moment, watching them go. My short life felt a lot like those petals-powerless, adrift.
“Hey, isn’t that Tessa Shaw?”
The voice pulled me from my thoughts. I was about to walk away when they blocked my path. Two familiar faces, looking stunned to see me here. I knew them from when I used to trail after Bill; they were his friends. We’d always gotten along well enough.
They were both holding bottles of water, probably just coming from the campus store.
“Tessa, you really transferred here?”
I glanced at him, not quite understanding the emphasis on “really,” but I nodded.
The one with the slicked-back hair nudged his friend. “Look, Tessa, you and Bill grew up together. He’s here today for the game. This is the perfect chance for you two to clear up the misunderstanding.”
Everyone seemed to think I was incapable of doing something so spiteful. Everyone except Bill, the one
person who should have known me best.
“There’s no…”
Before I could finish, a cold voice cut through the air from a short distance away. “Does it take you two that long to buy water? Or are you just going to stand there talking to irrelevant people?”
Bill stood there, his gaze sweeping over me with a dark, dismissive glint, as if I were a complete stranger.
His friends looked at me, embarrassed and awkward. I managed a small smile. “I should get going. See you.
“Yeah, okay. See ya.”
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
