The Wrong Path

Chapter Fourteen





She had thought Saturday was the worst day of her life, but somehow Monday managed to surpass it. People she didn’t know kept coming up to her, offering congratulations on her win at Homecoming. Trevor stood with his arm around her shoulders, smiling proudly, oblivious to her discomfort as she accepted their words as graciously and sincerely as she could. She could feel the hostility rolling off of Claire a mile away, belying her own congratulatory words. The other girls in her group were being painfully nice, though she could see the resentment buried within their cold eyes. She looked around for Will and Ebony all day, even daring to venture out through the back doors, but it turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. They were nowhere to be found.

When school was over Trevor drove her home and offered to come in to work on homework together, but she turned him down, citing exhaustion. She ignored the disappointment on his face as he kissed her forehead and bid her goodbye, leaving her at the door. Once inside, she headed straight up to her room, pulling apart her curtains and opening her window, praying that Will would suddenly materialize and somehow make it all better. She even sat at her desk to do her homework, to make sure he could see her.

But she was left waiting. “Tomorrow” apparently did not mean the same thing to Will as it did to her.

After dinner she had to drag herself back up to her room, prepared to crawl into bed and hide under her covers until her mom or dad forced her to get up for school the next morning. With a heavy sigh, she opened her door, her lips parting in disbelief as Will stood from her bed. He grinned at her impishly, his dark eyes twinkling.

“Your window was open,” he teased. “Were you expecting someone?”

She felt a million emotions rush through her as she stared at him in the moonlight, too stunned to speak. She had spent all day looking for him, and he had been nowhere to be found. She had waited for him all night, and he hadn’t shown up. And now, just as she had given up and was prepared to curl up in bed and wait for the inevitable morning, he suddenly appeared?

And that was what he said to her?

No explanation of where he’d been all day. No inquiry about her day, even though he knew it would likely be horrible for her. Nothing. Just a joke.

She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

His smile had already fallen, but his face turned serious as he slowly stepped out from the opposite side of the bed. “Bad day?” he asked slowly.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she stated flatly, so coldly that Will stopped short in approaching her. She lifted her eyes to his dark, unreadable ones. “Where were you all day?”

He was silent for a moment, staring back at her. Then in short, concise words he answered, “We skipped school and went to Dylan’s.”

An emotion she didn’t even recognize ran through her as she processed his words. While she had been going through one of the worst days of her life—a day he knew would be difficult for her—he had been having fun at his friend’s house.

She couldn’t even find the strength to reply as her eyes fell to his chest, unable to look at him anymore. Will had abandoned her. Left her on her own to fight her way through the school of piranhas.

But, she realized slowly, she really had no right to be angry with him. Will had no obligation to be there for her.

She had been counting on him all this time—depending on him to be there for her—but she wasn’t Will’s responsibility. Will had his own life to live, and it didn’t revolve around picking her up when she fell. He had been there to support her as a friend, but that was it. She was the one who had made it out to be more. She was the one who had read too much into his kind words. Will wasn’t the one at fault. She was.

Somehow, the thought made her feel worse than she had felt all day.

“Dylan,” he began slowly, startling her, “has a pretty rough home life. His family doesn’t associate with the most reputable people. And when his parents disappeared right before an important deal, he needed to handle it. So he needed some people with him.”

The ache in her chest disappeared instantly, replaced with something much worse. She froze, terror chilling her bones as she lifted her head and stared up into his carefully guarded expression. Every other thought in her mind vanished as she tried to grasp the magnitude of what he had just said. She could only imagine what his cautiously selected words really meant, and everything she came up with frightened her more.

“Are you okay?” she choked out.

“I’m fine.”

She gaped at him in disbelief. “You’re not fine!” she exclaimed. “You could have been killed, Will!”

“That’s for me to worry about.”

She stared at him, stricken. His face was calm, eerily composed despite the magnitude of his words and the situation he’d been in that day. How could Will, who could laugh with twinkling eyes and such a charming smile, morph into this apathetic and emotionless stone who stood in front of her? How could he risk his life for… for what she could only assume was a drug deal? What about his friends, who would be devastated if he died? What about his family? What about her?

“You,” she whispered, shaking with unspent rage, “are unbelievably selfish.”

An incredulous look crossed over his features. “Selfish?” he repeated in disbelief. “Me?”

She didn’t miss the thinly veiled insult, but she was too angry to respond. “Get out of my room,” she ordered, gritting her teeth to keep from yelling. She strode toward him, yanking on his shoulder and shoving him to her window. “If you don’t want to care about yourself, I don’t want to care about you, either. Get out. Get out!”

Maybe he didn’t like being shoved. Maybe he didn’t like being told what to do. Maybe Will’s temper had finally snapped, too. But suddenly her hands were locked behind her and she was pressed up firmly against him, his face just inches from her.

“I’m going,” he assured her darkly, seething.

He released her almost roughly and stepped away, disappearing out of her window in a fluid motion. For a moment she stared at the empty spot he had just vacated, her heart pounding frantically against her chest. How had they gone from being together last night at the lake, laughing with one another, to this?

And then his words surrounded her, filling her ears, and she slammed her window shut and threw herself onto her bed.



***



At first, Annabelle was too angry to miss Will.

While she sat in the cafeteria, pretending to be interested in whoever Claire and Claudia were gossiping about, and when she drove home with Trevor, half-listening to him chatter excitedly about what the weekend plans were, she replayed her fight with Will in her head. Every time she did, she would remember the blank, empty look he had given her at the prospect of risking his life, and her anger would be refueled.

It wasn’t until about two weeks later, when she rounded a corner in the hallway on her way to third period and suddenly saw Will, that her heart started to ache.

And then his dark eyes met hers and she remembered his unfeeling, careless words, and felt her temper reignite. They glared at each other as they started toward each other in the crowded hallway, and with a snap of her head Annabelle faced forward, sticking her nose up in the air as her shoulder came within centimeters of his. Fury emanated from him as they wordlessly passed each other by.

At the door of her classroom she felt some of her anger die and she hesitated, gazing back down the hallway at his retreating figure. He really was mad at her. Maybe mad enough that he would never speak to her again.

Her shoulders slumped as she headed into the classroom, sliding into her seat in the third row. It wasn’t her fault they had gotten into an argument. It wasn’t like she had been deliberately prying into his life or trying to tell him what to do. She had just been looking out for him. He didn’t have to be so furious with her.

But then again, she had probably overreacted, too. Will, who had never spoken about himself, had finally opened up to her and she had immediately shot him down. She had insulted him. She had thrown him out of her room.

God. No wonder Will was angry at her.

But even so, he still had no reason to want to die. He had so many things to live for—including a future—and to throw it all away at such a young age for something so stupid… Just thinking about it made her angry all over again.

“Earth to Annabelle!”

She gasped, her head shooting up as she stared at Claire, whose face was mere inches from her own. “What?” she asked, shocked.

Claire’s face twisted into a scowl. “I was asking when we should meet at the fair on Saturday.”

At the… what? She looked at the expectant, plastic faces gazing at her around the packed table in the crowded mall food court and suddenly had the burning desire to tell Claire and the others that she wasn’t going because she’d rather be at home reading. She stood.

“Where are you going?” Claire demanded, stunned.

“I forgot to tip Carrie,” she lied. “I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for a response from the disbelieving faces that stared back at her, she hurried away, unable to face them any longer.

As she wandered aimlessly through the mall, a group of about six teens, wearing all black clothes covered in zippers and chains heading her way caught her eye and she hesitated, studying them. The group looked somehow familiar, but—

“Annabelle!” the girl at the front of the group suddenly exclaimed, her face lighting up in delight. Annabelle’s body went rigid with shock as the girl ran toward her, throwing her arms around her. She was dressed in a tight black mini skirt with chains threaded around the waist, fishnet stockings, combat boots, and a skintight sheer top with a leather band across the chest.

“Ebony?” she finally asked, holding the other girl mechanically.

Ebony pulled back as the others approached, a large grin on her face. “Sorry,” she apologized. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Bet we’re a sight, huh?”

Annabelle’s eyes almost instinctively found Will’s, standing at the back of the group that had joined them. Unlike the others, he was clad in his normal jeans, a dark blue plaid button-down hanging open over a dark blue t-shirt.

Slowly, she looked back at Ebony.

Ebony grinned impishly. “We had some... ah… business… we needed to take care of.” She struck a pose with her hands on her hips. “Makes us look tougher, huh?”

Annabelle felt herself pale as she grasped the true meaning of Ebony’s words. And then, using years of practice, she forced herself to smile and winked appreciatively. “Definitely tougher,” she agreed. “I didn’t even recognize you.”

“I didn’t recognize you!” Ebony exclaimed, peering around her. “Where’s the pack?”

She pivoted automatically, in the direction of the food court. “In the food court,” she answered. She could almost see her friends gathered around the table, gossiping about her, and tried not to shudder as she turned back to face Ebony.

The dark haired girl’s eyes were slightly wider than normal. “You left them?” she asked, sounding like she was trying hard to hide her surprise.

Embarrassed and flustered, she lifted a hand in front of her. “I forgot to tip my hair sty…” she trailed off as she stared at the book store, turning to look behind her at the other end of the mall, where the hair salon was located.

There was a moment too long of silence. Annabelle flushed, her mind racing as she tried to come up with an excuse to cover up her lie. And then Ebony suddenly burst out laughing and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Well I never thought I’d see the day when one of the ‘in’ crowd got lost in the mall!” she teased lightly.

Annabelle gave a weak smile as the others started laughing as well, joking about how much time Annabelle’s friends spent at the mall. She felt uncomfortable in her own skin as she stood there; unsure about what to do with herself. She was incredibly aware of Will, still standing at the back of the group, deliberately not looking at her. And all she wanted to do was get away from him—him and his life-risking ways.

When the laughter had quieted slightly, Annabelle turned to Ebony. “I need to get going,” she told her, as apologetically as she could. “They’re going to come looking for me soon.”

“Release the hounds,” one of the guys joked.

“No problem,” Ebony assured her cheerfully. She suddenly turned to the back of the group, yanking Will forward, knocking two of the other boys apart in the process. They stumbled to stay upright, grumbling at Ebony. “Will, you’re dressed like a normal human being. Be a good boy and walk Annabelle to the salon so she doesn’t get lost again.”

“No!” Annabelle exclaimed, so forcefully that the group stilled and stared at her. The idea of being around Will right after he had deliberately gone and done something they had argued so horribly about made her sick. “I-I mean… I’m fine. Really. Thanks. I know the way. I was just thinking about things. But I’m fine.” She flashed a weak smile at their stunned faces and spun quickly, hurrying away as quickly as she could without running.

After everything that had happened… Had the weeks apart meant nothing to Will? How could he have missed her point so completely? Or had he just dismissed everything she had said? Did he really care so little about his life—and what she thought?

How could she have been so incredibly wrong about him?

She felt disturbingly empty as she wandered around in the salon for a few minutes, just to avoid going back to the food court for as long as possible. Then, when she couldn’t avoid it any longer, she forced herself to head back. She prepared her excuses on the way, steeling herself against the stares she was sure to get.

Sure enough, she was assaulted by teasing and jokes when she returned. “Did you get lost?” rang through the air as she finally sat back down, smiling her best show smile.

“It was ridiculously busy,” she lied, deliberately rolling her eyes to show exasperation. “It was insane in there. Sorry I took so long.” She turned to Claire with her most innocent expression. “Did we decide on a time for the fair on Saturday?”

Claire’s sharp eyes studied her even as her mouth flashed a large smile. “We did! We’re going to meet at six.”

“Sounds perfect,” she lied hollowly, grinning. As she squeezed Trevor’s hand to emphasize her words, she added, “I can’t wait.”