Her palm strikes my cheek, cutting me off with a shock. I gasp, tears stinging my eyes. Chace jumps in between us, but I hold up my hand to stop him. The last thing Lana needs to see is him defending me.
“It’s okay. I deserved that.” I wince as I face Lana, her expression twisted with rage. “Lana, please believe me, we haven’t gone behind your back or anything. We haven’t even kissed.”
Lana sputters with angry laughter.
“Wow. Do you actually expect me to thank you for not kissing my boyfriend?”
“Lana, don’t take this all out on Nicole.” Chace steps in. “It’s my fault more than hers.”
She shakes her head violently.
“How could this even happen?”
Chace looks down at the ground.
“When Nicole was doing the Philharmonic concert, I had to be in Brooklyn at the same time. We were on the same train….”
“Brooklyn?” She spits the word. “You told me you were in soccer training. You’re a liar and a cheat. You’re a total cliché.” Lana pushes him roughly, her face contorting in pain.
“I wish I’d done everything differently,” Chace says, looking between the two of us in desperation. “But, Lana, I couldn’t tell you about Brooklyn because my parents—well, it’s going to come out soon enough, and honestly, when you hear about the whole thing with the Jensens, you’ll be glad you’re not with me anymore.” He tries to crack a smile, but it comes out looking more like a grimace.
“That’s not the point, whatever the hell you’re talking about,” she snaps. “It should have been my choice.”
And suddenly, looking in her eyes, I can see what is bothering her the most. It’s not the thought of losing Chace. It’s the loss of control; it’s the idea of losing him to me.
“You’re a real dark horse, Nicole,” she hisses. “I actually made you my friend. I rescued you from having no one but those geeks in orchestra, I gave you a social life. It’s because of me that you even know Chace. And all along, you were plotting how to stab me in the back and take what’s mine.”
“No,” I plead, tears falling freely now. “It wasn’t like that at all.”
“Lana, please, let’s just talk straight with each other,” Chace says gently. “We both know we were pushed together by our parents and their agendas. It was what they wanted, but was it really what you—we—wanted?”
She stares at him.
“Who cares if it started because of them? I thought what we had was real.”
Chace hangs his head.
“It was real, I just—”
“You just liked her more,” Lana says incredulously. “You do realize every guy in this school will think you’ve gone completely blind and dense.”
He opens his mouth to protest, but I catch his eye, giving him a warning look. The less he says in my favor right now, the better.
“What can we do to make this any…any easier?” I ask, my voice barely audible.
Lana crosses her arms over her chest, shooting me a death stare.
“Let’s see. You can start by abandoning this whole disgusting plan to betray me. You can stay the hell away from my boyfriend—and from me. And you can get yourself a new roommate, because I never want to see your backstabbing, pathetic face again.”
I stumble backward at the force of her words. How could I have been so stupid to think she might actually understand, that there could possibly be a happy ending here?
“I should go,” I mumble.
“No, Nicole, wait,” Chace calls out, but I shake my head.
“Just let me go.”
And with that, I break into a run.
I wait for hours in our dorm, pacing the tiny square footage of the room while hoping against hope that Chace might have somehow succeeded in talking her down. But she never comes back, never responds to a single one of my pleading text messages. I should have known. I was so stupidly optimistic in thinking I could actually have this love without losing her. And now looking around our room, littered with her clothes, makeup, and books, I can’t feel anything besides the painful lump in my throat, the sick churning in my stomach.
When my phone finally vibrates with a text, it’s not from Lana.
I have to see you. Can you meet me under the wooden bridge by the pond? The one before the soccer field. It looks private enough.
Okay,
I type back, a knot forming in my stomach. What is he going to say? What am I going to do?
I step out into the empty dorm corridor. The sounds of silverware scraping against plates, muffled chatter, and occasional bursts of laughter rise up from the Dining Hall downstairs, and it occurs to me that it must be dinner hour. I’ve completely forgotten.
With everyone in the Dining Hall, no one sees me slip past and out the door. I make my way to the location Chace described, passing the tennis courts and the site of our doomed talk with Lana along the route. At last, I hear the gurgling of water and I know the pond is near. A tall figure stands underneath the bridge, waiting for me. I quicken my footsteps. He turns in my direction, and before I even know what’s happening, his arms are around me, my head pressed against his chest. I don’t even realize I’m crying until he gently brushes his finger under my eyes, wiping away the tears.