Saint

I stare up at him, floored.

“B-but I don’t mind…”

“I said get out,” he snaps, jabbing the same finger he’d just used on me at the door.

Startled, I slide from the desk and right my clothing, pulling up my bikini bottoms and shorts quickly. Why’s he doing this? Why’s he got to ruin this, just like he ruins everything else?

Dressed, I turn toward his door without a word. Before I leave, though, like the masochist he keeps accusing me of being, I pause and glance back at him over my shoulder.

“What are we now?” I demand. I’m proud that my tone is stead and strong. The last thing I want is to look weak in front of him. “After this, has anything changed?”

He lets out a cruel chuckle and shakes his head.

“Not a damn thing,” he sneers. “We’re still enemies, and I still want you gone.”

It’s what I should’ve expected him to say. It’s my own fault for hoping he could be anything but a complete and total jackass.

“Wipe your fucking face,” I spit, then turn and storm out of the room.

His taunting laughter follows me down the hall.

I throw all my focus in preparing for Parents’ Weekend so that I won’t have to think about Saint and his godawful talented mouth. Whatever Loni needs, I’m there for her. We shop for supplies, we order food, we organize activities, and when she asks me to help her decorate for the picnic, I meet her outside the dining hall with a smile on my face.

She’s got a crew of facility workers to help us, and a few other students from the pla

“Thanks again for all your help,” she says as we move down one of the tables together.

I give her a bright smile. “No problem.”

“No, really. I appreciate you putting so much time into the weekend even though … well …”

“Even though I won’t have anyone here for me?” I finish her thought for her.

Her expression turns bashful. “Sorry, Mallory.”

“It’s okay. It’s not that big a deal. Besides, it’s just one weekend.”

Or rather, one day. The parents only come Saturday for the picnic and activities, not for the whole weekend. Why they call it Parents’ Weekend, I have no idea, but this is Angelview and I’ve learned that everything is pretentious as fuck here.

“Well, just take comfort in knowing that Parents’ Weekend is usually a shitshow anyway,” she replies. There’s a bitterness in her tone that surprises me.

“Uh oh. I’m guessing this isn’t your favorite weekend of the year?”

She pauses in setting up the centerpiece she’s working on and lets out a heavy sigh as she drops her gaze to the table. “So, Parents’ Weekend is how my mom met Laurel’s dad. They were both still married and started having an affair before eventually divorcing their spouses for each other. Pretty shitty, right? My mom left my dad—who’s amazing, by the way—for a guy whose daughter calls I.C.E. on her. And trust me, Lawrence is just as awful as his twat offspring.”

“Oh, shit,” I breath. “I’m sorry, Loni.”

I knew she wasn’t a huge fan of her stepdad, but I didn’t know it was because the relationship between him and her mom had broken her parents up.

She shrugs, though her expression is pinched with old pain. “It’s whatever now. If my parents had been happy together, my mom wouldn’t have cheated, right? Probably worked out for the best in the long run. My dad didn’t deserve that shit and now he won’t have to put up with it.”

“Still, that really sucks.” Sometimes I forget that other people have shitty parents too. As bad as Je

To have parents that were good up until the point at which they disappointed and hurt you—that’d probably just make the betrayal so much worse.

“It’s one of the reasons Laurel hates my mom so much,” she continues. “Which I get, even though she’s a huge bitch. It’s not like my mom intentionally seduced her dad, though. It was completely mutual.”

I nod and we continue working as she lays out her whole family drama for me. It strikes me how little I really knew about this part of Loni’s life. She’s my best friend at Angelview, but we don’t really know that much about each other outside of school. For every secret she’s held back from me, I’ve got ten of my own. A jab of sadness pierces my heart at the thought, and I wonder if maybe I should tell her everything.

About James. The accident. My mom.

Yet, as I go through the list of things that I could tell her, I feel myself immediately chicken out. There’s too much. It’s too dark. And I don’t come out the good guy in a lot of it.

Loni’s friendship means everything to me. I’d likely have bailed on Angelview a long time ago if it hadn’t been for her. I can’t risk losing her, no matter how much I have to keep silent about.

My secrets are best left where they are. Dead and buried.

Later that night, I’m sitting in my dorm room working on an essay when my phone suddenly rings. I pick it up with a frown and look at the number. I close my eyes as frustration sweeps through me.

It’s the number Je

What does she want now?

With an exasperated breath, I answer the call. “What, Je

“Don’t talk to me like that, you little bitch.”

Whoa. She’s in a mood.

“Are you high right now, Momma?” I ask, softening my tone a little. It wouldn’t be the first time she called me while fucked up.

“No, the fuck I’m not. You know I’ve been clean ever since … well, ever since you know.”

I roll my eyes to the ceiling, and I don’t believe a word of it. The accident freaked us all out, sure, but it’ll take more than a single tragedy to get my mother to get her shit together.

“What do you want?” I ask again, eager for this conversation to be over.

“Are you still in school?”

The question catches me off-guard, and I push away from my desk, pumping my fingers over the bridge of my nose. “Yeah … why wouldn’t I be?”

I hear her sigh in relief through the phone. “Thank Christ.”

“Je

Why does she want to know? A terrible thought enters my mind, filling me with dread. Is she going to do something crazy? Like show up una

Fucking no!

“No one told me shit,” she snaps back. “You’re my daughter. I have the right to know where you are.”

“Yet you care so little, so often,” I hiss back. It doesn’t escape my notice that she’s not answering my question. “Why are you asking if I’m still in school? Are you pla

The phone clicks and as suddenly as she called, she’s gone.