When Gracie is humiliated after following her best friend's brother to college and finds he's moved on without her, she grows closer to his rival--the captain of his basketball team--the infamous Kalen Rush, and suddenly Gracie wonders just what len...
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There was a calmness that settled over the campus in the weeks following the end of my relationship with Kalen.
Franny kept to herself, my head was thoroughly planted in a book, Colby was busy dumping girls and finding new ones left and right, and Kalen...
Well, Kalen was the talk of the school, as always.
Their first few games had gone off without a hitch, and I had declined attending them with Franny even as she had apologized for what she said to me.
It wasn't the same.
Nothing felt like it was the same anymore.
There was something numb that had crept into my veins and settled there like a withering poison, making it unable for me to breathe deeply without the ache of something I needed but could never have.
I took the time to analyze his actions, his words, the feel of the absence of his touch, but none of it made sense in the end.
None of it added up, but for some reason, I didn't care anymore.
There was nothing else damning on the USB aside from the horrific video evidence of what his father had done to his mother, only files and pages and documents with numbers and data that would likely make an accountant's eyes dry up.
I kept it hidden under my bed, in the same box I'd found my mother's safety deposit key in.
Slowly, I'd been taking a few hundred dollars at a time and adding it to my account through an ATM and so far, no one had come to take me away in handcuffs for fraudulent money, so that was a good sign, and it meant that I could afford more meals throughout the week—not that I was eating that much to begin with.
Before I knew it, the leaves began their annual change from bright, verdant green to rusting orange and amber, painting the sky in an ombre of colors so vivid and vibrant they blurred my eyes to look upon it.
Kalen didn't stare at me in the hallways or on campus anymore, but when I'd look away I could feel his gaze on my back.
I couldn't let myself care about those moments when I felt him watching me, though.
If he couldn't tell me the truth about what was really going on, he didn't deserve my attention.
"Are you coming home for Thanksgiving?"
Franny's question shocked me out of my thoughts.
"Hm? Oh, I don't know. I didn't make plans to."
Especially not since I would've had to ride back home with Franny and Colby, in the same car.
Nothing about that situation seemed appealing to me, and it wasn't like I was goin to hire a ride-share for an hour and a half drive back home.
"What? You know my mom will be so sad if you don't come."
