Dismissing Dakota | ✓

»35. Long Time - Intro«

Dakota's P.O.V.

A week went gone by, leaving my group of friends no closer to nabbing Hunter than we were earlier in the semester. In his haste to avoid us, Hunter stopped showing up to classes. He left Silvia's car in the parking lot of their house, unlocked and with the keys sitting in the driver's seat. He didn't explain to his mother where he was going when he ran up to his room that afternoon, hurling necessities into suitcases and zipping it up in a rush. Silvia told me about it the next day, telling me how her family reacted to his departure from Crescent Heights.

"He can't hide forever." Silvia calmed me with her touch, stroking the back of her hand to my neck. We've been in my room all evening, talking mostly and listening to music to distract the looming cloud stuck over our heads. "He's got a graduation to attend in a month. He's not going to risk it over this and that's when we'll have the chance to get him."

"And do what?" I groaned. "There's no point to all of this. If he wanted to be Ophelia's life, he would've made the effort."

"We still don't know if he knew she was pregnant."

"What differences does it make when he didn't even show up to Diana's funeral?" I gulped, revisiting the gloomy morning of Diana's service. Many Crescent High students attended, mostly out of curiosity I supposed. There were rumors floating around on how she took her life and I'd caught word that there was a bet going on what was the culprit.

That, along with other factoring issues, made me keep a tight grip on who got to come in. Carmen arrived and I made sure she didn't get a chance inside. Hunter, however, didn't make the attempt to go to her wake. Now, with knowing what Sherri told us, I had a deeper sense of hate for the twins-one that couldn't be chalked up to only being jealous for taking Carmen.

"We can't let them get away with this...all of them." Silvia said, drawing me out of my detailed imagery of strangling Hunter. "We can't let them walk away unscathed."

"Heath and Ronnie have that cover, from what I know."

"I mean other than that."

"I'm tired of plotting for revenge on people who don't deserve the effort."

"So, you want to do nothing?"

"Not nothing..." I trailed, tip-toeing my fingers up her arm. "I want to talk about something else. Something that isn't wrapped around Segg, or Diana or Hunter. I want to escape for a second or I might just lose my mind."

"I can understand that," she whispered. "It's defeating my mood, too. I know it's hard to want to keep on fighting for something that only ever feels like it being pulled further and further away from you the harder you try to get a hold of it."

My gaze shot up to her face, cracking a smile. "You have no idea how perfectly that describes my relationship with you."

She snorted. "Friendship."

"You keep saying that like it'll happen, but it won't."

"We are friends, Dakota." She assured assertively, yet followed it with a sigh. "I had a hunch we were going to bring that up again after I said no to your third prom-posal."

"I thought the stuffed animals would've drawn you in more."

She rolled her eyes. "I was more impressed with the signs."

"Impressed, but not enough to say yes." I arched a brow. "You're really killing me, Silvia."

She folded forward and then rotated herself on to me, pressing her back to my thighs and raking her hand though her hair to get it out of her face. "I'm not going pay to dance with some losers I already hate."