Cruel Me

Chapter 9: See You Again (present)

She groaned and covered her face in humiliation. She peaked between her fingers, and said, "I was hoping you've forgotten."

No fucking chance.

It was an amusing memory. It happened just as I was about full on sick of attending parties. No way in hell was I ever gonna forget that.

"Well, you forgot this," I told her, handing her the crystal necklace.

Her eyes widened, automatically reaching out her hands to take it. "I've been looking everywhere for this!" She clutched it to her chest and looked up at me with the most grateful look I'd ever seen. "Thank you."

"Sure."

"Um," she mumbled, biting her lip worriedly. "I'm really sorry I slapped you the other night. I didn't mean to."

'I miss that look.'

I couldn't get those words out of my mind. I was pretty sure there was more behind them than she let on. What did it mean, though? Has she been watching me all this time?

This girl's a freaking mystery.

"No worries," I assured her. "I had worse."

I play American Football. Hell yeah, I've had worse.

I watched as her eyes lit up like she remembered something funny, then she covered her mouth to muffle a laughter. She turned away from me as if to hide.

The corner of my lips turned up in a smile. That was seriously cute.

"I'm sorry," she giggled. "Your flustered face that night just popped into my mind."

"And you find that funny, huh?"

She nodded.

My face turned grim. "I'm not laughing."

Her amusement instantly vanished when she saw my reaction. It reminded me of that cartoon Bambi. I almost laughed, but I stopped myself.

"Sorry," she murmured.

I waited for a couple of seconds, before I let out a small chuckle.

"I'm kidding. It's cool," I said, an easy smile stretching across my face.

She sighed in relief. "Oh, good."

I seriously wanted to ask her about her statement last Friday night at the party, but I got the feeling she wasn't the type to open up easily.

"I brought you something," I said instead, holding up the book that had been in my hand. "I decided to lend it to you. Not sure if you already read it but it's pretty damn good."

Halo's eyes went bulging wide and her mouth literally hung open at the sight of the book. Her reaction did wonders to my ego.

"Holy moly!" she gasped.

What the fuck? 'Holy moly'? People really say that shit?

She stared at the book in her hands, and said, "I've been meaning to read this. But then I got my list piled up. I still have tons of series and documentaries to watch that I forgot about this." She turned to me in disbelief. "You read."

I raised an eyebrow.

Contrary to common belief, I actually enjoyed storing my brain with knowledge. In fact, it wasn't really a secret that I had a 4.0 GPA. Even though I didn't give a shit what my folks thought of me, I still wanted to succeed.

When Halo realized what she said, her eyes squeezed shut in regret.

"I didn't mean it like that."