Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 42

“What was that for?”

But I’m not answering. I’m watching Olive turn. Watching the smirk spread on her face like oil in water.

She knows. Or thinks she does. That alone is dangerous.

I feel the burn in my temple pulse again. A red light.

I don’t owe her anything. But I know the look of someone planning something reckless.

And Betty? She’s a heart too soft to know when it’s being hunted.

My jaw tightens. My hands curl into fists behind my back. I breathe through my nose until the ache settles into something I can use.

Self-control. That’s all I’ve got left. That, and the need to protect her... even if she never sees it.

Even if she never knows.

A voice cuts through the low buzz of student chatter. “Guys, we’re out of decor materials! Who wants to run to the store?”

Before I can pretend not to hear, Betty throws her hand in the air like we’re back in homeroom.

“Me!” she says, all energy and no hesitation.

I don’t even get a say before she points at me. “You’re coming with me.”

I sigh. Not because I mind going with her, but because this is just how Betty is. Bursting into decisions like a firework with no fuse. I stand up, brushing imaginary dust off my pants just to stall.

And then I see her.

Inez.

Making her way toward us with that Inez-specific bounce, her hair pinned half-up like she might be hiding a wand in it.

“Perfect,” I mutter under my breath.

“Heyyyy, rebel,” she says, grinning like I’ve just punched a hole in the school wall.

“Hey,” I reply, forcing a flat smile. I always feel like I have to wear armor around her. Verbal armor. She pokes through logic like it’s a piñata.

“You’re always too stiff, Matt. Loosen up a little,” she says, nudging me with her elbow.

“I’m done loosening up,” I mutter. “I’m unhinged now.”

She stops. Tilts her head. Her eyes skim from my combat boots, to the jagged hem of my loose joggers, to the white slash across my black tee, and then up to my leather jacket and, God help me, the belt I didn’t realize was hanging down like a runway model’s afterthought.

“This?” she says, hand gesturing to all of me. “You call this unhinged? No, bro. You look confused. But definitely not unhinged.”

Betty snorts beside me. Honest-to-God snorts.

“Okay, Inez, that’s enough. We’re going to get materials. Can you manage this mess for us while we’re gone?”

Inez clicks her tongue and gives a mock salute. “Fine. Leave the chaos to me.”

As Betty and I walk off, her shoulder brushes mine once, light but grounding.

And then, in classic Inez form, we hear her voice echo behind us.

“Does no one here have imagination? The aisle is this way! Not that way! This way!”

I don’t turn around. I just shake my head and let Betty’s laughter carry me out the door.

The sun outside was unforgiving, the kind that clung to your skin like guilt. I regretted the leather jacket immediately, but I didn’t take it off. Some part of me needed the discomfort. Like it was holding me together.