In Her Favor

Prologue

I slammed my locker door shut, and Henry had to pull his fingers away before they were pinched under the metal with a slam. To be honest, I wish he hadn’t.

With an angry grunt, I turned around on my heel and began to march off to class. I was planning on acing my math quiz, not be hampered by my desperate ex boyfriend. I still hadn’t cooled from the heat of the betrayal, and I didn’t want to end up in a fight in the middle of the hallway.

 “Oh, come on, Hal!” He cried, causing a few unwanted heads to turn our way, “Don’t do this to me when Valentine’s Day is next week!”

I ignored him, doing my best to keep calm. I really couldn’t care less what day it was—after all, he didn’t seem to care so much about me when he was all over Cayla D’Angelo, so why was he so concerned now?

“Just talk to me, okay?” he pleaded, and I felt his hand wrap around my wrist, tugging me towards him. I scowled, breaking free from his grip, only to stumble backwards.

“I don’t want to talk to you, Henry!” I snapped back at him, as quietly as I could manage while still sounding angry. The last thing I wanted was for everyone to see the president of the student council fighting over a petty boy. I’d had just enough fighting, too, and I simply wanted to leave him behind me, with the whole lovey-dovey mess.

He’d grabbed my hand again this time, his warmth radiating off him and to me. I remembered his touch so well—the way his hands were so smooth, and his voice so welcoming. It must’ve been what had drawn me into him. And that was what had been so very deadly.

“Let me explain to you, Hal,” he said softly in the way he had whenever I got upset. His voice got higher, his eyebrows arched, and his lips curved down into a frown, making my heart break. Now, whenever I saw that, I just got angrier—angry that he’d made me feel so attached to him when he felt nothing at all.

“There’s nothing to explain,” I retorted, yanking my hand away for the last time, with a piercing glare. “You’re just a filthy cheater who I hope gets caught in a nasty castration accident.”

Henry winced, almost as if I’d hit him. It wasn’t like I could if I tried, though; Henry was too cute and innocent looking for me to actually hurt him, no matter how angry I was. His curly chestnut locks were in his big eyes, and his pale lips were set in a frown, “You don’t mean that, Hal,” he said quietly, his voice a whisper.

I shook my head, not wanting to feel any more anger or pain than I already did. I jerked away from him, frustrated, “Of course I did! Plus, I don’t want to look at you right now, okay?!”

“Can we just calm down and talk like civilized adults,” he said, keeping a leveled tone the whole time.

I couldn’t believe the words spewing from his lying little mouth. I glowered his way, “You broke my heart. You’re in no position to negotiate on being civil.” I spat poisonously.

I watched as his face fell, and his cute puppy dog eyes drooped. He looked so melancholy as he reached in his back pocket and began to pull out an object. On closer inspection, I saw that it was a small notebook—a black one, with a small photo of myself taped to the cover. It looked like something Henry would have sketched in. He loved to draw, and I would say he was amazing at it, if I was to compliment him on anything.

He held the book out to me, “I was going to give this to you for Valentine’s Day.”

I looked at it, wanting to rip it away from him and look in its contents, but resisted at all costs. Feeling my anger fade from me, all that was left was sorrow, and I stared at him, heartbroken and destroyed. I felt the tears start to well in my eyes, and I bit my lip as hard as I could to scold myself for even considering wasting tears over such a boy. “Why don’t you give it to your new girlfriend?” I said scornfully, curtly pushing the book away from me with a grimace.

He frowned, looking crushed, “Hallie, don’t say that—”

It was at that moment when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around only to see my best friend, Carlee Ellis, her jaw set into a grimace. I noticed my other friend, Serena at her side. Their blue eyes were narrowed and angry, “Is Mr. Twotime bothering you here, Hallie?” Carlee asked me, pushing some orangey red hair from her eyes.

I looked over to her and frowned, shaking my head. I looked back to Henry, wincing, “I was just leaving.”

Henry looked frantic, “Please, Hallie, just let me—”

“The girl’s had enough of you, bub.” Serena hissed, holding a hand up haltingly. “So walk away before we rip out your teeth and replace them with rock candy.”

Henry ignored them both, and he looked at me softly, his eyes pleading, as if he was begging me to change my mind. All I could think, though, when I looked into his eyes was him and Cayla D’Angelo with her slim arms wrapped around his neck, and her mouth sucking on his face like a dying fish. I wanted to cry, but I held my ground, though, and set my gaze angrily at him, firmly and stagnantly. “It’s over, Henry.” I told him firmly, and turned around and marched off before I could watch him walk away.