Chapter 126
Summer's POV
"That's not fair—"
"You let Blake and your friends make disgusting comments about me. You stood by while people posted horrible things about me online. You never once defended me or stood up for me when it mattered." I took a step back, putting more distance between us. "And now you show up with roses and a speech and expect me to forget all of that because it's Valentine's Day?"
"I was going to defend you!" His voice rose, defensive. "I told them to stop—"
"You told them it was 'not cool' and then you laughed along with them." My throat tightened, but I forced myself to keep going. "You made me feel like I had to earn your attention. Like I was lucky you even looked at me. And I believed it for so long, Evan. I really did."
"Summer—"
"But I'm not that girl anymore." I looked him directly in the eyes. "I don't need you to validate me. I don't need your roses or your apologies or your second chances. I need you to leave me alone."
The silence that followed was deafening. Evan's face had gone pale, then red. The roses drooped in his arms, suddenly looking wilted and pathetic—a perfect metaphor for everything we'd been. Surface-level beauty with nothing real underneath.
"You're making a mistake," he said, his voice tight.
"No." I shook my head. "The mistake was wasting so much time on someone who never really saw me."
I turned and walked away, my heels clicking loudly in the silent hallway. Behind me, I heard the explosion of whispers, the rapid-fire clicking of phone cameras. Someone called my name, but I didn't look back.
I pushed through the side entrance into the cold February air, my breath coming in short gasps. My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped my books. The parking lot stretched out before me, and I hurried toward my car, desperate to get away before—
Movement caught my eye. I looked up at the science building, at the third-floor windows where the physics competition team had their training room.
Kieran stood at the window, perfectly still, his hands braced against the frame. Even from this distance, I could see the tension in his shoulders, the rigid set of his jaw. He was staring down at the main entrance—at the crowd still gathered around Evan, at the scene that had just unfolded.
My heart clenched. This was the first time he'd been at school all week—I knew because I'd been watching for him, hoping to catch even a glimpse of him between classes. He'd been working double shifts at The Happy Patty, picking up extra hours to save every possible dollar before his father came home. The physics competition team must have insisted he come in today for training, probably threatening to drop him from the upcoming USAPhO if he missed another session.
And of all the days for him to finally be here, it had to be today. Valentine's Day. The day Evan decided to make his grand romantic gesture.
Our eyes met across the parking lot.
For a moment, neither of us moved. I couldn't read his expression from here, couldn't tell if he was angry or relieved or indifferent. But there was something in the way he stood there, something in the intensity of his gaze, that made my chest tight. I wanted to run back inside, to climb those three flights of stairs and tell him that Evan meant nothing, that the only person I thought about was him, that I was terrified of what was going to happen in six days and I didn't know how to help him but I wanted to, desperately.
But even as the thought formed, I knew how it would sound. Like pity. Like charity. Like everything he'd spent his whole life refusing.
Then Logan appeared beside him, saying something I couldn't hear. Kieran turned away from the window abruptly, disappearing into the shadows of the classroom.
I stood there in the cold, staring up at the empty window, my heart pounding. He'd seen everything. He'd watched Evan offer me roses and promises and a second chance, and he'd seen me walk away.
Did it matter to him? Did he care? Or was I just fooling myself, reading meaning into a moment that meant nothing?