Chapter 10

All day, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the pathetic way I’d dashed out of school like my tail was on fire. I sighed, resting my head on the sink as I looked up at myself in the mirror at night. Shame was not something I felt very frequently and as such, I was at a loss for how to deal with this.

What I couldn’t stop thinking about was if Logan and I would’ve actually kissed if Aimee hadn’t walked in on us. Would I have liked it? What would have happened afterwards?

I groaned. Why was I even thinking about this? Jesus. What was wrong with me? Hell, what was wrong with Logan? Why was he suddenly nice to me? He’d even apologized. That had never happened before. Never.

I needed to curb whatever this was until it escalated beyond my control. There was no way I was going to allow Logan mess with my head, especially not now that I was almost free of him.

A lightbulb went off in my head. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? It was brilliant. All I had to do was roll the dice and set things in motion. The rest would figure itself out.

****

I sighted Aimee leaning against her locker engaged in discussion with Darren the next morning. Sighing deeply, I made my way towards them.

“I know what we have to do,” I announced, resisting the urge to wince when Aimee’s knowing eyes rested on me. I was about a hundred percent sure she’d briefed Darren on the incident she’d walked into because his eyes were teasing. I managed to avoid screaming at them to stop looking at me like that but I couldn’t do anything if they didn’t help me.

“Hmm,” Aimee made a sound at the back of her throat. “Look who we have here.”

Eventually, I would have to explain what she’d seen yesterday. I only wanted to hold if off for a little longer. Nothing wrong with that.

“I’m serious,” I said, adjusting the strap of my backpack on my shoulder. “We have to tell Yvonne that Logan still has feelings for her.”

“When exactly did you come to this decision?” Aimee asked, her face a picture of disbelief. “Was it before or after you almost played tonsil hockey with the boy in question?”

Darren snorted. “Most likely after.”

I sighed, facepalming. They were obviously not going to make this easy for me. “Nothing happened, you guys. I know you believe you understand what you saw but I can assure you that what you saw was not what happened.”

Aimee’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t almost kiss Logan?”

“Well, yeah but—”

“But it didn’t happen only because I walked in at that moment?”

“You can say that but—”

“But you still—”

“Would you stop interrupting me and let me speak?” My voice rose a few notches and I had to clear my throat because of the strain. “For goodness sakes. What you walked in on was a moment of… weakness. Listen, we have to tell Yvonne about Logan’s feelings for her.”

Darren’s eyes narrowed as he leaned against my locker right next to Aimee’s. “That’s the last thing I expected you to say. Why now?”

“Why not?” I asked him like he’d just asked me a dumb question. “He likes her, doesn’t he? She deserves to know.”

“But a few hours ago, you were vehemently against telling her. What changed your mind? His lips?”

Aimee snorted. Alright, maybe I deserved that one. I sighed. “I’m doing this, with or without you both.”

“Count me out,” Darren said, raising his hands up and shrugging both shoulders. “I’m not interested in girl business.”

I looked at Aimee, silently begging her to not abandon me because who was I kidding? I couldn’t do it myself. I needed moral support. At least, maybe then I wouldn’t feel like control of the situation was slipping out of my hands. So what if I changed my mind because I’d come a hairsbreadth of exchange saliva with the boy I hated most in the world? So freaking what? I was allowed to have different thoughts, wasn’t I?

After what seemed like forever, Aimee finally sighed. “Fine. But I’m only doing this because I can’t stay away from gossip, alright? Not because I’m in support of whatever it is you’ve got going on with Logan.”

My lips stretched into a wide smile. “It’s not gossip if it’s true, is it?”

****

We found Yvonne in the library with her dark hair buried in between the pages of a thick book. I tried to suppress the guilt I was feeling at using her to justify my annoyance of almost kissing that airhead. I mean, they dated, didn’t they? She’d liked him at some point and not only had he publicly embarrassed her, he’d thrown her feelings back in her face with a laugh.

Surely, she had to hate the boy. Who wouldn’t?

Which was why this was the perfect revenge for Logan. I told myself he deserved it, because really, he did. After breaking up with Yvonne, he’d moved on to date some other junior whose name I couldn’t care less about but who he’d equally had fun with for a while before moving to the next available woman.

What a shitface.

Wait. Was his trying kissing me another one of his womanizing tactics? I paused. Was he trying to woo me into forgetting that I hated him so he could win? I hadn’t thought of that. If that was his plan, then he was in for a rude awakening. I was not anything like the girls that flaunted themselves at him. Unlike them, I actually had a brain inside my head.

Aimee had already gone ahead of me and was already approaching Yvonne. I added speed to my pace to catch up with her.

What I hadn’t expected was the direct manner Aimee attacked Yvonne.

“Logan still likes you.”

Yvonne’s head snapped up as quickly as was possible. “What?”

My eyes darted between them as Aimee replied her. “Logan still likes you. What are you going to do about it?”

Yvonne looked confused for a few seconds, her eyebrows furrowing in. “Well…” she drew out, her dark hair bobbling with the movement of her head as she gave an uncertain laugh. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“Do you still like him?” I spoke up for the first time, searching her eyes for any clues that she might.

The laugh that burst out from her lips was anything but uncertain. “After what he did to me? No such luck. I’m so over his ass.”

Aimee nodded, taking charge. “Good. Do you want revenge?”

Yvonne seemed to take her time to think about it, like the concept had never crossed her mind before. Her head slanted to one side and her eyebrows furrowed violently, deep in thought. Then after a while, she met Aimee’s gaze and then mine. “You know what? No, and I’m not interested in getting revenge. I made peace with it a long time ago and I’ve gotten closure. I’ve moved on. But thanks for asking.”

And with that, she turned away from us and focused her attention back to the book she had been reading before we came to her.

The hint was not hard to get and even though a part of me felt like slapping her for rudely dismissing us in that manner, another part of me felt a deep kind of respect for her. She was a better person than I was, that was for sure. I would not hesitate to send his ass to hell.

Still, it didn’t matter. Yvonne might not have worked out but it didn’t stop Aimee and I from telling everyone who cared to listen that Logan still had feelings for Yvonne, the girl he’d broken up with and humiliated in front of everyone in the cafeteria.

Again, it wasn’t gossip if it was true, right?