Chapter 45
As Aiden said, Kyle came around that evening and insisted on keeping me company. He was a good distraction, almost too good as I nearly didn’t get all of my homework done. I didn’t hear from Aiden again and Taminy was still ignoring my messages but I figured that she’d speak to me when she had time.
“I don’t know why you still go to school if you have all of your credits for college.” Kyle told me that Monday morning as we walked to school, our breath coming out in puffs of fog as the crisp late autumn air nipped at our fingers and noses.
And what would I do?” I huffed, pulling my woolen hat further over my ears. “I would be bored senseless.”
“And you’re not at school?”
“Only since you joined.” I teased, earning myself a playful shove.
“I’m just saying, you’re wasting your time here especially as you now have five hundred thousand dollars to spend on whatever the hell you like!” Kyle smirked being less than subtle. “Speaking of which. Have you come to your senses and decided to keep it?”
“No” I sighed. “I want to talk to Liam first but getting him on the phone isn’t exactly easy stuff and I don’t want to just send an email. maybe I can wait until he gets back.”
“That’s like still two months from now, El!” Kyle groaned. “The sooner you do it, the sooner you can figure out what to do about Julia because you just know she is sniffing around for that money.”
“I know.” I grumbled, my lips setting in a hard line as I frowned. “Trust me, I want her gone but it’s not just my money and what if there’s a catch like we have to go live in Florida or join a cult?”
“Really?” Kyle raised an eyebrow at me. “Or maybe there are no strings attached and you can actually keep it without overthinking it.”
“I’ll try and talk to Liam this week.” I grumbled, stomping the last few steps to my locker.
Kyle’s locker was not near mine so he wandered off to his locker leaving me alone to fight with my lock so I could sort out my books for the first set of classes. The moment my locker opened, my phone vibrated in my bag. Fighting with my books, I eventually got to my phone, frowning at the message.
Unknown: Are you feeling better?
I frowned at the message. Was it Aiden? I don’t recall giving him my number and he didn’t strike me as the type to send random messages.
Me: who is this?
Whoever it was saw the message almost immediately but left me on read. I quickly chalked it up to someone trying to pull a prank. It wasn’t unheard of for people (mostly guys) to prank girls at school with creepy messages. I personally hadn’t been subjected to it but I guess it’s everyone’s time eventually. Shaking my head, I set my phone to silent and stuffed it back in my bag with my books that I needed and went to
find Kyle so we could head to class. I thought about mentioning the message to him but before I could say something, Kyle spoke first.
“There’s a party this weekend. We should go.”
“A party?” I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t think so.”
‘Oh come on, El! Live a little! It’s on Friday night.” Kyle grinned and waggled his eyebrows.
“I work Fridays.”
“You do but we can go after you finish! He countered, throwing his arm over my shoulders as we walked. “I’ll even come meet you at work so you don’t have to walk over alone.”
1/2
Chapter 45
I groaned. Kyle wasn’t about to let this go and yet wild horses couldn’t drag me to any party thrown by a high schooler. It was just too messy and I didn’t want to have to deal with being in a house full of people and yet having no one to talk to.
“Can I think about it?” I asked, hoping to use it to buy me some time while I figured out how to get out of it.
“Alright.” Kyle agreed, flopping into his seat in class while I took a more controlled approach.
