Chapter Seven: The Dead Plants

The Raceway itself was alright. The door had been busted off its hinges and the building would probably sustain a little heat damage over the day until a replacement could be fitted. None of the patrons had been harmed by the enormous creature that had burst into the front door.

None of the patrons.

“The cashier in charge of the Raceway was grievously wounded, and of course, not available for comment. If not for the lucky intervention of one of the gas station’s patrons, a hero by the name of Bruce Engel, she may have lost more than just her arm.”

Danielle… I didn’t like the girl but hell, I didn’t think she deserved something like this. Guilt locked my throat, but it wasn’t as bad as Clara. What? I should’ve warned her that I’d heard a strange growling from outside? It sounded like it was only luck that I hadn’t been the one attacked.

How did that wolf get so fucking huge?

The only explanation was the monsters people had been talking about for so long. Scares were nothing new. Stories about how someone saw a turtle the size of a smart-car, or a twisted abomination of two normal animals. Sometimes they were even smaller versions of regular animals. There was no rhyme or reason to the stories and they’d always been limited to the Scorched Lands. But until now, they’d always been just that. Stories, from people brave enough to venture south.

There weren’t many of those these days.

My mom stood beside me, watching the newscaster as he sensationalized an event that probably didn’t need a bit of it. Uncharacteristically, she seemed nervous. Borderline worried.

Blanche Meadows was a tall woman, standing above both me and Dad. She’d always been the stern one among my parents. Whenever we asked for something we probably wouldn’t get we asked Dad. Mom was the no nonsense type, and it showed in every facet of her personality. She had shoulder length black hair that lay straight as an arrow, a sharp nose, and the whitest teeth of any person I’d ever met. I suspected that was a symptom of her germophobia, which had always struck me as irrational.

I couldn’t recall a time I’d seen her looking so nervous. Even when she’d found out I’d almost died, she hadn’t seemed quite so frazzled.

“Did you know the girl who was attacked, Bran?” She asked, concerned.

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “I didn’t like her much but… shit. Before my shift ended I thought I heard something. I met that trucker. It must’ve happened just after I left.”

“Mmm,” Mom said, lost in thought.

“Why… who was watching the television at this time?” I asked. No one understood the question, so I rephrased. “I mean, how did we find out about this? Did you just happen to be watching the news at five in the morning?”

I turned to Gale first, thinking her more likely than Mom, since mom barely watched TV anyway. My sister just gave a noncommittal shrug and we looked back to our mother.

“Work called me,” she replied. “My boss was concerned that the news’ claims might have merit; that Tellroan is drawing creatures to the Hub. They wanted to make sure they had ready proof that the claim was ridiculous.”

I blinked. “But… the Tower is about to go active any day now. Is it ridiculous?”

Mom didn’t hesitate. “Uncertain. But I’m sure I will know by the end of the day. I’m a little embarrassed; I didn’t even realize the attack’s location was your job until ten minutes ago, Brandon.”

Before Clara, I probably would’ve made a joke about not working that evening. Too soon. Too much weight. First Clara, and now Danielle? The hell was going on…?

“Dammit. I should’ve–!”

“Ugghh! Not your fault, Bran. This is no different from your suicidal idiot of a classmate,” Gale interrupted, surprising the both of us. I blinked at her.

“What?” She asked, annoyed. “You were about to go all martyr again. It gets old. Last thing I need is for you to start feeling guilty about this, too. Apparently Haley was a bii–er butthead, but she didn’t make Clara walk out there. Same thing. You didn’t know something would come in and attack her! So stop feeling sorry for yourself!”

She turned back to the dining table, in a way that signified that I wasn’t even allowed to make an argument to the contrary, let alone that she was wrong. This also allowed her to conveniently ignore Mom’s glare at the curse word she’d almost let slip.

I managed a small smile.

“Thanks, Gale,” I murmured, under my breath.

The scene on the dining table’s projection would’ve been comical if it weren’t so deadly serious. A line of baffled policemen stood behind the yellow tape, frantically trying to figure out the best way to remove the corpse of a wolf the size of a small car. They had a few hours yet before the sun rose, but I was almost certain they would have to resort to a tow truck.

The vindictive part of me, that little devil inside that made people grin at the misfortune of others, kept me from feeling very bad. The plain and simple truth of it was that I didn’t like her. I’d been annoyed with her, filled with that sharp anger that comes from everyday inconveniences, rather than true enmity. I felt bad, but I truly couldn’t have done anything to help her. It was only luck that I hadn’t been the one attacked.

My spirits were high as I drove to school, for once happy Gale had decided to take the bus instead of riding with me. I was going to be a little too early for her tastes today. I lucked out and got a decent parking spot. I also refused to acknowledge that my early arrival had anything to do with that. It was definitely just luck.

The school looked the same as always. Pristine hallways and gleaming lockers lining them. Since it was pretty much the only school for probably fifty miles in any direction, tax dollars were spent often to keep it that way. I only remembered a few years before Fontaine’s Folly. The school I’d gone to then hadn’t been nearly as nice as this one. It certainly didn’t have moving walkways, though it also hadn’t had so many people.

A nagging worry lingered in my gut about that huge monster. Worries about how it survived the Sun, and why it had chosen to attack now. Despite all my uncomfortable thoughts, I was feeling pretty good. Friday. Everything always felt better before a weekend.

I walked into the school, and my good mood evaporated.

Standing in the hallway stood the girl I’d pined after for months. She sported shining blonde hair and a beautiful shade of light brown eyes. She was shorter than me by about five inches. Athletic, trim, and utterly gorgeous. She wore a sleeveless shirt that looked undeniably stunning. It was the type of thing anyone who’d lived before the Folly would’ve called indecent. Heat had made lighter clothing universal though. Her skirt was more modest, and honestly wasn’t much different than what any other girl here was wearing. She made it look better somehow. If looks were all that mattered, no one could compare.

Haley was beautiful. The ideal I’d always had in my head. It was too bad her looks didn’t reflect her personality.

“Brandon,” came her silken sweet voice, laced with honey lies. “What are you doing for the activa–!”

Haley blinked in mild shock as I walked right past her. The twinge of regret tugged at me, and I felt just a little foolish. Maybe it was shallow but the only thoughts running through my head in favor of forgiving the girl were how much of a bombshell she was.

Until she spoke again, anyway.

“Bran! Please talk to me?” she begged loudly, drawing the attention of the crowded hallway. A few eyes turned, and I couldn’t bring myself to keep walking. The sheer brokenhearted desperation in her voice practically forced me to turn around.

“What’s there to talk about, Haley?”

“I’m sorry okay? I didn’t know… I didn’t mean to hurt her that much. It was just some jokes!” she simpered.

Her expression made me feel like a scab. “Would you be? If I weren’t pissed as all hell at you, or if Clara hadn’t gotten hurt, would you still be sorry? I don’t care what she did, or how fucked up she looks. That shit was gross. I felt bad for having wanted to date you. Laughing at her like that? What did she ever do, huh!?”

Curse your puppy dog eyes.

“There’s… context dammit! It wasn’t supposed to go that far,” She said, a hike in her voice causing her to hesitate.

“Yeah. I wasn’t supposed to see it right? What sort of context could possibly justify–!”

“She got my Dad fired, Bran.” Haley hissed, unexpected tears coming to her eyes. “That stuck up bitch got my dad fired. I probably won’t be able to go to Uni because of her!”

That brought me up short. “Wha-I…?”

Clara did what?

Haley spoke before I could gather my thoughts.

“I overreacted. I was an ass, I admit it, turning the other girls against her like that. Still, I couldn’t have known she’d go and try to commit suicide! And then you heard–!” She cut herself off, her fist clenched and shaking as if the words wouldn’t come. “God dammit Bran, it’s all so fucked up. You were the one good thing in all this and then you stopped talking to me and I just…!”

I blinked, suspended in a hesitant stupor as I watched the girl break down in front of me. I’d never even thought about it. Of course, she had a reason! People weren’t just malicious assholes like Haley had been without some provocation! But, like a complete idiot, I’d just dropped Haley. All my thoughts bent around Clara and how depressed she must’ve been in order to do something like walk outside at noon. I’d never even once considered why Haley would attack Clara like that.

Still…

I hesitated. I still thought I’d done the right thing. I’d always hated seeing people made fun of. Belittled. Put down. That sort of thing disgusted me, no matter who it was. Watching the girl I’d pined after for years doing exactly that behind my back, to a loner girl like Clara? It had cemented Haley’s place in my mind. A snob, a spoiled princess who hid behind her pretty face.

“P-please, Brandon? Give me another chance? I’m not… I’m not that girl you saw, okay?” she pleaded.

I wasn’t a saint. I’d always been a bit of a geek, if a well-liked one. One foot in every crowd, and barely a full part of any. I got along with the football players. I joked with the band kids and the JROTC military die-hards, but April and Monroe were my only truly close friends. I had been lucky to even catch Haley’s attention, and my persistent flirting had actually been about ninety percent me making a fool of myself. I’d never really thought she’d even be interested in me, even after five months dancing around the topic. Now she was crying, making a scene in the middle of the hallway that gossip hungry students would feast upon. I couldn’t turn her down.

I stepped up to the girl, feeling my resolve waver. She was so damn beautiful. I put a hand on her quivering shoulder and pulled her into a hug. She accepted it. Goosebumps crawled up my skin as her arms slipped around my back. She held me tight.

“I… Haley, look. I…”

“No. No, you don’t have to. I mean, you don’t have to apologize. I know why you started avoiding me. Brenda told me what you thought. Dammit, you’re probably right, too. I didn’t think either. Didn’t think it would hurt her that much.”

We pulled apart a little. My hands were still loosely wrapped around her, and one of hers slid up over my shoulder unconsciously. I shook my head.

“I wasn’t going to apologize,” I grimaced, trying to force myself to do this. “Just because… just because you had a good reason to be angry doesn’t justify bullying like that. I’ll give you another chance if you come with me to see her. Tonight.”

The girl winced. “I… I can do that. She’s still in the hospital?”

I nodded, then let out a tired sigh. I’d thought Clara had peeled out of the school because she’d been depressed but the more I thought about it, the surer I was that Haley’s words hadn’t been the cause. She hadn’t been committing suicide.

Could it be that the sunlight doesn’t normally affect her? If she protected me somehow…

“I can’t get her burning face out of my head, Haley. It’s stuck there like a bad song. I’m trying really hard not to blame you,” I said.

One hand clutched her heart, while the other reached out to my cheek as if to sooth me. Rather than address what I’d told her she changed the subject. “I’ll make this right. I keep feeling so goddamn guilty. She got burned, you got hurt and I never knew what to say or how to apologize. But I… Brandon. Would you be my boyfriend? I should’ve said yes weeks ago.”

I blinked. My mouth hung open a little, and I shut it with an audible click.

We’d been on several ‘dates’ already. I remembered the double date we’d gone on with Gavin and George. There’d been another at a skating rink, and a third at the movies and dinner. We’d had a great time at all three. Since we’d began these casual dates, I’d asked her to be my girlfriend, what, seven times? She’d said no every time, but always playfully. Like a cat tentatively poking a toy, unsure whether she wanted to nuzzle it or sharpen her claws on it.

To just have it thrown back at me like that? The request felt like she was trading her happiness for my forgiveness. It felt sour. Luckily, she saw my internal struggle and seemed to interpret it before I needed to say anything.

“No. No, of course you don’t. Shit! I fucked it all up again. Dammit. Dammit, I’ll go. I shouldn’t have done this here in front of everybody. Pressuring you like this. I missed you and–!”

“The Activation party,” I interrupted. I managed to plaster a wry grin on my face. “Is it still on?”

She stopped, taking a moment to catch up with my slightly random question.

“The… oh. Yeah, as long as Tellroan doesn’t postpone the activation itself, the party is still on.” A sparkle came to her eyes as she caught on to my idea. “Will you come!?”

I smiled. “I think I could. Shit, it’s tomorrow already isn’t it?”

She smiled back, and I noticed the people subtly pretending they weren’t listening to us. A few girls, Sabrina, Elliot, and a third I didn’t know, giggled and kept stealing glances at us as we PDA’d all over the first floor hallway.

I split apart from her before one of the teachers could scold us, but let my hand linger in hers. She stared at it and blushed a little.

“I’m really sorry, Brandon.”

“Stop apologizing, already. Look, we’ll visit her tonight. I think she’s going to be awake by now.” I said, not sure if I believed the word of the woman I’d met the last time I visited Clara. “You can say your piece, and then tomorrow I might see you at the activation party okay? I doubt… I honestly doubt this is something I’m just going to be able to let go, but maybe we can be friends at least. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay. Yeah. That sounds good.”

I hesitated for a second. The nagging feeling that I was forgetting something important crossed my mind. I wracked my brain for a few moments trying to think of what it was but the five minute warning bell rang, interrupting my train of thought. My locker was still halfway around the building and then another few floors up to reach Mr. Kinard’s math class, my first class on Fridays.

Silently cursing, I waved to the girl. “Shit, I gotta run. Mr. Kinard said he’d fail my ass if I was late again.”

Haley beamed. I ignored the wetness in her eyes. “Yeah. Me, too. Well. Not… failed or anything but, I meant that I need to get going and–!”

She paused, her thoughts catching up to her tongue. Haley was good at hiding it most the time, but she was a little scatter-brained the rare times that she was nervous. “Okay. I’ll see you in a few hours. Uhm. Outside the school? We’ll walk to the hospital, alright?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I told her with a smile, my heart feeling a little lighter, before turning and breaking into a dead run.

I would undoubtedly be late.

Six or seven hours later, Haley and I walked into the hospital together. She was filled with nervous apprehension, while I felt a little excited. That strange woman I’d met visiting Clara on Monday, had told me to wait ‘till today and then Clara would be fine. I didn’t know why, but I was sure that she’d been telling the truth, and that Clara was alright. Or maybe I just really wanted her to be.

Haley held my hand the whole way here. She’d grabbed it when we’d met at the inner exit into the Hub, and refused to let go after that, even when it became sweaty and uncomfortable. I hadn’t closed my own around hers, but I hadn’t pulled away either.

“Brandon!” Came an excited shout from behind the front desk. “Great news!”

I blinked, a little taken aback. Cassy, the nurse at the front desk, seemed unnaturally excited, and I felt my hopes rise.

“Clara?” I asked.

The block-faced woman nodded emphatically. “Woke up just this morning. We saw improvement in her vitals last time you left. Thankfully, the ardnocure finally seemed to take. It was like those flowers brought new life to her! Damn near a miracle! Strangest thing though…”

I quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

“Well, those plants died. All of them. Unnaturally fast. Like with every successful application of the ardnocures that worked, the plants withered. It was strange,” the nurse replied a little pensively. “I don’t know much about flowers anyway, though. Heh. Do I look the type to get many? Maybe they normally die that fast.”

Haley seemed curious, and piped up at that moment. “Ahh, who is this Brandon?”

“Oh!” I blinked, turning to gesture towards Haley. “Ah, Cassy, this is Haley Westley. A… friend. Haley, Cassy McCaw. Clara’s nurse.”

Haley winced so imperceptibly when I introduced her that I almost didn’t see it. I’d introduced her as a friend. Nothing more. I wasn’t willing to give her more. She recovered quickly though and stepped forward to shake Cassy’s hand around the desk.

“Good to meet you,” Cassy said happily, before pulling back and bending under the desk, ignoring Haley’s muttered “Likewise.”

She fished out a pair of visitor badges, and tossed them onto the counter. “Well, I suppose you’ll want to visit her. It’s always a pleasure when a patient recovers. Especially a critical one like Ms. Joyner. Pleasant girl, if a little… abrupt. She’s in her usual room. Here you go.”

“Thanks, Cassy,” I replied, taking mine and pinning it to my shirt while Haley did the same.

We waved to the nurse and walked down the hall, Haley following as I expertly navigated the maze-like corridors to Clara’s door.

I almost grasped the handle before Haley put her hand on my arm. I turned to her. “Uh… she’s awake. Shouldn’t you knock?”

I blinked. “Oh, yeah. Right.”

I knocked on the door, unused to the idea that she was actually awake on the other side.

“Come in?” Came a surprisingly deep female voice. It occurred to me at that moment that I’d rarely ever heard Clara speak. We didn’t share any classes, though I think we had last year.

I entered, Haley right behind me.

Clara lay on the bed, same as she always had. But where four days ago she’d been a charred broken mess, her skin more akin to something out of a horror movie than real life, now she looked like her old self. Well. Closer to her old self.

The blue hair really was natural. A thin layer of fuzz was already growing back. Her face was pale, as it always had been. Slight blemishes adorned her right cheek and most of the right side of her body and arms, permanent reminders of the effect of the noonday sun. But she was otherwise hale and whole.

The curiosity on her face instantly evaporated as she spotted Haley and me, replaced with narrowed eyes and a deep frown.

“Oh. The idiot and the bitch. Great,” she breathed.

I blinked, my mouth hanging open with the cusp of a greeting hanging on the tip of my tongue.

I could almost feel Haley’s visage darken behind me.

“What the hell do you two want?” Clara asked, turning her eyes away from us to focus on one of the many medical posters that lined the room’s walls.

“I…” I blinked, utterly taken aback. I tried to come up with something to say, but Haley beat me to it.

“I get calling me a bitch. I probably deserve that. But, how dare you call Brandon an idiot! He saved your fucking life you snobby little–!”

“Haley,” I intoned.

Her mouth snapped shut, eyes jerking to me in equal parts annoyance and worry.

I stepped fully into the room, blinking. Cassy hadn’t lied. The flowers were dead. Not dying, dead. Each and every one of them had wilted to a sickly pallor of grey or deep brown that actually gave the room a slightly nasty stench. Shriveled flowers lay in every pot in the room, reminding me a little of the Scorched Lands. I was a little surprised the doctors had left them in here.

“So. What brings you two to visit me? Here to make fun of my fucked up hair? Or maybe give me a few more third degree burns?” She asked casually. Her narrowed eyes made me flinch.

“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” I said, feeling dumber by the minute.

So she blames me too?

“Great! Dandy,” she said sarcastically. “Love getting nearly burned to death because of idiots. It feels spectacular!”

“Wh… okay.” I breathed, noting the flaming fury boiling in Haley’s eyes. It was a struggle to keep my own temper in check. “I’m… sorry. I was trying to save your life.”

“You’ve never even fucking spoken to me, Bradley!”

Okay. Now I was getting ticked off too. “My name is Brandon.”

“Your name is probably Dumbass. Seriously. Who the fuck runs out into the sun! Who does that!? Now Thelma’s pissed, the Yates are pissed, Tellroan is going apeshit and I nearly died!”

“You!” I barked back. “You ran out into the sun! What was I supposed to think!?”

The girl’s eyes darted to Haley for half a second. A very conspicuous half a second.

“Oh my god, there is no way I’m apologizing to this jerk, Brandon. Forget it.” Haley hissed. “Come on. Let’s go,”

“Thank God. I hear the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and I wouldn’t want to get molested by you, too!” Clara baited. Loudly.

“You take that back, you goddamn lying sack of–!”

“Okay!” I yelled, doing my best to ignore the implications of what Clara had just said. This… was not how I’d expected this to go. Clara, to the best of my knowledge, had always been a quiet, unobtrusive girl, who went out of her way to never be noticed.

She gave me another look, followed by another long look at Haley. Fortunately the blonde was already on her way out of the room.

“I, uh, yeah. Just give me a minute Haley,” I told her as she turned and smashed the door open. I didn’t know if it was possible to walk loudly, but that was exactly what Haley was doing. She slammed the door behind her… or tried to. Instead the door stopped midway like hospital doors tend to do, and finished closing unsatisfyingly slowly. I gave Haley an apologetic look as the door shut between us.

“Finally. Thought she’d never leave.”

“Did you just insult us, solely to get her to leave the room?” I asked, curiously.

“No. I called you an idiot because you’re an idiot.”

I scowled. I was getting really offended at this point, but the only rebuttal I had sounded petulant and childish. I said it anyway.

“I’m not an idiot,” I insisted, cursing as soon as the words left my mouth. Why? Why couldn’t I ever have a good comeback?

“Moron. Dumbass. Nincompoop, take your pick,” the girl bit back. She threw her hands behind her head and leaned back into her pillow lazily. “But I know what you were trying to do. So, for what it’s worth, thanks. Even though it was actually me that saved you, and not the other way around.”

I sighed. “You were walking in the sun, and it wasn’t burning you. I was already halfway to you before I realized that. Then, the second I reached you, you started burning, and I started feeling better. What the hell did you do to me?”

Clara sighed. “I… gave you something. Something that was supposed to go to someone else. Something I can only give out about once a year. And… something that’s probably going to get you killed if the wrong person finds out about it. So keep your abilities on the down low, okay?”

I blinked. “What abilities?”

She looked at me strangely. “Heat immunity? The ability to walk around in the sun? The whole reverse-green-thumb thing? It’s not manipulating Sunsoul but it’s the next best thing.”

I gave her a blank look.

“Oh my god, you’ve had three weeks and you haven’t figured it out yet,” she said, in a way that made me certain she was making fun of me.

“Figured what out?”

“You can go outside. At noon. You’re tied to one of the Towers, now. My Tower. Dumbass.” She said, enunciating her words like she was speaking to a baby. The wide sweeping gestures she made with her hands made me even more angry.

“Bullshit.” I said, irritated, even as a nagging feeling of doubt swept over me. The early mornings, barely feeling the heat. The warmer at the Raceway?

The girl shrugged off my doubt with casual ease. “Quit kidding yourself. Your fucking hair is already starting to turn. Soon it’ll be as white as mine is blue.”

I gaped, my hand trailing subconsciously to my head.

“Honestly, while you are an idiot, I’m glad you gave me the excuse. Better someone my age than another half dead ancient millionaire crone buying the rights. God I wish I could’ve seen the look on Thelma’s face when she figured out what I did! Hah! Fuck! So worth another transfer!”

I blinked, unsure what to make of this utterly strange, white haired girl. “Exactly how many tickets for the crazy train do you have?”

She snorted. “Heh. Good one.”

I sighed. I’d spent weeks agonizing over this girl and what I thought Haley had done to her, only to find out she was abrasive, obnoxious, and pretty much exactly the opposite of everything I’d thought. I was beginning to wonder who the victim was here.

“I’m… gonna go. I wanted Haley to apologize for the shit she said but–!”

“Don’t care,” Clara interjected gleefully.

“Yeah. I got that feeling. Well, I’m glad you’re better.” I said, hoping she’d give me free reign to leave. I suddenly did feel like a moron. Worrying so much over someone who didn’t even care.

“Doubt it. They’ll probably transfer me away. I’m “Not Safe” here anymore, I’m sure.” For a moment, something resembling real sadness crossed her features, and her voice dropped to a mumble. “Never safe anywhere…”

I sighed. I felt relieved that she was okay. For a certain value of okay at least. What reason did I really have for visiting her anyway? At first I’d felt responsible, since it was Haley that had driven her to suicide. With that apparently debunked and her now feeling fine…

“Well, good luck with that. I’m sorry to hear it,” I told her turning back towards the door. I kind of just wanted to get away now. Feeling out of place.

“Hey,” She asked suddenly. “That nurse. She, ah, said you visited me. Like, every day.”

I tugged at my collar, feeling a tad embarrassed. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

I turned back to her. “I felt responsible I guess. I’d thought Haley made you try to... you know.” I trailed off dumbly.

“Well aren’t you just noble?” she said with a laugh. “No wonder it took me so long to heal though. I’d guess you met Thelma and she told you to stay away?”

“Uhh. Maybe? A dark skinned woman brought you all these flowers. She told… yeah. She told me to stay away till today and you’d get better. Told me you’d saved me,” I said quietly.

“I did. You’d be dead if I hadn’t given you the gift. Though she’s going to be so pissed at me. Moving again. Billions down the drain. All because you had to go and be heroic. Moron.”

I glared at her, now more than a little ticked off. Billions? Of dollars? What?

“Right. So, I’m going to go now,” I said with a final withering glare.

“Yeah, I figured,” she said brightly. “Good luck getting into Haley’s pants!”

I scowled, utterly disillusioned. But what had I expected, really? Her to be happy to see me? Thankful? She didn’t know me from Adam, and I guess I didn’t know her either. In her eyes, I was the reason she was hospitalized, not the reason she was still alive. I didn’t even want to know what sort of gift she was talking about.

I stormed out, and brightened when I saw Haley still waiting for me. For some reason though, I turned and took one final look back as the door closed. I caught a last glance at the girl. She’d turned to stare at one of the dead flowers.

She looked so lonely.

Haley and I walked out of the hospital. Cassy wasn’t there when we reached the front desk so we dropped our badges off and left without saying a word. Haley was even angrier than me. She spent the whole walk trying to calm herself down, and did a pretty bad job of it.

When we were half way back to the school, she finally found the words to speak to me again.

“Can you forgive me, anyway?” She asked. “I know I didn’t apologize. But I tried. I…”

“Yeah. I guess it’s okay. I think I was expecting that to go differently somehow. Either way, I think I’m going to go home and–!”

I stopped dead. My words died as my eyes fell on a small ice cream parlor behind Haley. My stomach dropped out as a sensation of panic overtook me. How the fuck could I be such a monumental idiot!?

“Oh shit!” I screamed, not caring who heard. “Oh man, she’s right; I am a complete moron!”

“Bran?” Haley asked, worried.

I glanced at her. Annoyed. A part of me wanted to blame her. I wouldn’t have fucking forgotten if not for Haley’s confession. I was a little surprised at how easy my decision was though.

I took off at a dead sprint for the school and my car, listening to Haley’s confused shouts behind me. I ran like a madman, desperately hoping April would still be waiting for me. I couldn’t help but think that April herself called me an idiot all the time, too. This was the first time in a while that I’d really felt like one though.