Luke grabbed my wrist and looked up at Fiona: “Do you need something?”
She blinked: “What’s it to you?”
Fiona was well–known in our grade.
Pretty face, hot body, outgoing personality.
She knew a lot of people, even outside of school. Compared to me who was unfamiliar with everything here, Luke was afraid I might be at a disadvantage.
10:34 AM
<
But I just gently pushed his hand away: “It’s fine.”
I stood up: “Let’s go, we’ll talk outside.”
26
“You know about this photo, right?”
It was the photo of Parker forcefully kissing me in the private room.
When Fiona showed me that photo, I wasn’t surprised.
After all, it had caused quite a stir before I transferred, so it wasn’t strange that she knew about it.
But her next words caught me off guard.
“Looking at the angle of this photo, were you willing?”
Fiona zoomed in on the part where Parker was pinning my hands against the wall in front of me.
She said:
“He was being a jerk, right?”
27
Back in the classroom, Luke leaned over and whispered:
“Parker broke up with Fiona.”
Fiona had just sat down.
Her back was straight, showing no signs of heartbreak.
I asked him: “Are you sure Parker initiated it?”
Because just before coming back to the classroom, Fiona had asked
me a question:
“Zoe, want to get revenge on him?”
28
After school, I was slowly packing my bag.
Luke suddenly called out to me: “Zoe, look at the back door.”
It was Parker.
He was wearing his school uniform casually, one hand in his pocket, leaning against the back door, his knuckles tapping rhythmically as he looked at me sideways.
I instinctively gripped my bag strap tighter.
But Parker walked right in.
He slammed a can of soda onto my desk with a “bang“:
“Your mom said I should take you home from now on… to avoid any… complications.”
He said this while glancing at Luke.
The latter pushed the soda can back to him:
D
10:34 AM
<
“She doesn’t need it.”
29
“What’s it to you?”
Parker’s eyes turned cold as he looked at Luke: “Luke, some things are not for you to meddle in.”
“Then I’m telling you too, don’t be stupid.”
Luke said word by word: “We’re all buddies, I can’t control your private life, but when it comes to Zoe, don’t go too far?
“You really like her?”
“Enough!”
The next second, a glass of water was thrown in Parker’s face.
I put the glass down, as if I had made some decision:
“Parker, don’t you understand? I don’t need it.
“If you want to tell on me, to mess with me, do whatever you want, but
Fighti
t now, please get out.”
30
When Luke pressed the cold soda can against my face, I was still in a daze.
“What’s wrong? Stunned? Or did throwing that water at him feel too good?”
I frowned and took the soda from his hand: “You talk as if you got something good out of it.”
Luke’s hair was still dripping water.
At that time, when Parker got splashed by me, he quickly grabbed a nearby glass.
Then, he threw it at Luke who was standing in front of me.
He wiped his face without a word.
And Parker slammed the glass down, leaving with a threat:
“Zoe, you better not come back!”
I opened the soda and took a sip: “You’re not going to wipe off the water?”
Luke made a “tsk” sound: “You heartless girl, you’re not even going to hand me a tissue to wipe it off.“”
I put the soda down and started rummaging in my pocket: “Let me look for one.”
The playground after school wasn’t crowded, with some people still playing basketball.
Luke and I sat side by side on a long bench.
“Here, I found one…
I looked up and froze, staring at Luke.
Because he had picked up that can of soda and just taken a sip.
Right where I had drunk from.
