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most like he was going to bolt back toward his room. But then he turned back. And took her hand.
 If you ever feel like things aren t working out, you know, with &  He looked up at the sky.  I m
here. Just wanted you to know.
Luce nodded, already battling a rolling wave of confusion. Miles squeezed her hand, then took off
in the other direction, bounding over the sloping shingled roof, back toward his side of the dorm.
Alone, she traced her lips where Miles s had just been. The next time she saw Daniel, would he be
able to tell? Her head hurt from all the ups and downs of the day, and she wanted to crawl into bed.
As she slipped back through the window into her room, she turned one last time to take in the view,
to remember how everything had looked on the night when so many things had changed.
But instead of the stars and trees and crashing waves, Luce s eyes fixed on something else behind
one of the roof s many chimneys. Something white and billowing. An iridescent pair of wings.
Daniel. Crouched, only half hidden from view, just feet away from where she and Miles had kissed.
His back was to her. His head was hanging.
 Daniel, she called out, feeling her voice catch on his name.
When he turned to face her, the drawn look on his face was one of absolute agony. As if Luce had
just ripped his heart out. He bent his knees, unfurled his wings, and took off into the night.
A moment later, he looked like just another star in the sparkling black sky.
Torment
SIXTEEN
THREE DAYS
At breakfast the next morning, Luce could hardly eat anything.
It was the last day of classes before Shoreline dismissed the students for Thanksgiving break, and
Luce was already feeling lonely. Loneliness in a crowd of people was the worst kind of loneliness,
but she couldn t help it. All the students around her were chattering happily about going home to
their families. About the girl or guy they hadn t seen since summer break. About the parties their
best friends were throwing over the weekend.
The only party Luce was going to this weekend was the pity party in her empty dorm room.
Of course, a few other students from the main school were staying put over the break: Connor Mad-
son, who had come to Shoreline from an orphanage in Minnesota. Brenna Lee, whose parents lived
in China. Francesca and Steven were staying, too surprise, surprise and were hosting a Thanks-
giving dinner-for-the-displaced in the mess hall Thursday night.
Luce was holding out one hope: That Arriane s threat to keep an eye on her included Thanksgiving
break. Then again, she d barely seen the girl since Arriane had taken the three of them back to
Shoreline. Only for that brief moment at Harvest Fest.
Everyone else was checking out in the next day or two. Miles to his family s one-hundred-plus-per-
son catered event. Dawn and Jasmine to their families joint gathering at Jasmine s Sausalito man-
sion. Even Shelby though she hadn t said a word to Luce about going back to Bakersfield had
been on the phone with her mom the day before, groaning,  Yes. I know. I ll be there.
It was the worst possible time for Luce to be left alone. The stew of her inner turmoil grew thicker
every day, until she didn t know how to feel about Daniel or anyone else. And she couldn t stop
cursing herself for how stupid she d been the night before, letting Miles go so far.
All night long, she kept arriving at the same conclusion: Even though she was upset with Daniel,
what had happened with Miles wasn t anyone s fault but hers. She was the one who d cheated.
It made her physically ill to think of Daniel sitting out there, watching, saying nothing as she and
Miles kissed; to imagine how he must have felt when he took off from her roof. The way she d felt
when she first heard about whatever had happened between Daniel and Shelby only worse, be-
cause this was bona fide cheating. One more thing to add to the list of proofs that she and Daniel
could not seem to communicate.
A soft laugh brought her back to her uneaten breakfast. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]