Chapter 7
I told Mom that I was going home. She tugged at my hand.
“What happened? The party hasn’t started. Why are you going home so soon?”
I frowned. “Mom, my stomach hurts. I need to go.”
In fact, I thought I was about to puke my guts out.
Mom tried to convince me to stay. But she stopped herself as she looked at my pale face.
I picked up my bag and walked out. Paula stopped me.
She smiled friendly at me. “Grace, shouldn’t you be hanging out with Antonio and his friends?”
Antonio answered before I could say anything.
“Mom, she’s better than us and won’t be friends with us. I know because I tried.”
People assumed Antonio was joking.
Paula hit Antonio lightly. “Stop it. It’s not funny.”
She turned to me and said, “Have you bought things for school? I can buy them for you while I get Antonio his things”
Mom hurriedly said, “That’s not necessary. The climates are totally different between Paxburg and Sheakpool. They won’t need the same things. I can buy them for Grace.”
Chapter 7
“Paxburg!”
“Paxburg?”
Paula and Antonio acclaimed in shock.
I lowered my eyes and kept silent.
Mom explained to them, “Oops, I forgot to tell you. Grace was abroad, so it skipped my mind. She insisted on going to Paxburg with Leila. They’re just like sisters. She’s an adult now. Her dad and I can’t tell her what to do…”
Antonio’s expression darkened and stared at me without blinking.
Before Mom could finish, Antonio snatched my wrist.
“We need to talk.”
Norah’s expression darkened as we walked away in the crowd’s gasps.
Antonio dragged me out of the hall.
I had to run to keep up with his long strides.
I couldn’t help but frown. “What’s wrong with you? Let go of me!”
Antonio threw me into a booth and locked the door behind
him.
His tall figure towered over me.
I could sense his anger.
Chapter 7
“Grace. Care to explain?
“I understand that you’re mad. But you can’t change your school behind my back? What about me? Have you thought about me?”
I stared at him. My fingernails dug into my palms, but I didn’t feel pain.
I wondered how Antonio could be so shameless.
He had no right to question me.
I shoved him with force.
Antonio staggered backward. I cut him off before he could say something.
“Enough.
“Innocent girl. Put out. Wild in bed.
“Antonio, do these words sound familiar to you?”
Antonio’s face went pale as I asked him.
I scoffed, “What? Do you have the balls to say them, but not the balls to admit it? You can look down upon me. You’re allowed not to like me. But you should tell me in person.
“Why did you humiliate me behind my back?”
Antonio stuttered, “You got it wrong, Grace. I…I…”
Tension in the room rose.
In the end, all colors were drained from Antonio’s face.
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Chapter
After a long pause, Antonio lowered his head in defeat.
He murmured, “I’m sorry.”
I said nothing and turned over to open the door.
I didn’t look back once.
The night ended on a bad note. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time.
It was the day we returned to school to collect our books.
I ran into Antonio in the hallway.
He was talking to two friends.
However, the girl next to Antonio wasn’t Norah. It was
someone new.
Once Antonio met my eyes, he averted his gaze hurriedly.
I walked past him calmly as if he was a stranger.
I could hear their conversation in bits and pieces.
“They have a falling out?”
“I don’t know. Antonio…”
I stopped listening.
Leave the wrong person and mistakes in the past.
I was starting a new life.
Chapter
Chapter 8
