Page 64 of Rival Darling
“Funny, I don’t miss you.”
He let out a sigh. “You know, you’re going to stop being angry with me eventually,” he said. “And when we do finally get back together, you’re going to regret ever getting involved with Reed Darling. He’s not really worth all this trouble, is he?”
He nodded at the devil drawing on my locker. His voice sounded gentle, and his eyes looked kind. I think he actually believed he was trying to help me. But his act didn’t work on me anymore. Whatever way he dressed them up, his words were arrogant, entitled, and a little threatening. Besides, it didn’t matter what he said; his voice now made my skin crawl, and his gaze made me squirm.
“He’s a hell of a lot less trouble than you, Jeremy.”
He let out a soft laugh as though my insult barely affected him.
“Come on, Violet,” he said. “I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but let’s just put the past behind us and pick up where we left off. You belong with me, not some Devil like Darling.”
“Forget it, Jeremy.” I ripped open my locker and shoved my books into my bag. “I don’t know how much clearer I can be. I’m with Reed now, and we are never, ever, getting back together.”
I slammed the locker door and marched away, but he called after me. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Violet.”
I continued to ignore him, and I could feel his eyes on me until I disappeared around the corner.
It should have felt good to know that my agreement with Reed was clearly getting to Jeremy, but instead, I just felt frustrated and angry. Our fake relationship only seemed to be spurring Jeremy’s desire to win me back. Even quoting Taylor Swift didn’t get the message across.
“You okay?” Mia asked when I finally caught up to her and Nicole outside the front entrance. Nicole was giving us a ride home from school because my car was still at Danny’s Garage.
“Do I look that bad?” I certainly felt it after my run-in with Jeremy. The thought made me instinctively glance over my shoulder to make sure he hadn’t followed me out here.
“Not at all,” Nicole said. “But your eyes are a little wild.”
That wasn’t surprising.
“Someone drew a devil on my locker, and Jeremy cornered me.” I scrunched up my nose. The devil thing I could live with but not Jeremy. “He’s still trying to convince me to ditch Reed and take him back.”
“Of course, he is.” Mia rolled her eyes. “Seeing you with his biggest rival is clearly driving him crazy.”
“It won’t be long before he’s outside your house, holding a boom box over his head, and serenading you with love songs,” Nicole added.
“Please don’t say that,” I groaned as we started across the parking lot toward Nicole’s car.
“You’re not enjoying his suffering, even just a little bit?” Mia asked.
“It’s hard to enjoy it when he’s trying so hard to get us back together,” I replied. “I was really hoping he would have got the picture by now and let me go.”
“That’s probably going to take more than one date,” Mia said. “He’s a competitive guy, and seeing you with Reed was always going to make him react this way. At least to start with.”
I drew in a deep breath and slowly blew it out. Mia was only reminding me how stupid I’d been to think this was a good idea in the first place.
“You’ve just got to stick it out with Reed,” Nicole said. “Soon enough, Jeremy will realize you’ve moved on and that he’s got no chance.
“And focus on the suffering,” Mia said. “All the suffering.”
I gave her a small smile. “He did look slightly tormented.”
“That’s the spirit.”
With my car still out of commission, transportation options for me and Mia and were limited to either Nicole or Luke. Neither option was particularly appealing. Nicole always insisted on listening to heavy metal as loud as her stereo would go while Luke preferred monotonous sports podcasts. I could barely escape hockey at school, so I didn’t need to be bombarded by an in-depth analysis of it on the way home too.
As Nicole drove us home, I longed for the usual poppy tunes that Mia and I would sing along to. My ears were ringing by the time we stepped out of the car.
“Her music is the worst,” Mia groaned as we waved goodbye to Nicole.
“Terrible,” I agreed.