Chapter 3
The next morning, Arianna posted up at their usual corner like some pathetic stalker, clutching yesterday’s notes like a peace offering.
When Jayden finally appeared, she practically threw herself in front of him.
“Hey, you missed calculus and AP lit yesterday. I wrote down everything for you–all the important stuff for finals.”
Her voice came out way too eager, too desperate. She hated how she sounded.
Jayden stopped and actually looked at the notebook. For one insane second, Arianna thought maybe-
He flicked his lighter open and touched the flame to the corner of her notes.
“No!” The word ripped out of her throat as she watched hours of her careful work catch fire. He held the burning notebook for a few seconds, letting the flames really take hold, before dropping it on the sidewalk like a piece of garbage.
His smile was pure cruelty. “Did you seriously think I’d still want to go to college you? That I’d want to be anywhere near you for another four years?”
The words hit her like a punch to the gut. She actually staggered backward.
They’d planned their whole future together–same school, maybe even the same dorm. Jayden had been studying his ass off for the first time in his life, all because of their stupid teenage promise to never be
apart.
Now she was watching that dream literally burn at her feet.
“I just-” Her voice cracked. She pressed a hand to her chest where it felt like something was tearing apart. “I thought maybe for your mom’s sake, you’d want to keep your grades up-”
“My mom?” Jayden’s laugh was like broken glass. He lit a cigarette with shaking hands. “My mom’s in a psych ward, Arianna. She sits in her room all day talking to my dead father like he’s still there. The doctors say she might never come back from this.”
Each word was a knife twisting deeper. Arianna felt tears burning her eyes, her throat closing up.
“She was supposed to help me move into my dorm this fall,” he continued conversationally, like he was discussing the weather. “Now she can’t even remember to eat unless someone reminds her. So tell me–how exactly is studying supposed to help with that?”
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Done Hiding as Your Backup Plaything I’m Shining Golden as a Queen
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Chapter 3
“Jayden, I’m so sorry-”
“Save it.” He stepped over the ashes of her notes, grinding them into the concrete with his heel. “Just fucking save it.”
Arianna stood there long after he’d disappeared around the corner, watching the wind scatter the burnt pieces of paper. Her chest hurt so bad she could barely breathe.
By the time she made it to school, Jayden’s desk was empty again. Third day in a row.
Madison Walsh, queen bee of their graduating class, made sure everyone heard her opinion: “He can’t even stand being in the same building as her anymore. Can you blame him? She got his dad murdered and now she just acts like nothing happened. It’s psychotic.”
The words hit Arianna like a physical blow. She slumped in her seat, her vision going spotty around the
edges.
Maybe they were right. Maybe she should just… disappear. Make everyone’s life easier.
During lunch, she sent him a text with trembling fingers: If seeing me makes school unbearable, I’ll transfer. Just please don’t give up on your future because of me.
Her phone stayed silent.
That afternoon, they called all seniors to the gym for graduation photos.
Arianna almost didn’t go. What was the point? But something made her drag herself down there anyway.
And there he was.
Jayden stood near the back of the crowd, sporting a fresh black eye and split lip. Her heart clenched so hard she thought she might pass out right there.
He was destroying himself, and it was all her fault.
When they lined everyone up for the class photo, Arianna automatically started moving toward their usual spot–front and center, where they’d stood in every school picture since kindergarten.
Then she caught herself.
“We’ll be in all the same pictures forever,” he’d promised her once, grinning that crooked smile that made her stomach flip. “High school, college, our wedding photos–you’re stuck with me, Anna.”
Now she pressed herself into the far left corner of the front row while he took his place in the back right.
The entire senior class stood between them.
Dan Hiding Von Dackin Blauthing I’m Shining Golden as a Oneen
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Chapter 3
This would be their last photo together. Ever.
After the group shot, everyone swarmed Jayden for individual pictures. Even people who’d never spoken to him wanted a photo with the tragic boy who’d lost everything.
Arianna didn’t join the crowd. She had no right.
Instead, she waited until one of the photographers finished with a group of cheerleaders.
“Excuse me,” she said quietly, her voice barely audible. “Could you take a picture of just me?”
She needed something nice. Something her mom could use when… after.
The man positioned her by the windows where the natural light was best. Arianna tried to smile, but her face felt like it was made of plastic.
After reviewing the shots on his camera, she pointed to the least terrible one. “This one. Could you print it
12 by 16?”
The photographer’s face went white. “Honey, that’s… that size is usually for…” He couldn’t finish the
sentence.
Arianna’s smile felt like it was cracking her face in half. “I know exactly what it’s
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
She spun around so fast she nearly lost her balance.
Jayden was standing right behind her, his face a mask of fury and something that looked almost like
panic.
“Funeral photos?” His voice was deadly quiet now.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?”
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