CHAPTER 68: JUST ANOTHER MORNING

Chapter Sixty Eight

My stomach churned with guilt as I walked through the school hallways. I was supposed to go to William’s house yesterday, but everything had fallen apart.

I spotted him at his locker by his familiar blond hair and stopped dead.

This wasn’t my William!

Where did my best friend go?

Gone were his usual smart clothes and perfectly styled hair. Instead, he was wearing an all black leather jacket, ripped jeans, and hair messily tousled.

Did he breathe in the same air as Matt or something? Or maybe some contagious disease was spreading across the whole school.

"Okay, what are you rebelling against?" I asked, my eyebrows shooting up as I made my way over to him.

William struck a dramatic pose, running a hand through his hair. "I’ve had an awakening over the weekend, Oliver. A spiritual renaissance, if you will."

"A what n-now?" I nearly choked out the words.

"I finally realized my worth! I have evolved and no mortal creature is worthy of me!" He gestured grandly at himself, his chest puffed out with too much confidence for me to keep up with.

And what was it with his strange riddles?

This wasn’t even Shakespeare’s class, why was he making my head hurt so early in the morning?

I blinked at him, still dumbfounded. "Did you hit your head?" I asked genuinely, but there was no trace of an injury on him when I observed him from head to toe.

"The religion of self-love, my dear friend. And let me tell you, I am a devoted worshipper."

My mouth fell so wide open that it could probably house a whole buffalo.

"You’ve definitely lost your mind. But before you completely lose touch with reality - why were you crying yesterday?"

William waved his hand dismissively. "That was the old William. Weak William is dead and buried. This new William doesn’t shed tears - he sheds glitter. How did the saying go? I am no longer William the grey who was betrayed, I am now William the white..."

Okay, he was speaking in Harry Potter now?

My best friend had officially gone crazy.

"Okay, since you’ve already lost your sanity, I suppose what I’m about to tell you won’t have much effect on you,"

William’s eyes lit up but it was once again replaced by the most dramatic nonchalant look I’d ever seen.

"Ooh, hit me with your best shot, darling."

"I’m gonna hold your hand as I say this," I literally grabbed both his hands as I spoke the words.

"After that party, Kieran sort of took me to Vince’s house where we crashed the night there. And no, before you ask, we didn’t have sex or kiss or anything...because Kieran is obviously more pure-hearted about it than I thought..."

"Go straight to the point before I chew you up for breakfast!" William hissed at me, his eyes burning with an impatience that made me smile awkwardly.

Why did I even bring up my supposed boyfriend???!

"Fine! I caught Vince in bed with his boyfriend after the party."

A second passed between us in silence.

Then another.

All the colour drained from William’s face. His dramatic posturing crumbled instantly, and he went completely still.

"Did you..." His voice came out strangled, all traces of his newfound confidence evaporating. "Did you see the boyfriend’s face?"

Why was he more interested in knowing if I saw?

Could he be planning a murder?

"No. I was too busy trying to escape before they noticed me and traumatized me further. Why?"

I lied, keeping out the part where Kieran had dragged me out by my neck.

This gossip was already juicy, but I wanted to make it even sweeter,

"I think Vince may be that good in that aspect you know, I could hear his boyfriend screaming all night. I didn’t manage to sleep because of their moans," I ended the last part with a high-pitched fake moan, laughing hard, but William’s face only crumpled further.

"Do you recognize the boy’s voice? Did you think it’s familiar?"

I guessed he wanted to trace Vince’s boyfriend so desperately, but it’s too bad, I wouldn’t be able to help, because the moaning part had all been fabricated.

"No, nothing. Maybe he’s not from our school? What if he’s a college student he met at the party? Are you asking me because you want to play detective?"

"No reason. Just... you know... I already told you that I’ve awakened, and this means that I don’t chase, I attract."

I watched as William’s shoulders sagged with what looked suspiciously like...relief?

I frowned even deeper as I observed him.

This reaction made no sense, even New Age Butterfly William should be devastated about his crush, but he looked like someone had just told him he’d won the lottery when I told him I failed to recognize the boy.

Normal William would have scolded me for not trying harder to identify the enemy.

"Maybe this spiritual awakening did fry some brain cells," I muttered.

We headed to the first class, and I had barely taken a few steps inside when I spotted him.

Kieran was already in his usual spot and the moment our eyes met, my face exploded with heat.

Every hair on my body prickled as the memory of singing to him resurfaced.

Kieran was staring too hard, I even missed a step and nearly tripped. Poor me.

I felt as though my stomach had dropped to my shoes.

"Oh god," I whispered, my fingers digging into William’s leather-clad arm.

"I need to sit somewhere else. Preferably in another galaxy"

William looked from me to Kieran.

"Why? You seemed quite cozy with him three nights ago, did you guys have a lovers’ quarrel? I can introduce you to my religion of self-love too–"

I dragged William to seats across the room, but my skin still crawled under Kieran’s burning stare.

I felt his eyes boring holes in the back of my head, and could practically taste his irritation in the air.

My phone had been off all morning. I’d begged Mom to drive me to school. Kieran had probably gone to my house expecting to pick me up and found nothing.

"Seriously, what’s wrong?" William studied my face. "You look like you’ve seen footage of yourself doing something mortifying."

"That’s... actually not far from the truth."

Thankfully, the classroom door opened and our teacher walked in, but Mrs. Osborne was followed by someone who made my blood turn to ice.

"Hello class, welcome your new transfer student, be nice to him as he introduces himself,"

The boy behind her looked too familiar, only now, he was dressed in formal clothing and putting on a pair of glasses.

A low smirk spread across his face as our gaze met.

Xander.

The guy from Friday’s party.