Unspoken Rules (Rules 2)

I watch him make his way down the house and disappear behind the high bushes surrounding the property. I shower quickly and head downstairs for breakfast. Kass is already dressed and ready to go. She’s standing in the kitchen, cooking what I assume to be eggs.

“Haze didn’t want to stay for breakfast?” she asks when I walk in.

My eyes widen.

“Don’t look so surprised.” She turns off the stove. “You guys were crazy loud last night. Man, he must be really good.”

Apparently, the face I make is hilarious because she bursts out laughing right away.

“Chill, I’m totally messing with you. I saw his car leave just now.”

“I hate you so much.” I bring a hand to my heart to soothe my panic and sit down at the table.

She laughs harder and asks me if I’m ready for the few things we have to do today. I nod and mentally try to prepare for the busy day ahead.

Six hours. Six freaking never-ending hours. This is what Kass meant by “a few things.” I yawn my head off as we pull into Maria’s driveway, and get out of the car in a rush. Man, trying to look pretty is exhausting.

We only have about an hour left before we have to be at school. Haze and I have been texting all throughout the day. I can’t stop thinking about him possibly coming with me to Toronto. I know he didn’t say yes—it was more of a maybe—but he said he’d think about it. Tonight, he’ll give me the final answer. Soon, I’ll know what the future holds for us.

Kass and I hurry inside and change into our prom dresses and shoes. I have to reassure her that she doesn’t have back fat close to twenty times before she agrees to come out of her room. I struggle to walk with my three-inch heels inside the house and fear it’ll be even worse in a large crowd. I don’t know what I would’ve done if it wasn’t for Maria offering to pay for half my dress. Those things cost a fortune. My stepdad, Harry, transferred me the first half of the price as a surprise to celebrate my graduation. I’m so grateful for him. Heaven knows my mom wouldn’t have done that.

We spend the next hour bowing to Maria’s every demand. She compliments the guys on how handsome they look in a tux, takes way too many pictures of us, and asks Kass and Luke, her date to prom, to change locations every five minute. Will is beyond jealous, and Kass knows it. I think that’s what she wants. She’s desperate for him to grow some balls and tell Kendrick the truth. I really wish Haze could’ve come, but Maria forbade me from seeing him again. Having him show up would kind of defeat the whole purpose of Haze sneaking in through my window every night for the past week.

Then, when 3:45 p.m. comes, I give Maria the biggest hug—since she’ll be working tomorrow, and we won’t see each other again before I leave—and we scramble inside Will’s car to embark on the road leading to my very last night in high school. To my last moments in Florida. To my last hours… with him.

The high school gym is big—like how many calories can I eat when I’m bored big. But there are so many of us, the students crowd every inch of our personal space, leaving Kass and me no choice but to hold hands to get to the photo booth on the other side of the room. We lost Alex and Kendrick shortly after we arrived. I haven’t found Haze yet.

Kass spots him first. He’s standing in the corner with his hands in his pockets. I’ve seen him in a tux before, but the fact that he’s wearing it because he agreed to take me to prom—something he once told me he would never go to—makes him all the more irresistible. He looks like the definition of droolworthy, the tux fitting his hard body in all the right places and owing him a few—okay, a lot—of glances from any female present. I’m so caught up in checking him out that I don’t even notice the tanned girl standing right next to him. To my defense, she wasn’t obvious from this angle.

Bianca.

I look back at Kass, waiting for one of her usual “I hate that bitch” comments, but she isn’t where I left her. I glance around and see her getting dragged into a room by someone.

Will.

Well, shit. I sure hope they brought promtection.

That’s it. I’m going to hell for this pun.

I eye Bianca, who’s wearing a glittery and gorgeous red dress that puts my sleeveless white dress to shame. I wasn’t sure about going with white at first since I thought it was a well-known unspoken rule that white should be saved for weddings, but Kass changed my mind. “Is it a law? No? Then break the fucking unspoken rule.” She made me laugh. Mind you she was in a mood that day, but she was right. She always is.

Maybe it’s time we make rules of our own.

I take a breath and weave my way to Haze, my heels already killing me. I catch the last sentence Bianca tells him.

“I’m giving you one last chance here. Think about what you’re going to do. Think carefully.”

Unbothered, he doesn’t reply and looks around the room. His eyes find mine and go from uninterested to huge as he looks me up and down. This look right there. This is the reason some girls dream about this night their whole lives.

“Winter, you’re…” He desperately searches for words for a few seconds. “Everything.”

I flush.

“Thank you.” I smile and wrap my arms around his neck. “You’re very everything, too.”

He laughs and kisses me. I can feel Bianca’s hateful eyes on us, but I couldn’t care less. When we pull away for air, I’m pulled away from him, tumbling a few steps back. Haze catches me before I lose my balance.

My eyes quickly find the person who just roughly slammed her shoulder into me. Bianca. Who else? She turns around, forces a smile that’s full of arrogance on her lips, and spits a bitter “sorry” as she walks away. I sigh and look back at Haze, who just tells me to ignore her. I ask him what they were talking about, and he replies that it’s not important. I insist and he tells me that she somehow heard through the grapevine that he was thinking of leaving town with me. She gave him one last chance to choose her. One last chance to choose right.