Unspoken Rules (Rules 2)

How did she even know about this? Ha

ze brushed it off, but I’m so creeped out it takes me a good minute to forget about it and enjoy the rest of the night.

The dance floor is crawling with people by the time the slow songs come flowing out of the speakers and the lights go from blinking to dimmed. Haze and I have been dancing, mocking the DJ’s upbeat song choices and laughing until our stomachs hurt for a few hours now. I haven’t seen Will and Kass once since he dragged her away, which tells me things either went very wrong or very right. As for Kendrick and Alex, they drank way too much of the obviously spiked punch and are probably trying not to puke somewhere.

“May I have this dance?” Haze holds out his hand to me when couples start forming around us.

“You may,” I agree. We’re as close as can be, slow dancing along to lyrics that say “If we can’t have tomorrow, let us have right now.” The irony isn’t lost on me.

I want to enjoy this with all of my being, but I’m afraid. Everything is too perfect right now, and if there’s one thing I learned about fairy tales, it’s that after the ball comes the fall. Soon, the clock will strike midnight and the glass slippers will vanish. Along with my life in Florida. Along with our story.

“Did you think about my offer?” I ask, pulling away and admiring the reflection of the pale gym lights in Haze’s eyes.

“I did.” He nods.

Ten seconds until midnight.

“And?”

Five seconds…

Three…

Two…

One…

“I can’t come with you, Winter.”

Here’s midnight.

“Why not?” I ask.

“This is my home. I’m not ready to give it all up.”

“But… don’t you want to be with me?” My voice cracks.

“Of course I do. But life is constantly standing in our way.” He stops dancing. “Maybe it’s trying to tell us something. Maybe we weren’t meant to be more than this.”

I take a step back, the tears threatening to ruin my overpriced makeup, as I fail to mentally grasp what he just told me.

“What?” is all I can say. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that… maybe we were meant to be a fling.”

If words could stab you, I’d be hemorrhaging right now.

“A fling?” I spit with disgust. “You mean to tell me that we went through all of this… for a fucking fling?” I yell and cause the students dancing around us to stare.

“Winter, I…” he begins but stops speaking too soon for any real apology to come out. He’s staring at something in the distance. Someone. “I’m so sorry, I have to go,” he says quickly and leaves me and my broken heart stranded in the middle of the dance floor. I don’t even bother to look, or care, to see who was worth ditching me for. I don’t want to care. Not about him.

Not anymore.

I let the waterfall building up in my eyes flow freely and push my way through the thick crowd of students. I can see the door from here. I tell myself that this will all be over soon. That I’ll call Maria and be out of this school—no, out of this country—in no time. I’m about to walk out of the gym when someone spins me around. Worried eyes are pointed at me. Kendrick’s.

“Winter, what’s wrong?”

“I think Haze and I just broke up for good.” My lips quiver.