P R I V A T E
185
on my case for suddenly sitting with them again. It was just another pain I?
?d have to endure on my elaborate fall from grace.
I was halfway down the aisle when Thomas stood up from the
end of a table and blocked my way. My heart flew into my throat. I SECOND CHANCE
hadn’t even noticed him there. His skin seemed translucent under the pale lights.
“I need to talk to you,” he said, his gaze intense.
I glanced right. Noelle and Ariana both looked away. They had
been watching.
By dinner everyone had heard the news. Leanne had been accused
“Don’t look at them. Look at me,” Thomas said. He was being
of breaking the honor code. The dirt was she had cheated on an
particularly loud.
English exam. There was going to be an investigation and if she was
“Thomas—”
found to be guilty, she would be expelled. Leanne didn’t show her
“I called you a hundred times last night. Why are you avoiding
face in the cafeteria that night, which was probably a wise idea, con-me?” he asked, turning suddenly petulant.
sidering all anyone was waiting for was her arrival. I was dying to
“I think you know why,” I told him.
talk to the Billings Girls about it—to find out what they knew—but
“Please, Reed. Just give me a chance to apologize,” he said. “You they hadn’t spoken to me all day. Hadn’t even looked in my direc-owe me at least one chance.”
tion when I passed them by in the quad. Knowing there was no way I looked into his pleading eyes and felt myself start to crumble.
I could even attempt to sit with them, I had spent both breakfast Whether from the urge to get out of the spotlight or from an actual and lunch in the infirmary and had planned to spend dinner there wish to hear him out, I was unsure. But I slipped into a chair at an too, until my aching, empty stomach convinced me otherwise.
empty table and he sat down across from me.
I stepped out of the line with my tray and glanced toward the
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I should have told you. But I wanted to Billings table, where everyone was huddled together whispering. In be with you and I knew that if you knew you’d think I was some huge fact, everyone at every table was huddled together whispering,
loser.”
sharing the latest tidbits of gossip. I took a deep breath and started I stared at him.