Unspoken Rules (Rules 2)

“That’s fascinating, really.” I open my locker and start shoving its content into my backpack.

“But with you”—she completely ignores my obvious annoyance with her—“with you, it’s different. He rejects girls, he gets into fights. He would do anything for you. And so, I just had to come and see for myself. What is it about you that makes you so damn special?” She steps closer as she speaks.

If she only knew that I haven’t heard from Haze in four days.

“I remember the first time I saw you. You were at my party, and Haze and I had just finished fucking.” Her words make me want to vomit. “I ran into you after he kicked me out because he didn’t want us to come out at the same time. That’s how meaningless we are to him. All of us,” she spits harshly, but her pale eyes are tainted with a distant sadness that could almost make you feel sorry for her. Almost.

Memories of that night claw at me. This was the party where Haze saved me from some enemies of Kendrick who wanted my head. We never did get to find out who they were, but my guess is it was Tanner’s guys. This is when it all began. He took me to his house and offered me a place to sleep. I had no idea, back then, that I’d end up falling for him. I wanted nothing more than to get this troubled guy out of my life. I’d overheard their conversation after they’d… yeah, and he’d said something about making it clear that he just wanted to sleep with her from the start. She’d rushed out of the room in fury. It’s crazy to think of Haze in this light. He really did treat her like trash. But with me… he’s this entirely different person.

I don’t know how to feel about this.

“Then, when the cops showed up, he grabbed your arm and ran away with you. Just like that. He protected you, Winter Kingston, the random new girl. A perfect stranger. His first instinct was to save you.”

Okay, I’ve heard enough.

“Listen, I’d love to stay and listen to your side-chick story, but I have better things to do, so if you’ll excuse me…”

Anger tears through her face.

“Side chick, huh?”

Here it comes.

“Is that why, when you left town for some reason, he didn’t chase you and came to see me? Because I’m the side chick?”

My stomach churns. Will telling me that Haze was seen at her place the day after I left pops into my head.

“Or did he not tell you about that?”

“No, he did. He told me everything. He told me how he couldn’t even kiss you and left you standing there barely two minutes after showing up.”

“And you fell for it.” She chortles loudly. “Of course you did. Let me tell you what he truly did that night.”

Fear grips my insides.

“He fucked my brains out. He took me from behind, and we did it again and again and again. He fucked me so hard I couldn’t get enough. And let me tell you, it was good.”

Projectile vomit in 3, 2, 1…

“But I assume you know that. You did sleep with him, didn’t you? He really is mind-blowing in the sack, that one.” She smiles as if she’s reminiscing.

Haze said that he didn’t sleep with her.

He said he couldn’t even kiss her.

He promised.

It feels like multiple bullets are piercing my heart. I wish she didn’t get to me. I wish it didn’t hurt. But it’s pretty hard not to doubt Haze when I haven’t seen or heard from him once since the night he told me about his sister. I’ve been texting him—more like I’ve been texting myself—and he’s been ghosting me. I’m getting tired of his disappearing acts. I’ll be on a plane back to Toronto next Friday. We don’t have time for this. We don’t have time for anything.

“So, let me ask you, princess. Who’s the side chick now?” She offers me a self-satisfied smile, turns on her heels, and disappears into the moving crowd. I fail to ignore the bitter taste lingering on my tongue. I can’t take it anymore. I get my phone out of my pocket to see I have a message from Kass. She’s giving me a ride home from school per usual. She’s waiting for me outside. I text her that I’ll be right there and select my conversation with Haze. My fingers type the message I’ve been wanting to send all week.

Winter: Is this your way of telling me you don’t want to get back together anymore? If so, please be a man about it and tell me in person.

“Hey, Canada. Where’s that boyfriend of yours?” Will says, throwing himself onto the couch with a bag of ketchup chips in hand. That’s his go-to snack, and I honestly have no idea where he finds those. I know we have them in Toronto, but I haven’t seen them anywhere since I moved to the US. Does he get them shipped?

“Yeah, we haven’t seen him in a while,” Alex adds.

“Oh, you don’t know?” Kendrick mocks, walking into the living room and sitting right on top of Alex. “Prince Charming forgot that he had a girlfriend recently.” Alex pushes him off and they laugh, wrestling each other like kids.