Page 1
Story: A Forgotten Promise
Prologue
Saar
Fifteen years old
“Saar, I heard Corm Quinn is going to ask you to the school dance,” Arielle says.
Heat rises to my cheeks, and my pulse quickens.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I pretend-scoff, while my entire body shakes with the possibility.
“You should let him know you’re interested. Boys like him like confident girls,” Arielle chirps as we walk across the schoolyard.
“I doubt he doesn’t have a date yet.” I act bored, uninterested. Like my eyes arenotsearching for him among the groups of students.
“But is his date as hot as you?” She pokes my ribs.
I stop.Not this again. “What are you talking about?”
She looks at me, deadpanned.
A few weeks back, a modeling scout gave me his business card when we wandered around a mall. The card has driven a wedge between us.
Arielle didn’t even pretend to be happy for me, riddled with jealousy.
She’s been teasing me about it relentlessly. And I didn’t call the number because I didn’t want her to feel less. To feel unseen. To feel not enough.
In a world where my parents either demand from me or forget I exist, and my brothers treat me like an annoying insect, my best friend has been my harbor, my reason, my home.
But the bitter aftertaste from the mall-outing afternoon has been lingering between us.
The bell interrupts our conversation, and we run to the class.
Corm Quinn? The ‘most popular boy in my high school and three years my senior’ Corm Quinn? A boy with dark blond hair and silver eyes who is so hot, all the girls fan themselves when he enters the room.
Me and him at the dance?
As unlikely as that is, Arielle has planted the seed.
For several days, the gullible me suddenly starts noticing—or more like fantasizing about—his eyes holding mine a bit longer in the cafeteria.
Him hanging behind when his soccer game finished, right as my running practice was about to start. The almost-smile he sent in my direction when we ran into each other in front of the labs.
Only it wasn’t me his eyes were searching for. It wasn’t me the smile was for. It wasn’t me he stayed behind for.
“I already have a date. Arielle asked me, but save me a dance.” Corm winks at me before he joins his friends.
My stomach churns as I watch them leave. Before they turn the corner, he looks back and smiles. I desperately want to see regret on his gorgeous face, but he doesn’t seem sorry, his smile a pure flirt.
Why would he be sorry, you idiot?He doesn’t know he just crushed you and humiliated you.Because it wasn’t really Corm who stabbed me in the back.
My best friend did.
The tiny blood droplets seep into the white rug. The glass shards reflect light in a kaleidoscope of colors, striking the mess on the floor, almost making it beautiful.
I stretch my limbs over the cold, hard tiles of my bathroom and clutch my cut hand to my chest.
The red sweats into my white T-shirt now. For such a minor cut, the blood loss should concern me.
Table of Contents
- Page 1 (Reading here)
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183