Page 66

Meet me in the lake. By the end of the jetty, to the right of your house.

He meantbythe lake, right?Inhad to be a typo, didn’t it? It was 2 A.M. He was lucky I woke up when he texted me.

But there was no one standing on the jetty. There was, however, a pile of clothes barely visible at the end of it.

I stole a quick glance around to make sure I was definitely, certainly,totallyalone, and hurried along the jetty.Way to make me feel exposed, Will.

He was treading water just beyond the edge of the jetty, a small, stark face smiling up at me from the black lake. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Perfect night for a swim, isn’t it?”

“Don’t you have to drive home in four hours?” I asked. We’d already forced our way through our good-byes. I’d spentthe night sulking, and hoping I’d see him again, and coming to terms with the fact that I most likely never would.

“I’m not the one in the driver’s seat. I can nap then. I wanted to see you again.”

“Will…”

“Come in.”

“But it’s dark,” I whined.

“I won’t let anything eat you. I promise.”

I hesitated. For nobody but him. I swear, nobody in this world but Will would be able to convince me to strip down and plunge into an icy, dark lake of death during the freaking witching hour.

But I did it, didn’t I?

As soon as I was in the water, his arms were around my shoulders, and his lips were on mine. He kissed me like he’d never get the chance to do it again. And that’s damn well how I kissed him back.

“Screw tomorrow,” I managed, when I pulled away.

“It’s gonna come, whether you want it to or not.”

“I know. And you’ll be gone, and you’ll forget all about me in a few weeks.”

Will laughed and shook his head. “I’lldefinitelynever forget you. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy. That won’t vanish just because we’ll be—”

“On opposite sides of the country.”

“It could be worse. You could live in, like, Australia or something.”

“I might as well.”

He kissed me again. Good-bye kiss number seventy-six. “Promise me we’ll find a way to see each other again.”

“I can’t promise that.”

“Then lie. Please.”

Will and I didn’t exchange a word until music class the next day.

He gave me a small smile when he sat down next to me. Like he was hoping I might act like everything was fine, and the dance hadn’t happened. “Hey,” he whispered.

Hey.

I was seething.

“I don’t want to see you anymore,” I whispered back.