Page 31

VIOLET

When I’d ended things with Jeremy, it had caused quite a stir at school, but it paled in comparison to the backlash I faced now word had spread I was dating an infamous Darling Devil.

“I hear she’s dating Reed Darling,” one girl whispered behind me in math.

“Apparently, that’s why her and Jeremy broke up,” her friend replied. “How could she do that to him?”

“I know, right? Why would anyone choose a Ransom Devil over Jeremy Hoffman?”

“I mean, have you seen Reed Darling? I’d never date him in a million years, but he sure is pretty to look at…”

“And Jeremy’s not?”

I turned and shot the girls a scowl, but they weren’t deterred.

“What are you looking at, Devil worshipper?” one of them said.

That lovely nickname was a new development, and I really hoped it didn’t catch on.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” I replied. “But I only started dating Reed after Jeremy and I broke up. And if you want to know why we broke up, why don’t you ask Jeremy and Heather.” I quickly turned back to my desk so the girls wouldn’t see how my cheeks were heated with anger.

They weren’t the first people I’d caught talking about me, and I doubted they’d be the last. No one at school knew Jeremy had cheated on me.

Apart from Mia and Nicole, I hadn’t told anyone the full details of our breakup.

I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. Even if people at this school knew the truth, they would still take Jeremy’s side.

He could do no wrong in their eyes. I didn’t matter.

As the week wore on, I hoped people would lose interest in the gossip.

But when Wednesday came around, it still felt like the whispers followed me everywhere I went, and girls and guys alike were constantly shooting me dirty looks.

I couldn’t decide what people thought was worse: the fact I’d broken up with Jeremy or that I was now supposedly dating his biggest rival. It was probably a mixture of both.

I hung back at the end of my last class for the day and waited for the corridors to clear a little before I made my way to my locker. I knew it was silly, and Mia would probably tell me I should stop letting people get to me. But I just didn’t want to deal with any more attention.

The hallways were mostly clear when I eventually left the classroom. No one stuck around for long once school was finished, and it felt like I could finally breathe a little easier after such a difficult day. That was until I arrived at my locker.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I gasped.

Glaring at me from my locker door was a cartoon devil drawn in black permanent marker.

The image took up most of the surface, and a bitter taste filled my mouth as I stared at it in shock and dismay.

I grabbed a tissue from my bag and attempted to clean off the graffiti.

But no matter how vigorously I rubbed, the marker refused to budge.

I couldn’t win. If I had simply kissed Reed on Saturday night and walked away, I would have been called a puck bunny.

But since everyone thought I was dating him, I was a traitor.

I knew kids at Sunshine Prep loved their hockey, but I was beginning to realize it was more than just a sport to them.

There were probably cults with less passionate followers.

Not for the first time since the bonfire, I wondered how the hell I’d gotten myself into this mess.

“I don’t even like hockey,” I grumbled as I continued to scrub at the marker. I’d managed to blur the image a little, but it was still clearly there.

“They shouldn’t have done that. Are you okay?”

Jeremy’s voice did nothing to ease the tension in my chest, and I tried not to shudder as he came to stand beside me. “Go away, Jeremy.”

He ignored me as he leaned against the locker beside mine, making himself at home. "I miss you, Vivi.”

“Funny, I don’t miss you.”

He let out a sigh. “You know, you’re going to stop being angry with me eventually,” he said. “And when we do finally get back together, you’re going to regret ever getting involved with Reed Darling. He’s not really worth all this trouble, is he?”

He nodded at the devil drawing on my locker.

His voice sounded gentle, and his eyes looked kind.

I think he actually believed he was trying to help me.

But his act didn’t work on me anymore. Whatever way he dressed them up, his words were arrogant, entitled, and a little threatening.

Besides, it didn’t matter what he said; his voice now made my skin crawl, and his gaze made me squirm.

“He’s a hell of a lot less trouble than you, Jeremy.”

He let out a soft laugh as though my insult barely affected him.

“Come on, Violet,” he said. “I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but let’s just put the past behind us and pick up where we left off. You belong with me, not some Devil like Darling.”

“Forget it, Jeremy.” I ripped open my locker and shoved my books into my bag. “I don’t know how much clearer I can be. I’m with Reed now, and we are never, ever, getting back together.”

I slammed the locker door and marched away, but he called after me. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Violet.”

I continued to ignore him, and I could feel his eyes on me until I disappeared around the corner.

It should have felt good to know that my agreement with Reed was clearly getting to Jeremy, but instead, I just felt frustrated and angry. Our fake relationship only seemed to be spurring Jeremy’s desire to win me back. Even quoting Taylor Swift didn’t get the message across.

“You okay?” Mia asked when I finally caught up to her and Nicole outside the front entrance. Nicole was giving us a ride home from school because my car was still at Danny’s Garage.

“Do I look that bad?” I certainly felt it after my run-in with Jeremy. The thought made me instinctively glance over my shoulder to make sure he hadn’t followed me out here.

“Not at all,” Nicole said. “But your eyes are a little wild.”

That wasn’t surprising.

“Someone drew a devil on my locker, and Jeremy cornered me.” I scrunched up my nose. The devil thing I could live with but not Jeremy. “He’s still trying to convince me to ditch Reed and take him back.”

“Of course, he is.” Mia rolled her eyes. “Seeing you with his biggest rival is clearly driving him crazy.”

“It won’t be long before he’s outside your house, holding a boom box over his head, and serenading you with love songs,” Nicole added.

“Please don’t say that,” I groaned as we started across the parking lot toward Nicole’s car.

“You’re not enjoying his suffering, even just a little bit?” Mia asked.

“It’s hard to enjoy it when he’s trying so hard to get us back together,” I replied. “I was really hoping he would have got the picture by now and let me go.”

“That’s probably going to take more than one date,” Mia said. “He’s a competitive guy, and seeing you with Reed was always going to make him react this way. At least to start with.”

I drew in a deep breath and slowly blew it out. Mia was only reminding me how stupid I’d been to think this was a good idea in the first place.

“You’ve just got to stick it out with Reed,” Nicole said. “Soon enough, Jeremy will realize you’ve moved on and that he’s got no chance.

“And focus on the suffering,” Mia said. “All the suffering.”

I gave her a small smile. “He did look slightly tormented.”

“That’s the spirit.”

With my car still out of commission, transportation options for me and Mia and were limited to either Nicole or Luke.

Neither option was particularly appealing.

Nicole always insisted on listening to heavy metal as loud as her stereo would go while Luke preferred monotonous sports podcasts.

I could barely escape hockey at school, so I didn’t need to be bombarded by an in-depth analysis of it on the way home too.

As Nicole drove us home, I longed for the usual poppy tunes that Mia and I would sing along to. My ears were ringing by the time we stepped out of the car.

“Her music is the worst,” Mia groaned as we waved goodbye to Nicole.

“ Terrible ,” I agreed.

“When are you getting your car back?”

“Should be any day now.”

“You’ve been saying that for over a week. I…” Mia’s voice trailed off, and she nodded behind me. I turned, and a huge smile lit up my face as I saw Betty parked on the side of the road with Reed leaning casually against her.

“She’s ready?” I squealed with excitement.

“Thank God.” Mia laughed, but her expression sobered as she glanced over at Reed. She still didn’t seem sure about him. “I’ll catch you inside,” she said before hurrying toward the house.

I didn’t hesitate any longer as I ran to meet Reed. His smile was as broad as mine, as he pushed off the car and tucked his hands into his pockets “Yep, she’s all done,” he said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We got her finished this morning, and I wanted to surprise you.”

“You didn’t have to drive her here, Reed. I haven’t even paid your dad yet.”

He waved a hand at me. “Don’t worry about it. Dad’s comped you the whole job anyway.”

“What?” I frowned. “Why would he do that?”

“Just a perk of being my girlfriend, I guess.”

“Reed, I don’t expect him to fix my car for free.

” I paused as my eyes fell to Betty’s tires.

They looked brand-new. Danny had suggested I change the tires, but I’d put that job on the long list of things I was planning to do at a later date, when I had more money saved up.

“Reed, I was going to wait to change the tires…”

“Yeah, about that…” Reed started. “There was no way we could let Betty leave the garage without snow tires. Actually, we weren’t comfortable with you saving any of the other problems for later.”

“What do you mean?”

“Betty has a clean bill of health,” he said. “Everything’s fixed.”

“It’s all done?” I tried to swallow my shock and surprise, but the words still came out as squeaked disbelief. “Your dad did all the repairs? For free?”