Page 102 of Save You

But then Graham stiffens.

“Lydia,” he whispers.

I move away from him a little and follow his gaze.

At the end of the corridor, only fifteen feet away, is Cyril.

His face is paler than I’ve ever seen it, and he’s staring in disbelief from Graham to me and back again.His mouth drops open.

But then his face changes.His eyebrows contract, his eyes narrow to slits, and he grits his teeth so hard that his jawbone juts out.

The next moment, he turns on his heel and vanishes back into Boyd Hall.

“Fuck,” I mutter, pulling away from Graham completely.

“Lydia…”

I shake my head and wipe my fingers over my damp cheeks again.“I have to speak to him.Could we talk later…on the phone?”

Graham looks like his whole body is strained, but at my words, a warmth creeps into his golden-brown eyes that I haven’t seen in months.It’s familiar, like a faded memory that is slowly regaining color and becoming a reality.

“I’ll call you,” he says.“After the ball.”

“OK,” I whisper.

For a moment, I’m tempted to hug him again, but then Cyril’s disbelieving face looms up in my inner eye and instead I turn tail to look for him.

I run after Cyril as fast as I can and catch him just by the exit from Boyd Hall.

“Cy…” I gasp, reaching for his elbows.

He whirls around and snatches his arm away.“Don’t touch me.”

I raise my hands, shocked by his cold tone.Cyril has never spoken to me like that before.And the way he’s looking at me is entirely new: disdainful, disgusted.He shakes his head.

“I can’t believe you did that, Lydia.”

I frown up at him.“I can’t believe you think you’re in any position to judge me, Cy.Or do I have to remind you of some of the people you’ve been with?”

Cyril flinches.“You think I’m pissed off because you’re shagging your teacher?”

Now I’m the one to flinch.There’s a little group of people behind Cyril, who’ve just walked out of the hall.

“Why else?”I ask quietly.

He makes a sound of despair and leans his head back, staring up as if the heavens could tell him what to say next.Then he looks back at me and gulps hard.

“I’m pissed off with you because you’ve been holding out on me for ages.”

My mouth drops open.“What?”

“There’s only you for me, Lydia.I’ve been in love with you for years.”

“But,” I croak.“But we…I…It was never anything serious.”

Cyril looks like I’ve slapped his face.He opens his mouth, but not a word emerges.

“I didn’t know you felt like this,” I whisper.Cautiously, I stretch my hand out toward him a second time and touch his arm.He’s my friend; I’ve known him since we were kids.If I’d had any idea that he was serious about me, I’d never have got involved.