Page 74 of Unwritten Rules (Rules 1)

Guys like him are the reason some girls go gay.

The boys reach for the car handle, ready to step out of the vehicle. I’m about to do the same when Will cackles.

“What do you think you’re doing, Canada?”

“What do you mean? I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not. You don’t know Nicole like we do. Let us handle it.”

“What? Absolutely not. I’m not staying in the car.” I’m about to open the door when I hear the unmistakable sound of defeat.

He locked the door.

The bastard locked the door.

Will has this great car that you can’t get out of if it’s been locked from the outside. Some call it childproof.

I call it a kidnapping car.

“Will.” I knock on the glass.

“Oh, you’re right. Sorry.” He rolls down the window slightly, amused. “Oxygen. Kind of essential.”

Freaking idiot.

My gaze diverts to Blake and Alex. Blake’s laughing, and Alex is trying not to. So much for being the nice one of the three.

The guys walk toward the front door, and I watch them, helpless. God knows how long I’m going to be stuck in the car. I get my phone out of my pocket and unlock it, hoping to distract myself until they come back.

0 new messages.

I never knew three little words could sting so much.

They’ve been more than stubborn for the past couple of days. They refuse to budge from my screen, reminding me of the words no one wants to say to me. Today is Saturday, and it’s been nine days since I heard from him.

Of course, I get texts from Allie, my best friend from Toronto, Kass, and Maria. But they don’t count.

I guess what I truly see when I look at my phone is:

0 new messages from Haze.

I shouldn’t be surprised, really. I did tell him to stop texting me for a week. The thing is, I didn’t think he’d actually listen. Especially after what almost happened the last time we were together.

I’ve seen him at school a couple of times, which makes it even weirder. He’s not ignoring me. Or at least, I don’t think he is. Avoiding me is more like it. He didn’t show up to the classes we have together all week. He smiles when he sees me. I smile back. But it’s not a “we almost kissed” kind of smile.

The fight is getting closer every day. I forbid myself from counting the days, convinced it’ll destroy what’s left of my sanity.

I deleted his number to make sure I wouldn’t be tempted to talk to him, but also to make me feel better.

It goes without saying that it didn’t.

In a way, I thought that deleting him from my phone would be like deleting him from my brain.

I know now that it doesn’t work like that.

To make it even better, since Haze broke things off with Bianca, she’s been spreading lies about me at school. She says he ended things with her to sleep with me. That Haze was interested in dating her until I showed up and ruined everything.

I’m not sure if Haze knows about it, considering that I saw him like two to three times during the week. But even if he did, I don’t know if he would care.