His words slithered through my memory like silk pulled along exquisite marble. Anything… But now that he’d done it, he was gone. Just like that. Of course he was gone. Why on Earth would he stay? For me? Ha! Who was I kidding? I was nothing, an ant. A speck. Utterly insignificant, compared to what mattered in his unfathomable world.

Upstairs, I changed out of my school clothes and pulled on a teal spaghetti-strap tank top and my little blue and green plaid drawstring shorts. If I couldn’t be happy, I could at least be coordinated. I decided to distract myself with one of the less-desirable portions of my hygiene regimen. The weekly epilation ritual. At least it would kill part of the evening. I slipped into my flip flops and trudged to my claustrophobic bathroom at the end of the hall.

I sighed when I saw myself in the mirror. My eyes were so red. I looked like I’d been crying for hours, even though I had yet to shed a tear since I got home. I could feel them, though, tickling the back my throat, threatening to rise again at any moment like rebellious mutineers. Of course Riley would just be done with me after we stopped the cultists. I knew it yesterday, and I’d been right. I hiccupped and my upper lip quivered.

No! No. I would not cry. Not anymore. I was not worthy to cry over him. The mere fact that I dared to even entertain the notion that he might have even considered staying was an insult to him! I would not debase him that way with my stupid tears. I chomped them back as I twisted my hair up into a sloppy bun and plopped down on the cold porcelain edge of the antique tub.

As I smoothed the Nair over my legs, I tried to think of the homework I should have been doing instead. The lab report Ms. Epistola assigned…