12

The days of the week fly by quickly and insignificantly. Mason doesn’t seem any different, so I guess that means Annalisa kept her promise to stay quiet about the affair. But that also means Brian hasn’t said anything to him either.

I’m getting ready for school Thursday morning when I get a text from Aiden.

I’m picking you up this morning. Be there in 10.

A giddy feeling rises within my chest. A morning with Aiden? Fine by me.

Since Monday’s encounter with Ryan I’ve been wearing long sleeves that are tight around the wrists so that they won’t accidentally ride up and reveal the bruise on my wrist, and Kaitlyn’s been doing the same. Not that we talked about it. She’s doing her damn best to avoid me, while still managing to be a bitch. How? I have no idea. It must be her special talent. Some people can juggle bowling pins while riding a unicycle; Kaitlyn can be a bitch while not even in the same room as you.

I study the ugly bluish-yellow bruise in the shape of a large handprint wrapped around my wrist and scowl. At least it’s fading.

A loud car pulls up in my driveway and I peer out the window. It’s a black Challenger. I practically squeal out loud.

Grabbing my bag and jacket, I run down the stairs and out the door, locking it behind me. Aiden’s standing in front of the car, a grin on his face. It softens all his expressions and makes him look younger than he normally presents himself. He looks his age.

“You have a Challenger again!” I call out to him and open the passenger-side door, peeking inside to see if anything’s different.

He sits in the driver’s seat, his excitement almost palpable. “It’s the newest model too. Even faster than my old one.”

Once I’m seated, I throw my bag in the backseat and put my seat belt on.

“It’s pretty, but I’m going to miss the minivan,” I joke.

“I am not.” He groans. “I’m especially not going to miss all the stupid jokes. If Noah called me a soccer mom one more time I was going to lose it.”

He pulls out of my driveway and drives down the street, and it’s painfully obvious that he’s trying his hardest to do the speed limit and not test out the car’s engine.

“You’re still coming with me tonight to the interview, right?” he asks as he takes a turn unnecessarily fast.

Another news station has asked to interview him about his relationship with Andrew Kessler, and basically remind everyone that Andrew is a shitty human being who doesn’t deserve life outside of prison, never mind be the governor of an entire state. Aiden hasn’t done any interviews since leaving Torywood Springs after everything blew up, but he accepted this request, and asked me to join him for the first time.

“As long as I don’t have to be on screen.”

“Yeah, you’ll just sit on the sidelines and cheer me on. You can even scroll my social media for a bit while they set up.”