“It’s been making a sound.”

He let out a laugh. “It’s older than shit. It makes a lot of sounds. Can you be more specific?”

I didn’t want to talk about my fucking car, especially since there was nothing wrong with it. Ignoring him, I said, “Science Club today?”

He nodded.

“What are you working on?”

“Nothing that would interest you,” he said with a shrug, which made me curse all the times I’d told him I didn’t want to hear him explain the ins and outs of his latest creation.

The conversation faltered, mostly because it was so one-sided anyway. “So how was your weekend?”

We got to the edge of the development. He turned and looked at me. “So why are you here again?”

I pointed toward Fox Court. “My…Jeep…”

It wasn’t very convincing. The bus bumped toward us, and he let me on first. It was empty. When I sat down in the middle of the bus, he slipped past me toward the very back. Sighing, I pulled my bag out of the seat I’d selected and joined him. He looked up at me as if he’d been cornered, then took a notebook out of his bag. “Sorry,” he said when I opened my mouth to ask him another question. He pointed at the notebook page, which was scattered with intimidating equations. “I’ve got to study.”

“Okay,” I said, sinking down into my seat. This was ridiculous. He usually avoided confrontation. I was his girlfriend. He couldn’t ignore me forever, thinking I’d slink away without an explanation.

When the bus pulled into the U-shaped drive in front of the school, Declan quietly put his things into his bag and started past me once again without another word. I’d had enough. I jumped to my feet. “Okay, enough, Declan. Tell me,” I shouted down the aisle. He turned. The sun had started to rise, so I could see that his eyes were tired. “Are we done?”

He looked at me and then at the bus driver. “Not here.”

And he walked off.

Clenching my fists, I raced after him. “Then where? Tell me where you’ll talk to me, because I can’t seem to find a place.”

He stopped. Then, shrugging, he motioned for me to follow him. The lights in the school were on, but it was pretty quiet this early in the morning. I followed him to the closest empty classroom, and he closed the door. He dropped his heavy backpack at his feet and stared at me blankly. “What?”

What. He said it just like that, as if he had no idea. “Don’t you have something to tell me?”

He did something I’d never heard him do before—he let out a bitter laugh. “Are you serious, Hailey?”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t we start with what you had to tell me? Because that happened first.”