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Back Verona Comics
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  52. CHAPTER FIFTY
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  55. RESOURCES
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  57. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  58. What’s next onyour reading list?

That’s technically true, only because I didn’t have the energy to make up any new lies to cover for the whole conservatory thing, so I just . . . didn’t. I know I have to keep it up. I know I gave Peak my word, but I’m so exhausted. I’ve been lying for so long now, and to so many different people, I’m starting to doubt I even know the truth anymore.

“You barely even pay me anyway,” I say, because I’m a masochist. Because I’m pouting. Because I just want to see Peak.

My father leans forward, jabbing his finger at me. “I pay for this house, I pay for this food, I pay for your ridiculous online classes. Everything you have, I pay for. And for what?”

“Cuz you’re my dad?”

He leans back in his chair, glaring at me. I chew the inside of my lip. My brain—hopelessly hopeful as it can sometimes be about this family—thinks for half a second that maybe those words meant something to him, that maybe he’s going to apologize and say it’s great having me around. Follow it up with a “hey, kid, let’s toss the ball around or get ice cream” or anything else those sitcom dads do.

He does not.

He’s abandoned even the slightest performance of fatherly pride lately. I think I’d take him misremembering everything about me like he did in the beginning over the cold indifference that’s settled back between us.

I stare down at my cereal until he slides his chair across the tile floor. “I should send you back to your mother.”

And then he’s gone.

I carry my bowl to the sink and pour the rest down the drain. I’m not hungry anymore.

•  •  •

I tried not to text her. I really did. I don’t want to mess up her life or pull her from her friends or get in the way, but everything hurts, and I just don’t want to be alone.

I should send you back.

I’ve been hyperventilating since he said that. I can’t go back. I won’t. I can’t go from all of this to sitting alone again in that giant fucking house. My father left with Allison for the weekend right after our argument. I called Gray first—but she’s on the West Coast with Mom—and then finally texted Peak. I’ve been pacing ever since.