Popularity Rules by Shamika Lindsay

Author:Shamika Lindsay [Lindsay, Shamika]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-06T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter

XXI

I sat up late that night thinking, thinking about everything. It was impossible not to browbeat myself. My mind was unraveling everything I locked away and swore not to open. I remembered clearly the day of his funeral. I obstinately refused to go, under any circumstances. But my father insisted, possibly offended that I hadn’t wanted to go to his favorite brother’s funeral. Apparently, he took the ‘I’ll drag you kicking and screaming thing way too literal because he had to drag me out of the house to go.

It was even worse that my family had seen me as a bad seed for refusing to participate in any funeral festivities. I had merely sat inside the house and spoke to Gina, who I had asked to come spur of the moment. She gladly agreed knowing that I disliked my uncle—but not why, never why. I just needed someone to distract me from the man in the coffin we were paying ‘respects’ to.

When I finally drifted off to sleep, my mind conjured up some elaborate plot wherein I was seeing what had happened earlier but with my father’s face morphing into my uncle’s and Jade’s into my aunt’s. To be clear, my night was restless. I got up even more exhausted than when I had gone to sleep. With my eyes sandy and my head throbbing, I just knew I wanted to see Avery, to know she was there in the flesh. That, in itself, would make me feel better.

It was probably pretty stupid to get ready for school at this hour when the first bell wouldn’t have sounded for at least two and a half hours. I got up, though, too wired to go back to sleep. I thought about calling Avery but the thought of waking her deterred me. I had to wonder where she was lurking these days, with Elijah on her tail. I wanted more than anything to see her, to let her presence reassure me that the safe walls I had built weren’t crumpling irrefutably.

Eventually, I heaved myself completely out of bed and decided to go jogging to clear my head. Downstairs held a kind of serenity I often coveted, and I indulged in the calm before heading outside. The morning was cool and still quite dark. The grass glistened with crystal-like dew and I stared at it for a long moment, clearing my head. I started when I saw something in the distance that appeared to be moving.

I inched closer and realized that it was probably a person. Whoever decided to sleep on my front lawn was insane and obscenely close to hypothermic conditions. The person noticed my ascent and looked up. I immediately noticed a thick mass of blue-black hair.

When I said that I had wanted to see her, I didn’t mean freezing on my lawn before dawn. She disentangled herself and took a while to stand. My concern was transformed into a frown when I watched her struggle to regain her balance. This was beyond ridiculously stupid and dangerous.

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