3
“I’m sorry.”
く
I lowered my eyes, apologizing.
Liam frowned: “You shouldn’t be apologizing
to me, you should be telling Brittany.”
“Okay.”
Maybe I agreed too freaking quickly, too
easily.
He choked a little.
His frown deepened.
His dark eyes searched mine, hesitated, then
finally just said, “Yeah.”
I didn’t look at him, turning and heading
towards Brittany’s classroom.
Brittany wasn’t in the same class as Liam and
- me.
Usually, after class, lunch, or walking home,
Brittany would come to find Liam and me,
then the three of us would go together.
I never thought much about it before,
assuming we were all good freaking friends.
Now, I realized I was just a freaking third
L
wheel, always standing between them, getting
in the way.
They were probably sick of me being so
freaking clueless.
But knowing that, I wasn’t going to freaking
cling to them anymore.
For days, I avoided them at lunch on the roof.
After school, I stayed late, making excuses to
skip our walks home.
When they invited me to the freaking library
on the weekend, I said no.
Maybe my sudden avoidance was too
obvious.
Liam finally noticed.
One day after school, when Brittany came to
get us, and I told them I had a freaking test to
study for, Liam stood in front of my desk.
“Which freaking test?”
His tone was freaking sharp.
My heart stuttered: “Lots of them.”
Г
“How many is ‘lots?‘ You’ve been studying for freaking days, why aren’t you done?”
“I’m freaking stupid, I can’t study, it takes me
a while.”
“Why don’t you ask me for help?”
Liam’s freaking questions were like a freaking
wall, trapping me.
Right when I was about to lose it, Brittany walked in, cutting him off: “Liam, what the hell, you’re freaking scaring Riley.”
Brittany grabbed my hand: “Just skip it today, it’s Liam’s freaking birthday, aren’t you
going?”
Hearing that it was his birthday, I froze.
Liam’s cold eyes were still on me, as if
scolding me for forgetting.
In the end, I was dragged off with them.
