Page 20 of Sweet Ruin

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Sawyer said. His cheeky grin suggested otherwise.

We rolled our eyes. We hadn’t seen any of the boys’ faces last night, but I was certain Sawyer was involved. He wouldn’t have missed an opportunity to prank us girls. He was probably the mastermind behind the whole thing.

“You could have warned me,” I murmured to Wes, giving him a playful nudge as he took the seat beside me.

He simply shrugged, making me frown. This was the first time we’d seen each other all weekend, yet he hadn’t tried to kiss me or give me a hug in greeting—he hadn’t touched me at all. He was barely even making eye contact with me, and I got a sinking feeling something must be wrong.

“I missed you this weekend,” I said.

“Yeah, me too.” He finally glanced at me and gave me a soft smile, which put my mind a little more at ease.

I still didn’t like the distance between us. When we sat together, he usually slung his arm across the back of my chair or stole my hand to hold under the table. He hadn’t even pulled his chair closer to mine so we were brushing against each other.

“Is everything okay?” I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

“Yeah, I’m just a little tired from the regatta.” Wes tried to stifle a yawn, and I noticed there were bags beneath his eyes. He looked exhausted. He probably should have been sleeping this morning instead of sneaking into the girls’ dorm.

“Join the club, Wesley,” Anna replied. “You’ll get no sympathy here.”

“Yeah, Wes,” Cress added, folding her arms over her chest as she glared at him. “You can’t complain about being tired when you helped wake us up in the middle of the night.”

“I did no such thing.” He grinned at Cress, and I was relieved to see his smile return. He seemed to be relaxing. Maybe he was just tired, and it was taking a while for his coffee to kick in.

“Yeah, Cress,” Sawyer said. “I don’t know about you, but I slept like a baby all night.”

Cress threw her hands in the air with frustration, and I shook my head at the twins. Clearly, they weren’t even going to admit they were involved, let alone apologize for waking us up. It only made the thought of a revenge prank more appealing.

We weren’t the only girls who were annoyed with the boys. Most senior girls were dragging their feet around the school like they needed to go back to bed, and I saw more than a few girls reprimanding their guy friends in the hallway. Most of the boys looked a little more contrite than Sawyer and Wes had been while they were getting told off, but it didn’t last long before they were laughing about it once again. It seemed like pranking the girls was a tradition they were very proud of.

As I entered my math class, all thoughts of the prank fled my mind when I saw Kaden. He wasn’t sitting in his usual spot at the back of the room. Instead, he had taken the desk next to the one I’d been sitting at since he and Luther had started ignoring me. There was no sign of Luther yet though, and the classroom was half empty.

I slowly approached my desk, reluctant to sit down. Was I allowed to sit there? Or was this part of some malicious new plan Noah had devised to get to me?

“Kaden?” It was hard to keep the questioning tone from my voice. As I considered him a little further, I wondered if this had something to do with Cress. She had grilled him yesterday about the way he’d treated me, and she had told him there was no way she’d date him when he was ignoring me. Maybe this was his attempt to right that wrong. I knew he liked Cress, but I wasn’t sure if he’d be willing to risk his friendship with Noah for her—and definitely not so fast.

“Hey, Isobel,” he said, giving me a small and nervous smile. “Do you want to sit down?”

“Am I allowed to?” I sounded a little snarky, but it was only days ago that Kaden had stayed quiet while Luther banished me to the other side of the classroom.

“Please?” He pulled out the chair next to him and looked up at me with pleading eyes. I hesitated but then slowly put down my backpack and lowered myself onto the seat next to him

“So, you’re talking to me now?” I asked.

He shifted slightly in his seat as he nodded. “I never wanted to ignore you in the first place,” he said. “And I’ve realized that it was a bit of a jerk move. I’m really sorry. I want us to be friends.”

I was silent as I considered him.

“I never wanted to choose,” he added.

“But you did.”

He glanced at the door as a few students entered the classroom. They stopped their conversation when they saw us and watched with interest as they found their seats. It was understandable. They must have noticed I’d been shunned by Kaden and Luther last week, and seeing Kaden now sitting next to me would have alerted their gossip radars. I’m sure they were all dying to know what was going on.

Kaden was idolized almost as much as Noah. His family’s wealth rivaled that of Luther’s and Noah’s, but he was much quieter than them, which gave him an air of mystery. Even I didn’t know much about him, and I used to sit with him in class several times a week. It was probably part of the reason Cress was so intrigued by him. He was an enigma.

“It was a mistake. I’m sorry, Isobel. I really do want us to continue being friends.”

I slowly nodded. I was still pissed at him for bailing on me, and it was hard to disregard the fact he only decided to make up with me after getting a talking-to from Cress. But that was also what made this mean so much more. He must really care about Cress to risk Noah’s ire. I wanted Cress to be with someone who liked her that much.

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