Page 53 of Disharmony

They dance together. Tiffany twirls and spins, making Conor turn away from us. She looks over the top of his shoulder at us and smiles. Her fingers wiggle in Leila’s direction before she puts her arms around Conor’s neck and pulls him in for a kiss. Other campers wolf-whistle as they make out like they’re trying to eat each other’s faces off.

I turn back to Leila. Furious tears run down her face, and she turns to run into the forest. I race toward Tiffany and Conor, who break apart as I approach.

“What’s wrong?” Tiffany teases, smiling smugly as her eyes flick to Leila’s retreating figure. “Is someone getting jealous?”

I cross my arms. “You’re a bitch, you know that?”

She laughs and stares through me. Tiffany doesn’t let my interruption deter her for long and pulls Conor back into her arms. My stomach churns at the sound of their spit circling in their mouths. Do people normally kiss so fucking loudly? It’s like a washing machine cycle. Conor doesn’t know what he’s doing, but Tiffany wants to get back at Leila. Did she find out who gave her the fancy new hair color?

Cookie is too busy hugging people and dancing to notice what went down, so I chase after Leila. My limbs feel funny as I run. I’m hyperconscious of my breathing and the movement my joints are making.

“Wait,” I call into the trees after her, rummaging around for my phone and holding it in front of me as a flashlight.

Heavy breathing carries over the breeze, and I shine the light into the darkness. Leila’s shoulders shake as she sobs at the bottom of a tree, pulling her knees up to her chest. I don’t know what to say. I’m not good at comforting people at the best of times, but tripping has made me even more useless. All I can do is sit next to her and pull her close. Her body is so damn warm.

“He’s…” I start, then draw a blank, before settling on, “an idiot.”

I know what I want to say… somewhere in the back of my mind. Tiffany is a self-conceited twisted bitch who wants to see everyone else miserable. She knows Conor has a thing for Leila and the feeling is reciprocal. She can’t bear to see anyone else happy and lives for making others suffer.

“I thought he liked me,” Leila sniffs, then falls into a silence.

We sit for what seems like forever. Every knot of the tree bark is digging into my back, and my carefree feelings are fading. Shadows cast by the branches remind me of arms reaching out into the darkness to grab us. My eyes dart around, and the hairs on my arms prickle like someone is watching us. Isn’t molly supposed to make you feel happy, not paranoid? Either way, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re not alone.

“Why don’t we go back to the party?” I suggest.

“I’m not going back there,” Leila says definitively. “He can fuck her for all I care, and he probably will! She doesn’t even like him. She’s only doing it because she knows it’ll get to me. After what happened with Riley, she knows I won’t stay quiet. I’m one of the only ones—”

Tree branches snap. My head jerks upward as my heart thunders at a thousand miles an hour.

“Hey!” An Irish voice calls out. “Are you guys out here?”

Leila’s back straightens then her shoulders sag as she realizes it’s Declan. My breathing slows, but the uneasy sensation that someone is in the shadows hasn’t passed.

“Oh,” Leila acknowledges him. “It’s you.”

“Are you okay?” Declan asks. “Con’s wasted. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. You know that, right?”

She rolls her eyes. High or not, the sight of them making out will be forever burned into her brain.

“Do you want me to walk you back to your cabin?” Declan asks. “You shouldn’t be alone in the dark.”

“Maybe going back to the cabin is a good idea, Lei,” I agree, helping her to stand.

“Are you coming, Ash?” Declan asks.

“I’m going back to the party to find Cookie,” I say.

I don’t like the thought of being alone in the cabin.

Declan looks torn. “Will you be okay getting back?”

I fake a smile. “I’ll be fine.”

The two of them hurry away in the opposite direction.

I stumble forward.

Did the woods really look like this earlier?

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