I bit my lip and looked away from him. If he didn’t want me to lie to him, I wouldn’t say anything at all. That was the safest thing to do, anyway.

“You’re not going to answer me?”

I looked in his eyes and shook my head slowly. “No,” I whispered. Tears overflowed from my eyes.

He let go of my chin and nodded once. “Okay. Then answer this. When’s the last time you’ve seen Jaden?”

I sighed. Afraid Brody would hear from someone else that Jaden was over Friday night, I decided to tell him. I thought it would be better for him to hear it from me. Maybe I could do some damage control. Yeah, right. “He came over after the football game Friday night. His cousin Karen saw me in your Jeep. He wanted to know who I was out with. I guess she didn’t see you.”

“Son of a bitch. And you’re asking me to look the other way and do nothing?” He flung his hand toward my eye.

“Yes. I’m asking you, as a friend, to overlook it.”

Brody glared at me. His jaw worked back and forth as his eyes roamed over the bruises and swelling covering my eye. “You’re scared of him.”

“Yes.” My answer was mostly the truth.

“Willow, you don’t have to be—”

“Please, just do this for me.” Grabbing Brody’s hand and threaded my fingers with his, I skimmed my lips over his knuckles. “Please.” I hated how my voice trembled, the desperation I could hear in it.

“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. He grabbed my book bag, slung it over his shoulder, and stalked toward the school.

“Brody, wait. Give me my bag.” I hurried after him, taking two steps to every one of his long strides.

He stopped abruptly and turned. “Why? Because he’ll get angry that I’m carrying it?”

I took a step back at how hard his voice sounded. “Yes.”

He let the bag slide from his shoulder. It hung from his flattened palm. “Here.”

“Don’t be mad at me,” I called when he turned and walked away.

“I’m not,” he said over his shoulder.

“You’re acting like it.” I hated the tremor in my voice, but I couldn’t stand him mad at me. His opinion, our relationship, was important to me.

He stopped, and I nearly ran into his back. “I’m disappointed, Willow. I didn’t figure you would let someone treat you this way without fighting back.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. It felt like he’d physically knocked the air from my lungs. Disappointment was so much worse than anger. “That’s not fair! There’s more to it than you know.”

“Then tell me,” he shouted. Turning to look at me, he held his arms out from his sides. “Tell me, what’s not fair? What don’t I know?”

“I can’t,” I whispered.

“Whatever.” His arms dropped with a smack against his thighs. He walked away and left me standing alone in the middle of the parking lot.

Walking slowly into the building, I made my way to my locker. I focused on the tiles on the floor and putting one foot in front of the other, so I didn’t have to look at everyone staring at me. It was bad enough I could hear their whispers.

“Yoga pants? Really, Willow?” Jenna asked, looking at me. Then I raised my head. “Oh, shit.”

As soon as I saw Jenna, the tears started. I hadn’t cried when it happened. I hadn’t cried all weekend. But there, standing in the middle of the school’s hallway, in front of my locker, I started blubbering like a damn fool. Like I hadn’t given people enough to talk about already, I had to give them more ammunition.

“Let’s go to the bathroom. C’mon.” Jenna put her arm around my shoulder and held me tight against her, guiding me to the restroom. When we got inside, I slid down the wall and sat down on the dingy, tiled floor with my knees pressed against my chest, my arms wrapped around them. I laid my head down on my knees. “You wanna talk?” Jenna asked softly.

I shook my head. “Nothing to talk about.” Jenna handed me some tissue. I wiped my face and cursed. “All the makeup I put on to cover it up, and I’m crying it all off.” I half laughed and half sobbed. I heard the warning bell ring. Three minutes until classes started. “You should go. I don’t want you to be late.”

“No freakin’ way.” She shook her head. “I’m not leaving you like this.”

“I’m fine, Jenna. Go. I don’t want you to be late. You get detention enough on your own. You don’t need me helping you by making you late for class.” I smiled, wiping my tears on the back of my hand. “I’m just going to splash cold water on my face, and then I’ll go to class.”

“You’re sure? ’Cuz I don’t want to leave if you need me—”

“I’m sure.”

She gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Text me if you need me. It doesn’t matter what class I’m in. If you need me, just text and I’ll be there.” She hesitated in front of the door. “Promise me you’ll text me, Willow. I hate leaving you like this.” A tear slid down the side of her face.

I went to her and hugged her tight. “I promise I’m okay, but if I need you, I will text. No matter what. I’ll see you in history.”

With one last hug, Jenna wiped her tears and slipped out the door. Alone in the bathroom, I sat down on the floor again. I had no intention of getting up and going to class.

Sometime later, I don’t know how long, the door squeaked open, and I turned my face from it. I wasn’t in the mood to answer any questions, and I damn sure didn’t want to see pity in anyone’s eyes. I just wanted to sit on the dingy, pea-green tiled floor for the rest of the day. Maybe for the rest of my life… or at least the rest of the class period.

“You gonna sit here all day or what? ’Cuz if you are, I can make a Chinese run for lunch.” He eased himself on the floor next to me.

“What are you doing here, Brody?” I asked, trying to wipe away my tears before he saw. Because, although the tears were because of the circumstances that led up to my majorly black eye, I was also crying because of him. His reaction to me in the parking lot. I was hoping for a little more empathy, rather than disappointment. That stung. And maybe hit a little close to home, too, because, if I faced the truth, I was disappointed in myself.

“Jenna told me you were in here. She said if you weren’t in class in five minutes, I was supposed to text her so she could check on you.”

“Of course she did. So why are you here instead of her?” I turned my head to look at him, but kept my arms in front of my face to block his view.

He shrugged a shoulder and wrapped the hem of my shirt around his finger. “I wanted to be the one to check on you.”

“You do realize you’re sitting on the floor of the girls’ bathroom?”

“So are you,” he pointed out.

I sighed. “Yes, but I am a girl. You most definitely are not.”

“Thanks for noticing.” He gave me a lopsided grin, and I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Believe me. I’ve noticed, along with the rest of the female, and some of the male, student body.”

“Well, it goes both ways. I’ve definitely noticed the fact that you’re a girl. A very beautiful one at that.” He slipped a finger under a lock of my hair and twirled it around his fingers as he looked around the room. “So, what’s it gonna be? Are we staying in here all day or are we going to brave biology?”

I shrugged and dropped my arms, forgetting that not only was my eye totaled, but I’d also been crying so my face was undoubtedly red and splotchy too. Yeah, America’s Top Model, here I come. No need to vote. I’ll just accept my winnings now. Sure.

I heard Brody suck in a breath when he looked at me, and his fingers stilled.

“Yeah, I guess I look busted, huh?” I said, wrapping my arms around my legs, pulling them tighter to my chest.

Brody shook his head. “Nope.” He swallowed and cleared his throat. “Not unless the term busted means something different to you than it does to me, because I think you look effin’ gorgeous.”

I rolled my eyes—the good one, anyway. “Whatever. What happened to your vow to always tell the truth?”