I turned to leave.
The class president followed me out. He grabbed my arm, “Ray has really been looking for you for eight years. Won’t you stay and see
<
12:30
him?”
I saw Ray’s face in my head. Handsome, with
nice eyes.
904
But when he’d looked at me, his eyes had been
empty. And his lips had been twisted in a
mocking smile.
I shook my head. “I gotta go. Can you tell him
I’m sorry? I’m really sorry.”
The class president froze.
- 7.
After I left, I bought a lot of paper.
I burned piles of it by my parent’s graves. I
burned so much paper that it would last them a
century.
After I was done, I went back to the house.
Everything was covered in dust.
I didn’t clean. I didn’t touch anything.
I stayed in front of the house for a long while
until the sky turned black.
There were no streetlights in that town. When I
turned on my phone, it was already almost 11:00
- PM.
I called a cab to the river. The river was quiet at
night.
Only a few mopeds with delivery drivers passed by.
I stood by the bridge with my suitcase.
No one noticed me.
They all thought I was taking a break.
<
I waited until midnight. No one else was around.
I wrote a note and stuck it to my suitcase, then
climbed over the railing.
Just before I hit the water, I thought I heard Ray
yell.
“Don’t you dare do it, Izzy!”
Chapter 2
- 8.
As I faded out, I saw Ray again, leaning against
the hallway railing in his old high school jacket,
a lollipop dangling from his lips. His brow was
slightly raised, his eyes twinkling with
amusement.
“Well, if it isn’t the class valedictorian,” he
drawled.
Back in tenth grade, I’d heard of Ray. All the
airle in class were buzzing about him He was
<
12:30
904
girls in class were buzzing about him. He was
just that good–looking–fair skin, sharply
defined features, long eyes that crinkled when
he smiled, giving him this cocky, rebellious vibe.
When we were split up into classes in eleventh
grade, Ray and I ended up in the same one, and
he sat right behind me.
After class, there was always a bunch of people
crowding around him. I wasn’t used to all that
attention, so I’d grab my water bottle and
pretend I needed to refill it. Really, I was hiding
by the back door.
That’s where I heard them talking about me.
“What’s the deal with the coach? He knows
Ray likes pretty girls. How come all the girls
around him are only the class valedictorian?”
“The coach is savage. I heard Ray went through so many girls in tenth grade. The coach isn’t
<
keeping Ray away from girls completely.
There’s always the valedictorian, right?”
“Seriously, Ray, I’ve never seen a girl as lame
as her. Who wears those square glasses
nowadays? And that heavy bang that covers her
face, the uniform she wears perfectly. She
looks like she’s studying for a doctorate.”
“Ray, you aren’t gonna go for her, right?”
The guys laughed.
“Get the hell out of here.”
It was Ray, his voice cracking, but still kind of
hot.
He snorted, then muttered, “Do I really have that bad of taste?”
I froze, looking down at my plain, worn shoes
and school uniform. I felt humiliated.
914
I hung my head until they changed the subject and then went back to my desk in silence.
- 9.
After class, my desk was never really mine
anymore. Girls were always coming over to see Ray.
Ray was always cool with it, hanging out with them.
Later, the school added a swimming class, and the swimsuits were pre–ordered for $180.
Right before class ended, the teacher told me, “The class valedictorian will be collecting the money.
Becca snickered and raised her hand, “Mr. Jackson, everyone knows Izzy’s family’s poor. Doesn’t feel right to give her the money.”
I clenched my fists.
<
Becca and I had always butted heads, starting
from sophomore year. It wasn’t a big deal, she
just never liked me.
I tried to avoid trouble, and was about to tell
the teacher to let it go.
That’s when a hand with long, elegant fingers
appeared right in front of me.
“Here ya go, valedictorian.”
I looked up. Ray was looking down at me, his eyes gorgeous. I was momentarily stunned.
Maybe I stared a little too long, ‘cause someone next to Ray laughed, “Looks like you’ve got another one smitten.”
I snapped out of it, but Ray leaned in close, a cocky grin on his face, and whispered in my
ear, “I know I’m hot, but valedictorian… you aren’t my type.”
<
I lowered my gaze, grabbed his money, looked
back up at him, nodded and whispered. “I
know.”
Ray looked taken aback for a second, raised his
brows. “Good. Focus on your studies,
valedictorian.”
He stood up, bouncing a basketball and
sauntered out of class.
