“Right,” Dean said, the cocky smile still on his face. “Maybe he just couldn’t handle spending the day with me here.”
“You think Kye would be bothered by you?”
“I think he might be annoyed about you wanting to spend your day falling all over me.”
My eyes narrowed, and I looked him over. “I have literally not said a word to you until right now.”
“Doesn’t mean you haven’t been eyeing me up the entire time,” he said, laughing as he fist bumped with Steven.
My lip curled, and I looked at Jessica, who was trying to hide her laugh.
Isabella gave me a sad, apologetic look, and I wanted to hug her. I hadn’t had a friend care in so long that even her one sympathetic look made me emotional.
Just as fast, though, her eyes went wide. By the time I felt hands on me, it was too late.
“Come on, Daisy, let’s go for a swim.”
I screamed, fighting back as Dean grabbed me while Steven and Michael grabbed Jessica and Sydney.
“Dean, put me down! You know I hate the deep water.”
“You know how to swim. What’s the problem?”
“Because I’m scared. Put me down!” I screamed, as he threw me into the water.
For one terrifying moment, I was engulfed in darkness, my frantic kicks and splashing doing little to bring me back up to the surface. The panic threatened to overwhelm me as I struggled against the fear. When I finally broke the surface, a hand was already outstretched, waiting to help me up.
Isabella.
The rest were laughing, the other two girls giggling as they made it back into the boat, but I was nearly screaming.
“Bring me back. Take me back to shore right now.”
“Calm down,” Dean said. “You know how to swim.”
“And I told you I didn’t want to be thrown in because I’m scared. Take me back right now or I’m going to call my dad and tell him that you’re out here drinking.”
Dean rolled his eyes and the other guys groaned.
“Damn, Daisy, you are such a loser. I don’t know how I ever managed to date you.”
“And you’re such an asshole that I don’t know how I managed to date you!” I yelled. “Take me to shore now.”
Twenty miserable minutes later, I was back on land, and the entire group was booing as they went back out. No one cared that I was upset, and no one cared I would be standing here alone without a ride until they were done.
No one cared because they never cared.
I had already known it, but having it thrown back into my face again felt worse than if they had slapped me.
I could already see Sydney sidling back up to Dean as they pulled away, and I was surprised at how little I cared about that even.
Maybe they didn’t care, but apparently I didn’t either.
I wrapped the towel tighter around myself and moved to hide by the tree. The trunk kept me hidden from all of my friends.
My ex-friends?
Did you break up with an entire group all at once?
I guess that’s exactly what I was doing.
My hands were shaking as I pulled out my phone and hit his name. My dad would come get me in a heartbeat, but I knew there was no explaining this situation to him now. He knew all of my friends and their parents—he would have too hard of a time understanding what they did wrong. Plus, as much as I didn’t want to care, part of me didn’t want to actually be the loser that brought her sheriff dad to pick her up and rat out all her friends.
And as much as Kye freaked me out the other day, I was pretty sure I could count on him showing up.
At least, I hoped.
“Hey.” Kye’s voice came over the phone and the simple word made me sag against the tree.
“Hey, what are you up to?”
“At two o’clock on a Thursday? I’m working like all the peasants have to do. What’s the prom queen doing? Ruling her kingdom from the throne? Getting her nails done?” The words that were supposed to be funny had an edge to them that only upset me more. Maybe he noticed I hadn’t talked to him since the other night, or maybe he was just showing exactly how fake this relationship was, but either way, I wasn’t in the mood.
“Wow, forget it. I’ll talk to you later.”
“No, wait. I was trying to make a joke, but my day’s been shit. Why are you calling me? You said you were hanging out with Dean.”
