DARE-TO-LOVE-TRUTH-AND-DARE-DUET-COLLECTION-by-Lylah-James-pdfarchive

THE NEXT MORNING, I walked down the halls of Berkshire. It
was a whole hour before the bell rang, to indicate the start
of the school day. There were barely any students roaming
the school halls. Berkshire was participating in a science
experiment, and if we won Regionals, we would be
representing our state. Today was our first meeting. I, of
course, joined. Science was my drug, plain and simple.
I was marching down the halls when something caught
my eyes, making me come to a halt. Not something:
someone. Through the window, I caught sight of Maddox
sitting outside on a bench.
I didn’t even think he’d be up this early since they didn’t
have football practice today. Why was Maddox here?
He stared at the empty field; his elbows perched on his
thighs as he smoked his cancer stick.
It was starting to grow cold in Manhattan, and we now
needed a sweater or thicker jacket before stepping out.
Maddox was only wearing his Berkshire uniform, as if the
cold wasn’t bothering him, as if he had grown immune or
numb to it.
But that wasn’t what made me stop and stare. No, he
was alone.
He was never alone; he was always either surrounded by
his fangirls or his friends, or he was annoying me.
I placed a hand over the window as I studied him from
afar. There was no reason for my heart to ache, but it did.
Something clenched in my chest, like a fist holding my
heart tight. Sitting on the bench, in the cold, with a
cigarette between his lips, he looked like a sad, lonely god.
Maddox stood up, his longish hair falling across his face,
hiding himself from my view. He took one last inhale before
dropping the cigarette on the ground and stepping over it.
His hands curled around the back of his neck, and he
looked up at the sky. His blond locks fell away from his face
as a gust of wind breezed past him.
Eyes closed, he turned toward me and…