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I want to run. I want to hide, and it’s plain to see that Jeremy doesn’t see that I’m uncomfortable. My feet pull me back from the crowd, and I watch, hoping he’ll glance at me and check if I’m okay.
But he doesn’t.
This isn’t the Jeremy who kept my hand in his the whole night when we were in Cornwall or who defended me to his friends.
My heart lurches at the thought that maybe the man I’ve fallen for is as broken as I am. And that the new Jeremy is the one dancing in front of me.
I leave him to his party and retreat to his bedroom to escape, fighting the feeling that the last year has been ruined, all taken away because of his fucking dad.
Slamming the door doesn’t help shut out the sounds of the party or the fear in my mind, and I just end up pacing around the room, torturing myself with the draw to be back by his side downstairs.
I pick up my phone and scroll to call Sammy, and then remember that we’re not speaking.
Anna
I’m sorry.
I hit send before I change my mind. It’s the truth, and while it might be too little too late, I’ve made the first move.
The screen stays blank. No magic little dots, so I shove it into my back pocket.
I’m not in the mood to stay here, so I head downstairs to leave. I start looking for Jeremy but can’t see him dancing. The party’s got bigger in the time I’ve been upstairs. Everyone from school must be here, plus all of the people they decided to invite.
I shake my head and continue my search.
He’s outside on the patio, a cloud of fragrant smoke around him and some of the boys from school.
They’re passing around a couple of joints, swigging more drinks in between draws.
If watching him drink and smoke isn’t bad enough, a girl whom I think I recognise from school is perched on the arm of his chair. Her arm dangling around my boyfriend's neck.
We’ve been together for over a year. The whole school knows it. It was the only news anyone talked about for weeks — the shock of Archer finally being ‘off the market’ — so there’s no way in hell she’s forgotten that.
Hell, no.
With an unfamiliar heat burning inside me, I march over to where they’re all having the time of their lives.
“Oh, hey!” Jeremy looks up at me but makes no attempt to move the girl's arm. She looks at me with a grin that turns my stomach with dread.
“Do you fucking mind?” I shove her shoulder, and she tumbles backwards, sliding off the chair but landing on her feet in one piece.
“Anna, relax,” Jeremy tells me above all the calls and cheers from the boys sitting around us.
The girl skulks away, and I watch before turning my attention back to my boyfriend.
“That wasn’t nice.” He looks up at me. His eyes are dark, his pupils eclipsing the beautiful colour in them.
“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before letting her put her hands all over you.” I narrow my gaze, anger bristling in my veins.
“Don’t make a scene.”
“Don’t be a jerk. This isn’t you, Jeremy.” I shake my head and turn away, ready to leave.
“Oh really? You know so much?” He stomps after me, but I keep on walking.
“I thought I did,” I shout back.
“Where are you going?”
