Page 99 of Darkest Obsession

I elbow Kola. That’s probably not what she wants to hear right now.

“There’s still hope, don’t you think?” I ask Sylvia.

She shakes her head. No hope. I can’t help but thinking that if secrets were the only thing keeping them together, this guy doesn’t deserve Sylvia. He should want to claim her, not run and hide.

“That’s why I’m saying there will be other guys,” Kola says. “They’re not my thing, but this school is filled with tasty white guys.”

“Really, Kola?” I grumble. “Do you have to call them tasty?”

We both share a wink and a smile. Kola’s crazy, but her sense of humor normally cheers Sylvia up in a pinch. I don’t think we’ll get that lucky this time.

“You don’t understand,” Sylvia whispers. “I lost my virginity to him. I promised myself I would only do that if I was sure about a guy. If he loved me and I loved him and if…if I thought we would be together for the long haul.”

Kola squeezes her even tighter. “If he dumps you because of what other people say, he’s a dick.”

“I agree,” I tell her. “He should fight for you. Crispin can’t actually stir fry his balls.”

Sylvia gives me a look like I don’t understand Crispin at all, but she shakes her head stubbornly.

“He isn’t an asshole and he’s not a dick. His mom died at the end of the summer and… he’s one of the few people who understands what it’s like to lose a parent.You don’t know how hard that is.”

Kola and I unravel Sylvia from our tight grasp. We don’t want to shake her up and mess with her concussion anymore than our dramatic girl gang hug did already.

“We might not understand completely,” Kola says. “But we love you, and we know you miss your dad.”

“It’s not just that I miss him,” Sylvia says. “It’s that I have to live the rest of my life without him. It hurts.”

We take her hands and squeeze them tightly. We have to be there for each other now more than ever before. The attack on Sylvia just escalated things, at least assuming we can blame all of this on Spicy Freak.

“Will apples and peanut butter help a little?” I offer. Sylvia nods and then clutches the side of her head because nodding still hurts.

I grab one of the apples and Kola tosses me her backpack so I can load ‘em up with peanut butter after I cut them with a butter knife I semi-permanently borrowed from the dining hall.

“So what’s the plan for halloween?” Sylvia asks, sitting on the bed and resting her head a little on her chair-shaped pillow. “We need to get our shit together.”

“Aren’t you too concussed to talk about that?” I remind Sylvia. I want my friend’s help, but I can’t throw Sylvia into the line of danger. Sylvia promises us that she can handle it.

Kola clears her throat, “Well, there are updates. I agreed to be the bait.”

“Are you sure?” Sylvia asks.

“I told her I could be the bait.”

“No!” Kola insists. “This person hasn’t come for me yet. I’m ready for some action.”

“Okay, but how are you supposed to be the bait? You constantly announce your hatred for white boys,” Sylvia says. Sylvia makes a good point, honestly.

“I’m supposed to pretend to be dating Thomas,” Kola says. “I’ll pull it off. I was in My Fair Lady in high school.”

“Everyone thinks he’s dating Clover, though. No offense,” Sylvia says.

“I’m going to have a fake fight with him in public,” Clover says. “Get that b-word off the scent.”

“Okay, what do I do?” Sylvia says. “I want to kick some ass. Play some tricks. Just because I have a concussion doesn’t mean I have to sit in the background.”

Kola and I exchange glances. We suspected Sylvia would get like this.

“Try not to get killed,” Kola says. “That’s your job. This is too serious.”