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“What are you going to do about your dad?” Kat asks.
“I don’t know. Stone wanted to beat the living shit out of him, but I don’t want him to get involved.”
Kat’s eyes widen. “Stone Giles?”
I nod and sigh. There’s so much I didn’t tell Kat.
“There’s more to the story,” I admit, and I start telling her about him too. How we met when he stole a library book for me so that I wouldn’t rat him out for bullying another student, how we started this ridiculous rivalry—I told her about everything, even the sex.
“I don’t know why he wants to stick up for me now. He’s only tried to get me down so far.”
“Stone never does anything for anyone else,” Kat agrees. “Unless he likes you.”
I snort. “Why would Stone like me?”
“You’re pretty incredible, Raina.”
I shake my head and try not to squirm under the compliment. “I’m a washup with a dead-beat dad and a dead, drug-addict mom. I’m not enrolled, I cheat and steal my way through life…I’m not the person Stone goes for.”
“Or maybe, you’re just the person he’ll fall for because you’re nothing like the rest of them. You’re real, Raina. I know that’s what drew me to you.”
I shrug. “I don’t know. All I know is that if he gets involved, things are going to getreallyugly. I don’t know if I have what it takes. Things are pretty dire already.”
Kat nods. “I hear you.”
We sit together in silence for a while after that, sipping more wine. I can’t believe how light I feel now that I’ve talked about what’s going on. My problems are far from being resolved, but just being able to get it off my chest has made all the difference. I don’t feel like I’m drowning anymore. I don’t feel like I’m ever going to get through this. I’m wildly drunk by now, but there’s a light at the end of my tunnel.
Kat is still here. After knowing my story, she’s not walking away or betraying me. And that alone brings a point of light in the darkness I never thought I would get.
“Thank you,” I finally say.
“For what?” Kat asks.
“For listening and for being here, even after everything you heard.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Kat says. “You’re my friend, the only friend I have, and that’s what friends do.”
I throw my arms around her neck and hug her. A lump rises in my throat, and my eyes sting with tears. This is what it feels like to have someone on my side.
When we leave the bar, I can barely think straight. Kat and I hang on each other, singing loudly as we make our way back to our dorms. When we part ways, I turn to her.
“You’re a great friend, Kat.”
“You’re great too, Raina,” she says.
We hug again and part ways. Tomorrow, we’ll die of a hangover, and I don’t know what new dynamic our friendship will have now that it’s all on the table. But for the first time in a long, long time, I’m not scared.
I start toward my dorm room, but my dad pops into my mind. My fear of what he might do and my anger toward what he’s doing to me threatens to choke me.
And Stone…the fact that he wants to help is both heartwarming and terrifying. But I can’t let him do this. I can’t let him get involved in a story that isn’t his. I’ve already done enough to him, and he has his own shit to work through.
I go to my dorm and fish in my bag before I leave again. I have one thing I need to take care of before I go to bed to sleep off the wine. If I pull it off, it might change my life forever.
Chapter 13
Raina
When Stone opens his dorm room door and flicks the light on, I spin around.
