shouldn’t see you anymore, because of what you’d just been through.”
“They decided? Why?”
“They thought you’d be too damaged or unstable emotionally or, to be kinder to them, that we couldn’t possibly start any kind of healthy relationship given what you were going through.”
Will struggled to take all this in and make sense of it. “Do you always do what your parents tell you to?”
“You don’t know him, Will. My father’s an ambassador, for God’s sake. He’s a force of nature. They weren’t going to even let me come back to the school at all unless I promised. I couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing you again, so I went along with it.”
“Why wait until now to tell me?”
“Because they have people watching me here. All the time.”
Will felt a surge of anger go through him and knew she sensed the tension in his body. “You mean like right now?”
“Right now I don’t care if we’re onstage at Carnegie Hall,” she said. “I just want to do what I’ve been dying to do for the last six months.”
She stood up on her toes and kissed him, and he forgot most of his objections in a heartbeat. Then she hugged him fiercely again.
“I was wrong to go along with it,” she whispered in his ear. “I was frightened and so horribly worried about you and I hate myself as a coward for letting them talk me into turning away from you.”
And your timing is unbelievable, thought Will, the kisses he’d just shared with Elise still burning a hole in his brain. But it wasn’t as if what he felt with either girl was canceling out the other; they were both generating a storm in his circuits at the same time.
“I’m really glad to hear you say that,” said Will, wanting to believe her. “So why did you tell me now?”
“Because I simply couldn’t stand the idea of not seeing you for another three months without letting you know all this. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”
“Where are you spending the summer?”
“Here and there, Europe, traveling a lot—”
“Hold it right there,” he said, taking her firmly by the arms. “Look, I haven’t exactly been myself the last few months either.”
“But that’s to be expected, Will, after what you’ve been through—”
“I know that, but it took my eyes off what really matters. What matters is going forward, finishing what we started. Finding out what’s behind everything that’s happened here. To us. To all of us.”
“I agree with you,” she said, looking up at him, her eyes shining in the light.
Believing in me, he thought.
“Brooke, we just broke through on something,” he said. “A big new discovery that changes the whole picture and we’re going after it. All of us. We’re staying here over the summer and we want you to stay with us if you can figure out a way. We need your help.”
She looked up at him, her eyes shining brightly in the pale light. “You really want me to? After the way I’ve treated you?”
“Yes! Of course we do. I do. Want you to.”
God, could she hear how awkward that was?
“I’m so happy to hear you say that,” she said, and hugged him again. “I can’t promise it’s going to be easy, nothing ever is with my parents, but I’ll do the best I can to work it out.”
“Good.”
She held him at arm’s length for a moment, looking tense and serious. “They’re also not done trying to keep us apart.”
“How?” asked Will.
“Insisting that I transfer to another pod in the fall—”
“You can’t let them do that.”
“But this might work for us. If I agree to do that now, I can buy some time, come back to campus for a few weeks this summer. I can be pretty persuasive, too.”
Tell me about it.
She was about to kiss him again when from behind them came the crash of breaking glass. Will spun around and saw a window blow out a few stories up in the tall building behind them. A security alarm immediately sounded somewhere inside.
“What the
“They decided? Why?”
“They thought you’d be too damaged or unstable emotionally or, to be kinder to them, that we couldn’t possibly start any kind of healthy relationship given what you were going through.”
Will struggled to take all this in and make sense of it. “Do you always do what your parents tell you to?”
“You don’t know him, Will. My father’s an ambassador, for God’s sake. He’s a force of nature. They weren’t going to even let me come back to the school at all unless I promised. I couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing you again, so I went along with it.”
“Why wait until now to tell me?”
“Because they have people watching me here. All the time.”
Will felt a surge of anger go through him and knew she sensed the tension in his body. “You mean like right now?”
“Right now I don’t care if we’re onstage at Carnegie Hall,” she said. “I just want to do what I’ve been dying to do for the last six months.”
She stood up on her toes and kissed him, and he forgot most of his objections in a heartbeat. Then she hugged him fiercely again.
“I was wrong to go along with it,” she whispered in his ear. “I was frightened and so horribly worried about you and I hate myself as a coward for letting them talk me into turning away from you.”
And your timing is unbelievable, thought Will, the kisses he’d just shared with Elise still burning a hole in his brain. But it wasn’t as if what he felt with either girl was canceling out the other; they were both generating a storm in his circuits at the same time.
“I’m really glad to hear you say that,” said Will, wanting to believe her. “So why did you tell me now?”
“Because I simply couldn’t stand the idea of not seeing you for another three months without letting you know all this. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”
“Where are you spending the summer?”
“Here and there, Europe, traveling a lot—”
“Hold it right there,” he said, taking her firmly by the arms. “Look, I haven’t exactly been myself the last few months either.”
“But that’s to be expected, Will, after what you’ve been through—”
“I know that, but it took my eyes off what really matters. What matters is going forward, finishing what we started. Finding out what’s behind everything that’s happened here. To us. To all of us.”
“I agree with you,” she said, looking up at him, her eyes shining in the light.
Believing in me, he thought.
“Brooke, we just broke through on something,” he said. “A big new discovery that changes the whole picture and we’re going after it. All of us. We’re staying here over the summer and we want you to stay with us if you can figure out a way. We need your help.”
She looked up at him, her eyes shining brightly in the pale light. “You really want me to? After the way I’ve treated you?”
“Yes! Of course we do. I do. Want you to.”
God, could she hear how awkward that was?
“I’m so happy to hear you say that,” she said, and hugged him again. “I can’t promise it’s going to be easy, nothing ever is with my parents, but I’ll do the best I can to work it out.”
“Good.”
She held him at arm’s length for a moment, looking tense and serious. “They’re also not done trying to keep us apart.”
“How?” asked Will.
“Insisting that I transfer to another pod in the fall—”
“You can’t let them do that.”
“But this might work for us. If I agree to do that now, I can buy some time, come back to campus for a few weeks this summer. I can be pretty persuasive, too.”
Tell me about it.
She was about to kiss him again when from behind them came the crash of breaking glass. Will spun around and saw a window blow out a few stories up in the tall building behind them. A security alarm immediately sounded somewhere inside.
“What the
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