Part 45 (1/2)

It takes more than a few seconds to process his words. When it finally sinks in, an incredulous laugh escapes me. ”You're done with me? Wait, you're not serious,” I say firmly. ”This isn't you, Dean. What happened? Why are you being like this?”

I move to touch his arm, but he pulls back sharply-like I'm contagious. I'm too stunned to cry. I just stare at him like a wounded animal, waiting for him to deliver the killing blow.

Dean stuffs his hands in his pants pockets, looking down at the ground. I watch his jaw clench, and I know he's not as unaffected as he's acting. So why is he doing this?

”Your dad ruined my life,” he says finally. ”If it wasn't for him, my parents would still be together, and my dad would have never sent me away.”

My mouth drops open. ”Okay...what?! First of all, your mom was just as guilty as my dad! It takes two people to have an affair, you know. And second-that was seven years ago! What does our parents have to do with how you're acting now?!”

”Consider it my little act of revenge,” he says flatly.

”Bulls.h.i.+t!”

All the ice cold parts of my body are beginning to become infused with heat. I stand right in front of him, grabbing onto his arm. ”I don't know why you want me to think you're an a.s.shole, but I know this isn't you! Your excuse is incredibly lame. You're telling me all those things you did for me, everything you told me-it was all part of an elaborate scheme to get back at my dad? Are you kidding me?!”

He shakes me off. ”I wanted to f.u.c.k you, and I did,” he says with a careless shrug.

The blood drains from my face. I watch numbly as he starts to back away. ”That can't be all this was,” I whisper.

”Think what you want. We're done.”

Dean walks away, leaving me standing there like the world's biggest idiot. When he turns the corner and is no longer in sight, the bones seem to disappear from my body. I slide down the side of the building until I'm a shaking mess on the ground.

Did that really happen? I can't-I don't even...no, this can't be real. He didn't mean it, he couldn't have. I don't believe it. G.o.d...I can't breathe...

While I'm sprawled there, stunned and gasping for breath, the last person in the world I want to see me like this comes strutting around the corner.

”Are you okay, Juliet?” Kara smirks at me, her voice dripping with false sympathy. ”You look absolutely awful.”

I fight to keep my expression even, and my voice steady. ”Thanks. Bye.”

Does she leave? Of course not. She prances right up to me, standing over me with her arms crossed. ”Don't be rude, I was just making an observation.”

”b.i.t.c.h, go away,” I say tiredly, not even caring.

Kara tosses her perky ponytail over her shoulder, and duck faces at me. ”Aw, what's the matter? Did you just get dumped, or something?”

I am horrified when scalding hot tears begin to run down my cheeks. ”Just leave me alone,” I choke out, turning my head. Too late-I know she knows I'm crying.

”G.o.d, you're so pathetic, I almost feel sorry for you,” she sneers. She goes to lean a shoulder against the wall, next to me. ”Well, if it's any consolation, at least you've been played by the best.”

Hastily wiping my cheeks, I glare up at her. ”What are you talking about?”

”Oh, my G.o.d.” Kara chuckles throatily. ”You don't know, do you?”

d.a.m.n, she's so close, I could kick her and blame it on a leg spasm. ”Know what?”

She stoops down a little to look me in the eye. ”It was all just a game. You didn't think he really loved you, did you? Oh, wait, you did! That's hilarious!”

Don't react. Don't react. ”What are you talking about?” I repeat flatly.

Kara is still giggling, but her light blue eyes are sharp and cutting. ”I was the one who made it all happen. I convinced Dean to go after you. Maybe he took it a little too far, but he's got this, like, ma.s.sive crazy grudge against your dad. Don't look so surprised-he told me all about your parents' sordid little affair.”

Grinning, she leans forward confidentially, lowering her voice. ”Just like he told me all about Sat.u.r.day. So tell me, was Dean just bragging, or did you really let him go down on you twice in one night, you greedy little thing?”

Ice spills into my veins. He couldn't have told her-he wouldn't have. I am frozen in horror, my heart moving painfully in my chest. I stare at her, too sick to speak.

Kara seems to soften with concern. ”Hey, don't take it so personally. Normally, I wouldn't go through so much effort with a little n.o.body like you. It's Johnny who really p.i.s.sed me off.” She rolls her eyes. ”What was he thinking, trying to bring someone like you into the group? You don't belong, Juliet. I'm just helping you to realize it.”

She's smiling at me with a putrid combination of pity and triumph. I swallow convulsively, trying to find my voice. ”You're lying,” I finally manage hoa.r.s.ely. ”Dean wouldn't-he wouldn't do that to me.”

”It's cute that you think that. But Dean does whatever the h.e.l.l I tell him to.” Kara's smirk turns suggestive. ”Any. Thing.”

A molten rush of fury has the color rus.h.i.+ng back to my face with a vengeance. I get her silent implication. ”No way,” I growl. ”Dean wouldn't touch a psycho b.i.t.c.h like you-and you would never hook up with anyone prettier than you.”

Kara's face slowly turns a dull red-probably matching mine. She hikes one stiletto booted foot back, as if to kick me. I'm fully prepared to grab it, and yank her on her a.s.s. Unfortunately, she changes her mind, planting her foot firmly back on the ground.

”You want proof? Fine.”

She slips a hand in her blazer pocket, and produces a jewel-encrusted phone. ”I told him you wouldn't believe me,” she mutters as she taps the screen a few times. Then she hands it over to me with a smug look. It makes me want to smash her precious phone-worth more than my car, I'm sure-against the side of the building. Because I know what's on there is going to break me. Dread curdling my stomach, I take a deep breath and look.

There are pictures-selfies Kara took of her and Dean. Kissing and-oh, G.o.d. Here's one of Kara sprawled like a p.o.r.n star on Dean's bed, wearing nothing but a white s.h.i.+rt, unb.u.t.toned and open. Why does she have a picture of herself like this on her phone? Why am I surprised? She totally would. Did Dean take it? Does he have a copy of it on his phone? The thought makes me ill.

I can't look anymore. I struggle to maintain a calm facade as I hand her back her phone. ”I don't know who your plastic surgeon is, but he sucks,” I say as casually as I can manage. ”Your b.o.o.bs are totally lopsided.”

Kara merely raises an eyebrow at me. I'm sure she knows her girls are perfect. She thrust her chest out at me, like I'm gonna ogle them, or something. ”I've never had a complaint.” She smiles viciously. ”Especially not from Dean.”

Despite myself, I have to ask. ”When were those pictures taken?”

”Hm.” She taps a perfectly manicured nail to her chin, and searches the sky. ”The most recent one was taken last Thursday or Friday. You were at work, and Dean had a few hours to kill, so...”

Oh.

I am seriously going to be sick right now. I don't care. I hope I hurl all over Kara, and her hooker boots, and her sneering face. I feel the bile rising in my throat, and I deliberately think of that naked pic because I'm aiming for a world record in projectile vomiting.

Kara crouches down in front of me, pinning me with her eyes. She doesn't realize she's about to get splattered by this morning's French toast.

”You're done here, Juliet,” she says softly. ”You don't have Dean, or Johnny to protect you now, so you're nothing but chum in the water.”

”Are you for real?” I whisper, too creeped out to puke now.

”Parts of me are.” Kara gracefully rises to her feet. ”I recommend home schooling. It's a lot safer.”

She pats my head like I'm her pet before she leaves. It doesn't matter. She wins. I am completely obliterated. Cla.s.s has surely started by now, but I'm not going to make it. In fact, I'm thinking about calling it a day. For the rest of the school year.

Home school, huh. I might look into that.