Page 102 of Fractured Fate

Layla nodded. “I get that. I’ve never been away from home either.”

From what she remembered, their situations were very different. Layla’s parents were apparently overprotective and didn’t see her as an adult until she turned twenty. She still had a couple of years to go.

In Charlotte’s case, she didn’t want to leave her family. They weren’t pushing her out, but they wanted her to feel confident in the world without restrictions. Quite the one-eighty to Layla’s upbringing.

“Oddly enough, my parents want me to look into enrolling at Blackthorn Academy,” she said, shaking her head. The idea still sounded silly.

When no one spoke, she looked up at the others. Layla’s eyes had rounded in frozen surprise, and Blaire and Riley were staring at one another. They looked to be communicating something without words. A sharp sensation pinched Charlotte’s chest. She didn’t have that connection anymore with Blaire.

“At least I don’t have to deal with my unwanted friend,” she said, changing the subject now that the mood turned tense.

She knew the reality. Blackthorn Academy wasn’t for people like her.

Riley stared at her while she dipped her waffle fries in gooey cheese. “What unwanted friend?”

“Blaire didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

She set down the fry and dusted salt from her fingers as she prepared herself to inform the two girls staring at her in question about the things she didn’t tell her mothers. Everything except the crazy run-in with Mr. Fangs.

By the time she finished explaining the hellacious experience, Riley’s mouth gaped, for once speechless.

“And you didn’t tell your parents?” Layla sounded as horrified as she looked.

“No. I didn’t think it would be worth it to add the extra stress. Especially if I never go back to Athens.” She picked up the fry again. “Besides, if I decide to return, they’ll talk me out of it if they know there’s a stalker up there.” She took a bite of the cheesy fry.

“No shit,” Riley said, scoffing. “You’re not going back up there. I don’t get why you didn’t come home sooner.”

“I wanted to finish my classes, so I at least kept my credits. I couldn’t leave before the twenty-first, or I couldn’t transfer everything.”

Blaire set down her drink. “Why the twenty-first? Your classes were only a couple months?”

“Classes started May fourteenth. My midterm presentation happened on June twenty-first. If I didn’t pass, I couldn’t leave until I did remedial work. My advisor said I could transfer my credits, since I passed, so I don’t have to stay through July for the rest of the extended summer session.”

“You’re still not going back,” Riley muttered.

Charlotte laughed. “You know, you sound like your brother.”

“Ew. Don’t say disgusting things like that.”

“Well, if I didn’t agree to let him stay, he would have made me come back,” she said, lifting the glass of specialty cherry Coke and taking a sip. The cherry syrup gave it an extra kick she liked.

“Made you?” Layla tilted her head in question.

“Ah… um.” How did she explain the weird feeling she experienced around Aiden that made her want to do what he told her to? His protective instincts made him a little overbearing and a control freak, but something about it stirred an instinct of hers to either defy or yield to him, depending on the circumstance. “He has a way with words?” That sounded lame to her own ears.

Riley stirred her straw in her milkshake. “Don’t let him push you around. He means well, but when he cares about someone, he is like a dog with a bone. Won’t back down, even when he’s wrong. I’ve been living with it for eighteen years, I know.”

“He’s not pushing me around,” Charlotte said, frowning. “Anyway, he’s acted really weird since we got back into town, so I don’t think there’s much to worry about.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked at Blaire. “Well, before he came up to see me, we would talk most every night.”

“Hold up.” Riley leaned on the table with her elbows. “Every night? I knew something was up between y’all.”

“It wasn’t like that. We played games together, were friends. He kept the homesickness at bay. Kept my mind occupied.”