Page 93 of The Design of Goodbye
Urgent task accepted,I responded.
In the library. :)
I turned off my car, instantly missing the heat, and packed up my uneaten lunch. Jules had been throwing death glares and hissing nasty remarks at me all day, and I hadn’t summoned enough courage to eat in the cafeteria—the fear of her confronting me too much to handle right now. With my lack of appetite, I welcomed Taylor’s task because it gave me something to focus on other than worrying about Liam. I hadn’t seen him since yesterday. I was pretty sure he was avoiding me.
Five minutes later, I was weaving between bookcases and tables in the library, searching for Taylor, since she assisted our librarian for one of her senior electives. When I finally found her in the back, perched on a small coffee table, I froze.
Liam was here,too.
“You have the stuff?” she asked, beckoning me forward. I nodded, and she pointed to Liam, who was resting on the small reading couch. “They’re for him.”
Liam slowly sat up. When I handed him the items, I immediately noticed something was wrong. “Are you okay?” I asked him.
“He’s not,” answered Taylor, handing Liam a pill once he’d opened his pop.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Migraine,” she explained, wincing sympathetically. “Thanks for coming so quickly. I know you were probably eating lunch.”
“It’s fine. I wasn’t eating,” I admitted. “I was hiding in my car and—”
“What?” said Taylor. “Why were you doing that?”
“Jules is in the cafeteria.” I shrugged nonchalantly, as if losing my best friend was something I went through all the time. I mean, it kind of was, but this time was different, and I knew it. “She’s pissed at me, so...”
“I’m sorry,” said Liam. He squinted at me, as if the dim lights in the library were too bright. “She’s pissed because you helped me yesterday.”
“It’s okay.” I sat down next to him. “Jules and I aren’t friends anymore.” I bit my lip, uncertain. “And I think that’s a good thing?”
Taylor snorted. “It’s agreatthing.”
I really tried to believe her, but it was hard. I’d barely slept last night, terrified walking away from Jules’s friendship had been the worst mistake of my life. I was scared how my friends would treat me at school. I was scared my mom would come back, find out I wasn’t friends with Jules anymore, and leave me again.
I pulled at a loose string on my sweater. “I hope so.”
A figure walked behind one of the bookcases, and Taylor quietly cursed. “Ms. Reynolds. I need to go back to stocking books.” She gave me a fierce look. “Jules doesn’t deserve your friendship. Got it?”
I whispered softly, “Got it.”
She stood and adjusted her cropped cardigan she’d embroidered the Grinch and his dog, Max, on the pocket. As she walked by us, she gave Liam’s arm a comforting squeeze. “Feel better.”
Once she disappeared behind a bookcase, I focused on Liam. His head was resting against his palm, eyes closed. “I looked for you all morning,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Were you avoiding me?”
He opened his eyes. “We don’t talk at school.”
“I know.” I frowned. “That’s my fault and probably really confusing.”
He didn’t deny this, and I felt incredibly guilty.
“But you’re right,” he added. “I was avoiding you.”
I barely managed to utter the question, “Why?”
He lifted his head, wincing. He took off his glasses and placed the pop over his left eye and cheek before saying, “I thought you might want some extra space from me.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well,” he started, “people were talking about—”
