Page 59 of Head Under Water

He shakes his head, but he doesn’t argue. “Think whatever you want, Opal.”

When he goes to unlock the door, I see his knuckles.

Time stops.

The walls collapse around me. His skin is scabbed over, red and raw.

Fresh.

He catches me noticing and pulls his sleeve down, pushing into his dorm.

“What did you do?” I demand, my hands shaking. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen Will violent. But this evidence is impossible to ignore. “You punched Banks? Please tell me you didn’t.”

He looks back at me. One brow quirks up, but he doesn’t respond.

His jaw flexes, giving me my answer. Answer enough, anyway.

“The program is yours,” he says. “The grade bump and all. And I’ll keep my distance from now on. You win.”

“What are you talking about? What’s going on? What happened? Talk to me.”

He opens his mouth, holding the door and moving it back and forth like he’s trying to decide whether or not to shut it.

His eyes flick to my wrist. To the bracelet.

Eventually, he just says, “I think we’re spending too much time together. Never a good thing.”

The words sound rehearsed. As if he practiced them.

Then he shuts the door.

And every bright light from earlier dims considerably.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

PRESENT DAY

It’s late when Mom first suggests I go home.

I resist. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want Margie to wake up without me here.

But as the hours drag on, Will and Cory begin to agree too. Their reasons are valid.

It’s late.

There’s not a lot for me to do right now.

Margie’s in the ICU, and Will and Cory are the only ones allowed to see her. Mom has to be here for them, the way we know Margie would stay for me if the situation were reversed.

But none of that matters to me. I want to be here. For her. For them.

For me.

It was never supposed to be this way. They built this big, extended family for us—one we were supposed to rely on all our lives—and in the blink of an eye, it’s nearly halved. Mom was never supposed to carry this on her own. And the boys were never supposed to lose two moms. I was never supposed to lose two moms.

Ruth is gone. If Margie dies, Mom will be all we have left.

I shake the thoughts from my head. I can’t go there. I just can’t. Margie will fight. I know she will.