Ice on the Outside, Screaming Love on the Inside Chapter 02

Ice on the Outside, Screaming Love on the Inside Chapter 02

After school, Marnie clung to my arm and refused to let go.

“Ophelia, stay and study with me. I’ll be scared walking home by myself later.”

“Can’t Joren take you home?”

“Okay, fine, I’ll tell you the truth. He said tutoring me alone might start rumors.”

I scoffed inwardly.How considerate of Joren.

Even when he liked someone, he still cared about protecting her reputation.

But Marnie gave me such a pleading look that I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

Joren sat across from us, opened his books, and tapped a few problems with his index finger.

“You both keep getting these kinds of problems wrong. I’ve got a few similar ones. Do them first, then I’ll walk you through them.”

Free tutoring was free tutoring. I shoved everything else out of my head and got to work.

Then Joren’s thoughts practically exploded in my head.

[She has no idea I made this whole practice packet just for her. I pulled two all-nighters for it.]

[Getting to improve alongside her makes me ridiculously happy.]

[Another game tomorrow. She’ll cheer for me again, right? I need to play well.]

[God, even her handwriting is cute. Everything about her is cute—ahhh.]

Smack—

I finally snapped and slammed my pen onto the desk.

“You’re so loud!”

Joren and Marnie both looked at me.

Marnie spoke cautiously.

“Ophelia… have you been under too much stress lately?”

“I mean, you can hear a cat outside once in a while, but it’s pretty quiet in here.”

I froze, then grabbed the first excuse I could think of.

“Uh, I already know how to do these. You keep working. I’m going outside for some air.”

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and left the classroom.

My head was a mess, and I was irritated at everything.

I’d put so much thought and effort into Joren over the past year.

I knew exactly what he liked and what he couldn’t stand.

Almost everyone on his hockey team knew I liked him. Sometimes they teased us about it.

And Joren? He never said a thing. He just wore that same cold expression and acted like none of it mattered.

I’d always assumed that was just his personality, that he wasn’t good at expressing himself.

Now it seemed more like he simply couldn’t be bothered to correct me.

He didn’t care whether I misunderstood. After all, the girl he really liked had never been me.

I kicked a pebble back and forth along the ground.

A few minutes later, Marnie and Joren came outside.

I asked, surprised, “Done already?”

Joren actually offered an explanation for once.

“It’s too warm to focus. We can stop for today. Studying works better when you’re relaxed.”

“Oh.”

Marnie hooked her arm through mine and walked beside me.

Joren followed a step behind us.

[This sucks. I spent forever on that packet and we barely used it.]

[Why can’t her best friend read the room at all?]

[Whatever. Without her helping me out, I wouldn’t even have an excuse to get closer to her.]

I dug my earbuds out of my bag, shoved them in, and cranked the music all the way up.

Finally, Joren’s thoughts disappeared beneath the noise.

I didn’t look back once on the way home.

I didn’t even know when Joren peeled off.

Marnie rode the elevator up with me.

She lived right across the hall from my apartment.

The second we stepped off, she finally grabbed my arm.

“What’s going on, Ophelia? You’ve had something on your mind all day.”

I took a deep breath.

“I just… suddenly kind of envy you.”

Marnie put a hand to my forehead.

“No fever. So what’s with the nonsense? Go get some sleep. Kael’s game is tomorrow, remember?”

Kael was Marnie’s crush, and he was also on the varsity hockey team.

That ache surged up all over again.

We both had crushes. So why did mine have to hurt this much?