Ice on the Outside, Screaming Love on the Inside Chapter 08

Ice on the Outside, Screaming Love on the Inside Chapter 08

I might have liked him a lot, but I still had standards.

I wasn’t going to accept that.

While my mind was running wild, Joren’s thoughts came through again.

[Why is she frowning so hard? Does she not like it?]

[Ugh. So the whole aloof-heartthrob act really is what gets her.]

[But my friends said an aloof guy doesn’t make the first move. Am I supposed to keep this act up until graduation?]

[She’s looking at me. Watch your face, idiot. Do not smile.]

I watched his mouth twitch twice.

My heart started hammering.

His whole cold, distant act was fake?

That was a lot to process. My brain practically short-circuited.

[Ahhh, she’s still watching me. Do I look cool sweeping like this?]

I had no words.

Right then, Marnie showed up looking unusually serious.

“Ophelia, I can’t go to Harvard with you anymore.”

“What? Why?”

“Because… because my dad finally said yes to art school! I’m applying to art schools!”

Her serious face vanished instantly, replaced by the grin of a total goofball.

I was a little sad, but I was still happy for her.

Being able to chase what you truly loved was a kind of luck in itself.

Marnie called over to Joren too.

“I’m headed to art school, Joren. You don’t have to tutor me anymore. My grades are totally fine.”

Joren barely looked up.

“Congrats.”

Marnie made a face at me and muttered under her breath.

“Ophelia, I seriously don’t know what you see in a guy who barely talks.”

“Maybe… his face?”

That part was true. The first time I saw Joren, I’d thought he was unfairly good-looking.

I still remembered my first day at this school. I got hit in the head by a hockey puck.

I’d skipped breakfast, and the hit sent my blood sugar crashing.

I crouched down. Then a large hand suddenly rested on top of my head.

I was already furious and ready to yell at whoever was responsible. Then I looked up and saw Joren.

Every word died in my throat.

For a second, I honestly wondered if the puck had knocked me silly. How else had Dick Grayson walked out of a comic book and ended up standing in front of me?

Joren hadn’t even been the one who shot the puck, but he was the captain, so he took responsibility and

walked me to the school nurse’s office.

The nurse gave me two pieces of candy.

Even now, whenever I ate that brand of candy, I thought about the first day I met Joren.

I was clueless about love back then. Later, I learned the name for it: love at first sight.

After that, we ended up sharing most of the same classes.

At the time, I’d thought it had to mean we were meant to be.

Joren had been pretty normal with me at first.

Then one day, out of nowhere, he changed. He became cold and distant.

Marnie said he probably hated me and told me not to push too hard or I’d make things worse.

So I never dared say how I felt.

I was scared that if I told him, we might not even be friends afterward.

So we stayed stuck in that unspoken almost-relationship until the day I started hearing his thoughts.

Now that I looked back-

Maybe I’d gotten something wrong from the very beginning?