I Ditched My Childhood Sweethearts for a Brighter Future Chapter 06

I Ditched My Childhood Sweethearts for a Brighter Future Chapter 06

“Don’t run to meet me tomorrow. I’ll be right there waiting for you.”
Waylon stuffed the exam papers into my backpack. “Let’s go.”

I looked at him in surprise. “You’re walking me home?”

The tall guy was holding my backpack, which looked a little comical slung over his frame.

“It’s late. I don’t feel safe letting you walk back alone.”

I took another sip of my juice. It was so sweet, the warmth traveling from my mouth straight to my chest.

I just didn’t expect Logan to still be outside this late. Charles seemed to have gone upstairs to bed already.

Under the dim streetlight, Logan was standing quietly right outside his front door, looking like he was waiting for someone.

A sudden realization hit me that he was waiting for me, and a wave of unexplainable guilt washed over me.

I reached out to take my backpack back from Waylon, giving him a quick wave. “You can stop here. See you tomorrow.”

Waylon’s gaze lingered on me. He had clearly noticed the boy standing under the streetlight just ahead, and his eyes darkened significantly.

I nervously picked at my fingernails. I hadn’t done anything wrong, so why did I feel so guilty?

“See you tomorrow.”

He didn’t press the issue. Turning on his heel, he melted back into the darkness.

I waited until he completely disappeared from view before taking another step forward.

Under the streetlight, Logan frowned at me. “Why are you back so late?”

I took a deep breath, attempting to brush right past him. “Tutoring.”

The tension in Logan’s shoulders seemed to slowly ease. “Your mom signed you up for a tutoring class?”

I pressed my lips together and stayed silent. His voice softened a fraction. “I left custom notes and recorded lectures for you in Charles’s room. There’s no reason for you to be out at tutoring clinics this late. It’s dangerous for you to be walking around alone this late…”

For the first time, I realized how incredibly hypocritical Logan could be.

I turned my head to look him dead in the eye. “Logan, if you actually thought it was dangerous, you wouldn’t have left me behind in the first place.”

He froze for a couple of seconds, a flash of defensive irritation crossing his face at being called out. “If you just came home early instead of going to extra classes, the streets would be full of students. How would that be dangerous?”

I gave a dull nod, entirely too exhausted to argue with him.

But Logan suddenly reached out and grabbed my wrist, a brief flicker of panic appearing in his eyes. “Paisley, you haven’t looked for Charles or me once in the past few days. Are you mad at us?”

I probably had been angry before, but now, all I felt was profound exhaustion.

Waylon was printing three custom exam packages for me every single day. Between the core concepts he mapped out and the advanced problem types he threw in, my brain was completely fried by test prep.

Looking at Waylon’s impossibly handsome face didn’t even spark joy anymore, let alone dealing with this petty drama with Logan and Charles.

“No.”

I was telling the absolute truth.

Logan stared intently into my eyes, and once he realized I wasn’t lying, he looked even more unsettled and panicked.

“We’re walking to school together tomorrow morning. Wait for me.”