The Legend of the Eight: The Twisted (Book 3)

9: The Leaver's Song

NINE: THE LEAVER'S SONG
APRIL 14
WIL DIAMOND

SHE WAS ON THE ROOF of the school using an overturned trashcan as a seat and between her thumb and index finger, she pinched a burning joint. The joint was from Topher Murphey—a welcoming gift of sorts. He stopped Wil on her way out of the café from lunch and invited her to smoke with him. After the night she'd had—tossing and turning in her bed, unable to sleep—she figured she was due for some relaxation.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Topher asked from the edge of the roof where he walked and peered into the courtyard below.

While staring at the smoldering end of the joint, Wil frowned.

"Talk about what?"

Topher hopped off the ledge and walked across the roof to Wil, stealing the joint out of her fingers and taking a hit.

"I don't know. Whatever it is that's got you skipping class to smoke up here with me."

"Why does there have to be a reason?" Wil asked, spitefully snatching the joint back and taking another hit. The smoke filled her lungs and she held it long enough to maximize the high. She exhaled softly and the smoke slipped out of her in a thin cloud.

Topher shrugged. "You just don't seem like the kind of person who gets lost without a reason."

Wil snorted through a laugh. "Well that just proves how little you know me. I'm always getting lost."

Topher grinned and bit his lip, undeterred from his attempts to crack the safe that was Wil Diamond. He took one last hit of the joint and then passed it back to Wil, leaving it for her to finish.

"You're good at that."

"Good at what?" Wil's brows crinkled.

"Trying to throw people off. Trying to make them think you don't care about anything."

"Maybe I don't."

Topher laughed in disbelief. "Sure you don't. Cut the bullshit. What's going on in Wil Diamond's head?"

Wil took one last hit and her eyes watered from the smoke. She took the joint and grinded the last nub into the gravel beneath her feet before leaving it there. Then she stood from the trashcan and brushed any debris from her leggings.

"This has been fun." She spoke in a monotone, dismissive voice and headed towards the door which led to the staircase inside the school. "Let's do it again sometime."

She opened the door and over her shoulder, she heard Topher laughing again.

"Really? You're leaving just like that?"

She turned around and offered a half-smile and a shrug.

"Remember? I don't care about anything."

And then she left.

MAYBE SHE SHOULD HAVE SPENT her afternoon in class instead of on the roof but Wil knew she wouldn't have been able to focus in her Biology class. She was operating off minimal sleep (thanks to a recurring Jeremiah-filled nightmare and general overthinking) and no amount of ribosome or mitochondria-filled lectures would hold her interest.

When she returned from the roof, the clock was three minutes away from the final bell so she waited the day out in a bathroom before joining the others at the cars to drive home. The conversation in the car was monopolized by Kate and Nicole—who were talking about Kate's renewed relationship with Cam—and Wil was grateful for the distraction. Between coping with her newly mortal state and dealing with the horrifying images of Jeremiah killing her (which repeated in her mind every night), she needed a distraction.