Watching Them Burn: My Rebirth Story novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Friday at the Fountain

On Friday at noon, the quad fountain was packed.

Willa had told two friends she had an announcement.

Those two friends told twenty people.

By twelve fifteen there were a hundred of us standing around the stone rim with our phones out.

Bree dragged me to the front.

"I don't want to be here," I whispered.

"You do," she said. "Your whole face says you do."

Dane arrived with his team and stopped short when he saw me.

I stayed where I was.

He looked away first.

Willa stepped up on the fountain's edge in a white dress with her hair down.

She was shaking a little.

"Everyone, I'm sorry to take your time," she said. "I only need one minute. Dane?"

"Willa, what's this?" Dane said.

He sounded tired.

"I need to tell you something I should have told you two years ago."

The quad went silent.

"Remember the night after the state final? You lost, and you sat in your room with the lights off."

Dane's hands came out of his pockets.

"You went on that swim forum voice chat. You said nobody would ever know what that race meant to you. And a girl hummed you a song. She hummed it until you fell asleep."

"How do you know that?" he said.

His voice had cracked.

"You told me the next morning that she was called Nightlight. You told me the cat you looked after together on the forum was named Pancake. You told me she promised she'd come to Capital University with you."

He took one step toward her.

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