Hailey's POV
The drive to school was thick with silence. I stared out the window, my arms crossed tightly against my chest, feeling Paxton’s presence but refusing to acknowledge it. Every time I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, I caught his lips twitching, like he wanted to say something, but didn’t.
I wasn’t ready to hear anything from him, not after last night.
When we pulled up to the school, I grabbed the door handle before the car had fully stopped. “Thanks,” I mumbled, stepping out quickly. Before I could take two steps, chaos hit. The flashing lights of a thousand cameras went off like fireworks, blinding me. A wave of murmurs swept through the students.
“Is that Hailey with Paxton?!” “No way! Did they come to school together?” “Nikki’s gonna lose it!”
My breath hitche
