The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story

Chapter 0421

I was tired from a long day of acting and handling drama. So when I finally made my way back to my room, my feet were slow, my pace sluggish. I didn’t reach the hallway where the candidates‘ rooms were until well after the others had already gone.

Maybe this was why I found Mark standing alone outside of Susie’s door. The sight of his face gave me pause. He looked absolutely devastated. When my feet started working again, and I came closer, he noticed and immediately straightened.

He didn’t have to. We knew each other well enough that I considered us friends by now. Though I was certainly closer with Susic, Mark constantly put himself in danger for me and Elva. He’d well–carned my friendship.

So I stopped before I could pass him, and I asked him flat–out, “Are you okay?”

The hard edge he was trying so hard to keep in his face faded away, and sadness and worry contorted his features once more.

“Susie won’t see me,” he said. “I don’t know why. If I did something, she isn’t telling me.

I didn’t know what to tell him. I didn’t want to break Susie’s confidence, and I knew she hadn’t decided what to tell Mark. That she was sending him away without seeing him was a bad sign.

Mark could have broken down the door. That he wasn’t spoke to how much of a gentleman he was. He wanted to respect Susie, always.

I wished I had been more insistent that Mark was someone she could trust.

Then again, I knew how scary it was to be facing the world with a baby. You couldn’t think about just yourself anymore. And those tough decisions, the ones about keeping people close, were much harder to make.

I suspected Susie’s love of Mark was what really wanted her to keep him at a distance. A baby out of wedlock could ruin both their lives.

“I haven’t seen her since she fainted,” Mark said. His gaze dropped down to the ground. “I don’t know what to do, Piper.”

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“Just give her some time,” I said. “I’m sure she will be willing to talk to you soon. “Soon? But why not now? No one will tell me anything!” Mark pushed a hand through his hair. I’d never seen him like this before, so discombobulated. It was a little endearing. Was

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side of him that he showed only to

his inside jacket pocket and produced a letter. He held it out for me. Susie’s name was written in neat, tight scrawl across the front of the envelope.

to me, but she may speak to you, Piper,” Mark said. “If you get in there. If you talk to her. Please… give

step aside. Once he did, I took his place at

wait here, okay?”

nod, I knocked on the door.

Susie shouted. Her voice was hoarse, like she had been crying. She’d probably been crying for

Piper!” I called

replied for several long moments, before Susie’s voice came through once more. You can come in. But only you, Piper!”

glanced at Mark, then opened the door and stepped through it. I closed it behind me, locking Mark outside.

she had been lying in bed. There are

from her voice, the evidence is clear in her features. As well as the downward curve of her shoulders. She was slouched in her seat, with her head low, like she couldn’t be bothered to lift

beside her at

I asked, worried about

drained,” she said. “But it’s

the table. Beneath her feet,

the table, then slid it across to

once, sourly, when she saw it. She continued sliding it across the table to where a pile were

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on the

to convince her. “Mark is a good man.

But you are right. He is a good man.” She looked at me, heartbreak in her eyes. “So how can I derail his life by telling him the truth? Shouldn’t I just leave him, leave everything, and go back home? Hide

in private?”

expected, but they

his life, Piper.”

Susie making the same mistakes I did, and suffer the same consequences.

up at me, surprised.