With Every Heartbeat

But he’d reluctantly allowed me to occasionally visit Cora.

Her mother was so charming and nice. It boggled my mind when Cora would get irritated with her for asking too many questions about her day. I would’ve loved to have a mother who wanted to know what was happening in my life.

Mr. Wilder had acted shocked the first time he’d met me. I guess Cora never brought friends home with her, or something. I don’t know. But he quickly got over it and when I told him who my parents were, he remembered them, telling me I looked like my mother. I loved hearing that because my father had gotten rid of most of her pictures.

I envied Cora for her parents, wishing they could’ve been mine, even though they’d been as strict with her as mine had been with me. Many times I’d called over to talk to her, her mom had told me Cora wasn’t home. When Cora told me the next day that she’d really been home but she hadn’t been allowed phone privileges, I’d wondered briefly if her father was just as abusive as mine.

I’d grabbed her hand and clutched it hard. “Do your parents hit you too?”

She’d wrenched back in surprise and blinked at me as if I was insane. “No. Why? Does your dad hit you?” She sounded so intrigued by the idea, I lowered my face in shame and buried my hands into my lap.

“No.”

But she knew I was lying. She made me look her in the eye before she quietly asked, “Zoey. Does your dad hit you?”

“Sometimes,” I whispered. “But only when I’m bad.”

After that, she questioned every little bruise I had, and yes, most of them came from his brutal touch. The abuse became easier to take after Cora found out about it, though. I don’t know why; maybe just sharing it with someone took off some of the stress.

She was loyal and never told anyone about it because I begged her not to. And she never made me feel bad about what happened to me.

I know those times I sat with her before school, and the fewer times I’d talked to her on the phone or visited her house, probably wouldn’t seem like much of a friendship to someone else. But it was all I’d ever had, so it was everything to me. Enough to get me here.

But here I was, and now...now the friend I’d once known was gone.

Maybe the transplant would bring her back. I don’t know. Or maybe I was still deluding myself.

I was probably being selfish for wanting her time and attention, but she hadn’t stuck around the apartment a single night since I’d moved in. She was either out, visiting friends or with Quinn. I knew I didn’t have to stay home alone—I was free now—but I didn’t know what else to do. Homework and television kept me company most nights. Or sometimes I’d wander the apartment and try to acclimate myself to my new living space.

School kept me busy during the days, but the evenings still left me lonely.

By Friday of the second school week, I was debating whether I had the courage to take myself to a movie that evening when I entered art class. Cora would probably let me tag along with her if I asked, but I’d seen the kind of parties she preferred, and they were so not my thing.

“Morning, Zoey,” Reese greeted as I found a seat next to her. She was sipping from a Starbucks cup and flipping through another bridal magazine.

I smiled as I dug into my bag for my notebook and pen. This hour every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday was the highlight of my week. I loved sitting with Reese, Caroline, Quinn, and Ten. They never failed to entertain me. And they made me feel included.

And not-at-all lonely.

“I thought you’d found a dress last week,” I asked, noticing which advertisements she examined as she slowly flipped through pages.

“Oh, I have,” she said, sliding me a wink. “But my cousin just got engaged yesterday, so I’m looking for her now.”

“How exciting.” She talked about Eva quite a bit, so I felt as if I already knew her cousin without having even met her. “Tell her congratulations for me.”

“Sure. She’s anxious to meet you, you know.”

That caught me off guard. “What?”

Reese paused in her page flipping and looked up. “Eva. Yeah. I’ve told her all about you, and she can’t wait to meet you for herself.”

I totally wasn’t expecting that. With a blink, I slowly shook my confused head. “Really?”

“Yep. You’ll have to come with us when we hang out at the club some night.”

By club, I knew she meant Forbidden. Just thinking about the place where Quinn worked got my blood pumping faster. He hadn’t come by the apartment to pick up Cora for a date since the night he’d helped me acclimate myself to biology. But I still saw him in art class. Still sat by him in art class. Still had an unrelenting crush on him in and out of art class.