“Nowhere,” I say, hastily. “I’m going nowhere.”
“That’s right,” Jasper says, swaying on the spot. “Nowhere. Not right now, and not in life.” He snorts.
Beck laughs, but Heath just keeps on staring. For such a big man, he doesn’t seem to be holding his liquor well at all. I can’t decide if he’s going to fall face-forward or if he’s going to try to hit me.
Olive frowns as she glances around between them. “That’s mean,” she says, but she continues clutching Jasper’s arm. “You’re mean.”
“Just don’t want him to get his hopes up,” Jasper says, mock sweetness dripping from his voice.
But he doesn’t fool Olive. She drops his arm and takes a step away from him.
“I don’t like when you act like this,” she says, her righteous stance undercut by the little stumble she makes trying to stand on her own. “He hasn’t done anything, has he? He’s okay.” She turns to look at me, once again letting a reckless smile tug at her mouth. “He’s cute.”
Stop it, Olive. She’s going to get me killed.
Jasper’s eyes fill with rage as I shoot Olive a pleading look that she doesn’t see. Heath and Beck straighten their shoulders and start walking toward us.
Jasper takes a step forward too.
I take a step back, glancing over my shoulder as I do so. I’m right by the exit. There, past the door behind me there’s nothing but stairs. The corner landings are small. Not enough to break a bad fall.
“He’s just a fucking runt, Olive,” Jasper snaps. Heath and Beck hesitate and share a glance. If even they’re surprised at his tone, what’s he about to do to me? Jasper’s eyes are wide and manic, his teeth clenched. He starts to step forward, and I know in that second that he’s going to do something.
If I don’t do something first. And I know what that is.
God damn you, Rafael.
I take a deep breath and step backward. My foot hits nothing but air.
“Alex!” Olive’s voice echoes in my ears.
Better to control the fall, I suppose. Or, at least, that’s what I tell myself in the moment before all the world turns into a terrifying, dizzying blur.
Chapter Nine
I’m only half-conscious when Heath and Beck carry me back to the school, but I’m conscious enough to know Jasper stays behind.
Every single part of my body hurts and being jostled between two drunk boys doesn’t help. Blood trickles out of some sort of gash on my head. I only know this because a piercing pain prompts me to raise my arm up to touch my face, only for it to come away smeared with something dark.
But that pain is nothing compared to the aching in my ribs.
Neither Heath nor Beck speaks, except for the moments when Heath taps on my face and yells for me not to fall asleep. They both wear grim expressions as they enter the school through my smoking-spot door and carry me through to the infirmary.
“Can you stand?” Beck grunts as we approach the door.
“Maybe?”
My voice comes out in a croak.
He and Heath gently lower me to stand, but my knees buckle from the pain. Heath catches me under the armpits while Beck hammers away at the infirmary door. Heath’s touch is surprisingly gentle. Especially when he’s part of the reason I’m like this in the first place.
The glossy wooden door swings open and a woman stands in front of us in pajamas.
“What’s going on?” she asks groggily, flicking the infirmary lights on. “What are you boys doing out of bed?” Her eyes fall on me and she gasps. “What happened?”
“Stairs,” I wheeze, “I fell.”
She doesn’t ask any more questions, just beckons for Heath to bring me inside. Beck helps him, and I groan as they lay me on the nearest bed.