“See?” she says. “It’s already working.”
“What’s working?”
“That this whole thing is a dramafest. It’s peak Rose Waller.” She shakes her head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Juliette’s in on it, too.”
“You’re being a little paranoid,” I tell her.
“Am I? How many times over the last three years have those two managed to take over every moment at our school. How many pages of photos do you print of them in the yearbook because of being on the cheer squad or on the homecoming court? They’re vampires, sucking up all the energy for themselves.”
I listen to her rant, one she’s had a million times before—but now the situation is different. Rose is missing. Perhaps in danger or worse. “Alice! That’s enough.”
She blinks.
“I can’t listen to you go off like this anymore. This situation is real, and your grudge is petty and childish in a time like this.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and juts her chin out. “I always knew it would come down to this,” she says. “That in the end you’d pick Rose over me. Even out of the picture, she means more to you than I ever did.”
“That’s not true,” I say, but I’m tired, and Alice’s insecurities are not a priority right now. “I just think that maybe right now, we need to be compassionate and not assholes.”
She snorts and throws up her hands. “Whatever. You know where to find me when she shows up with a fresh tan and a crappy tattoo.”
I don’t chase after her, but I do notice that people heard our exchange, not that I really care. Ready to go, I walk toward my parents' car, but stop short when I see someone waiting for me.
Chief McMichael.
14
Ozzy
I can’t help but overhear the whole exchange between Alice and Kenley. Alice is notoriously temperamental, running hot to Kenley’s levelheaded cool.
“You may want to knock that talk down a notch,” I say when Alice passes me. “Or you’re going to land in trouble.”
“Do you think I care?”
“I think you care about Kenley.”
She pauses, her expression softening. It’s enough of a shift that it makes me wonder if the desire to protect her friend could lead to her having something to do Rose disappearing.
“I just hate how much Rose hurt her, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” And for once, I really do know. That story she told about the girls vandalizing her house…man, that was rough. “But their relationship lasted a long time. She probably hoped to repair it someday.”
That’s something I get, too. I don’t like that Finn and I aren’t friends anymore. Even Ezra. We spent so much time together when we were kids—that bonds you together if you like it or not.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of,” she says, cutting her eyes over to Juliette, who is now talking to a newspaper reporter.
“What do you mean?”
Her lips purse, but then she says, “I saw Kenley and Rose talking last week. A few days before school started. Ken was closing up the pool, and we were meeting to go get some food when she finished. When I got to the parking lot, Rose’s car was there, and I saw the two of them having a conversation just inside the gates.”
Kenley hadn’t mentioned that at all. But why would she? It’s not like we’re confidants.
“Did you ask her about it?”
“No, as you can tell, conversations about Rose don’t go over so well.”
“Because you’re jealous.”