“I heard they did loads of experiments on them.”
“Noah’s more handsome than ever.”
Until a new scandal broke, this was the kind of crap she was going to have to take, and she hated it. Pressing her hands to her face, she took deep breaths. It was hard to do. She missed her bedroom.
She refused to believe for a second that she missed her cell. The place that was so cold, so lonely, but it had Noah there.
Noah without judgment.
Dropping her hands from her face, she tilted her head back.
“Skye, you can do this. It’s not that hard. You’re a strong woman. A capable woman. You can do this. It’s just school. Get your shit together and face whatever it is they’re going to throw at you.” She whispered the words, opened her eyes, and then left the toilet. She splashed some water onto her face before she did.
Staring at her new schedule, she saw it wasn’t that different. She had a couple of different teachers, but it wasn’t like she’d never had them before.
It was fine. If she took it one day at a time, she could do it. It was that easy. Nothing new or complicated.
She rounded the corner of the corridor and came to a stop in time to see Rebecca and Noah kissing.
He didn’t waste any time in getting back with his on-again, off-again girlfriend. She rubbed at her chest. No one saw her, and she was able to watch him. He seemed happy to have her in his arms, not that she could blame him. They were a couple whereas she and Noah, they were nothing.
Pushing some of her hair out of her eyes, she turned on her heel and headed to class.
Seeing the making out spectacle wasn’t on her agenda. With the books she’d need already in her bag, she found homeroom and took a seat.
The teacher was already there, and the moment he caught sight of her, he dropped the marker he was using.
“Miss Carver,” he said.
“Hi, Mr. Peach. I know I have you for English, but I was wondering if you had the extra work with you. I’d like to get started if that’s okay.”
“Yes, of course. Of course. Anything you need, let me know.” He moved toward his bag and took out a folder. “It is all in there. Whatever you need let me know and I’ll help you.”
“Thank you.”
She took the file and made her way into the back. Opening it up, she stared at the worksheets, and once again, she was reminded of her … incident.
It’s what a lot of people called it.
All of them apart from Denison. He called it what it was, a kidnapping. It was such a dirty word, and yet, it now revolved around every single area of her life. Her parents were heading back to work, and they were so worried. Denison reminded them of the cops he had around town. No matter where she went or what she did, there would be a cop.
One glance out the window and she saw the cop parked outside with all of the other kids.
It wouldn’t be odd at all. Everyone knew why he was there. Of course they did; the entire town knew part of what the fuck was going on. She and Noah knew the whole story.
She started to work through the necessary sheets, making a note of the books she’d need to read to complete some of the pages when people started to file in.
“I heard she was coming back today.”
“I saw Noah here as well.”
“I heard they ran away together.”
“No, they were totally kidnapped, and I heard they had to do things to each other.”
It didn’t matter what they said. Unless Noah spilled the truth, no one would ever know. It would be their secret, and for now, that was all she wanted. No, not just for now. Forever. She didn’t want to be reminded of what they went through.
If she could wave a magic wand and have the past weeks disappear from her memory she would.