I looked between them. “That’s easy?”
He smirked. “We have a bit of experience with this type of thing.”
I was too worn out to press for more information. If they were confident they could do it, then I trusted them.
“You don’t look too great,” Noah said, pressing his palm to my forehead. “Why don’t you lay down for a little bit?”
I nodded.
“You can take my bed,” Vince said with a smile. His bed was more mine recently.
“Come on.” Gavin took my hand and led me upstairs. Instead of going to the room Vince and I shared, he went to his. “My blackout curtains make it easier to nap.”
I climbed between the familiar sheets, and he laid the blanket over me. The bed dipped as he leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Try to rest.”
I nodded and closed my eyes. A moment later, I heard the door shut. His familiar scent enveloped me, and I had to push away the memories of the last time I was in this bed so I could relax. Getting hot and bothered wouldn’t help me right now.
Gavin stopped on the way back to get me a drink, and I brushed my teeth as soon as we got here, but I still felt gross. I hated throwing up, but unlike having the flu or food poisoning, I didn’t feel better afterward. Not this time. I couldn’t get the image of Juliet kissing someone else out of my head. She was supposed to be in love with my dad, and even though I knew she was a liar, it hurt to see how far her deception went.
* * *
My stomach churned all morning.I was sitting on a bench with two dumbbells on either side of me, but I hadn’t lifted them once. I exhaled, realizing, after who knew how long, that I’d been holding my breath. I couldn’t relax until they were back.
“They’re fine, Ave.” Vince pulled me out of my thoughts.
“We would have heard if something went wrong.” Sky nodded behind him. He was acting as Vince’s spotter, even though he wasn’t doing anything either. It was as close to us acting normal as it was going to get.
“They’ll be back in a few minutes,” Vince said and rested his elbows on his knees.
I nodded and ran through the plan again. Noah was distracting the front office women with his charm while Gavin used his invisibility to get into Mr. Peter’s office and downloaded the app onto his phone. Luca was acting as lookout, listening in case he returned earlier than anticipated.
Sky asked one of the girls in his third-period class who was an office aide if anyone had odd habits. She said Mr. Peters and Mrs. Burns went to the teacher’s lounge for their second cups of coffee at the same time every day. She also told him that the headmaster took a bathroom break at exactly nine every morning for fifteen minutes, but that was something I wished I didn’t know.
The doors to the weight room opened, and the three of them walked in, wearing normal clothes. Mr. Danes didn’t even look up.
When they got closer, I stood. “How did it go?”
“Perfect,” Gavin said. “I was in and out in under three minutes.”
“Yeah, I doubt anyone noticed the door opening,” Noah said.
“I checked on the way back, and it’s working.” Gavin pulled his phone from his pocket. “He got an email from an address I swear I’ve seen on Juliet’s account, so when I get home, I’m going to have a lot of work to do.”
“Let me know how I can help.” I touched his arm. This was my problem, and I wanted to take as much of the burden as possible from them.
“I will.” He shot me a smile.
No matter how many times I told myself there wasn’t anything I could do during class, I was distracted. As I walked into world lit, I heard grumbling and sighs. I checked the whiteboard at the front of the room and realized why. We had an exam on the reading we were supposed to have finished over the weekend.
I definitely forgot about the test. I mostly finished with the book, but if any of the questions were about the ending or resolutions, I would be in trouble.
The moment the test hit my desk, I groaned. Four paragraph-style questions, and the very first one asked us to agree or disagree with the resolution to the main plot point.
Great. This was only the biggest grade we’d have before the end of the year since our teacher didn’t believe in big finals. He thought it was better to give tests throughout the semester to test us on the current material, and up until now, I appreciated that.
I was so screwed. How had I completely forgotten about this?
Sure, things in my home life were crumbling to the ground, but normally, I was good about staying on top of things.