Adam nudged me. “Trust me, Laney. You really don’t have to feel bad for what we did. I’m his brother, and even I don’t feel bad. He’s treated you like total shit and made others treat you like shit too, and he’s never given anyone a reason for it. So as far as I’m concerned, he can fuck off. If he wants me to treat him like family again, he can stop acting like such a dick.” He paused to take a long, deep breath. “Seriously, if he wants to try and hit back at you again with something else, I’ll just come up with something even bigger and better than the essay prank. I won’t let him get away with hurting my friends, and he needs to know that.”
I gave him a faint smile. “Thanks, Adam.”
Trina crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward. “I can’t believe it’s been a whole month and we still don’t know why he did any of this,” she said. She bounced her gaze over to Adam. “Have you tried asking him again?”
He nodded. “Yup. Same old bullshit about Laney supposedly knowing what she did. No straight answers.”
Trina’s lips pursed, and she looked at me again. “You’ve asked him too, right?”
“Yeah. Twice. The first time, Coach Reilly cut off our conversation, so he didn’t have the chance to answer.”
“And the second?”
I frowned, trying to recall Hunter’s exact words on Friday night. “Something about me reminding him of a bad time in his life. Or a bad person. He wouldn’t elaborate, though.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not,” she muttered. She leaned back in her seat again, putting her hands behind her head. “I’m going to say something, and it’s going to sound totally irrelevant, but I promise I have a point.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“I watched a movie the other night where the two main characters absolutely despised each other. It was really stupid and annoying, because it was all over a big misunderstanding. I swear, if they just communicated like adults even one time throughout it, there wouldn’t be a plot.”
“Hold on. This isn’t Laney’s fault,” Adam cut in indignantly. “She’s tried asking Hunter why he put her on the blacklist. We were literally just discussing that.”
Trina shook her head. “I’m not saying it’s her fault. I’m saying it’s his fault for failing to communicate. For all we know, he might think Laney said or did something that she never actually said or did, and she’s been tortured for the last month over nothing.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Seriously, he’s acting like a fucking child,” Trina went on. “I’m sick of it.”
I shrugged. “Me too, but what can I do about it?”
She frowned and rubbed her chin. “Honestly… I think you should go and ask him again,” she said slowly. “But this time, don’t let him weasel out of it or give you some bullshit answer. Go and confront him, guns blazing, and tell him he’s not getting away from you until he tells you the whole truth.”
“You really think that’s a good idea?” I asked, tipping my head to one side.
“Yes. It needs to be done. Otherwise you’re going to spend the rest of the year looking over your shoulder, always wondering if and when he’s going to hurt you again,” she said. “I mean, that’s exactly what you’re doing right now, isn’t it? You’re sitting here freaking out about whatever he might be plotting against you.”
I nodded slowly. “That’s true.”
“I think Trina’s right,” Adam said, patting my shoulder. “He’s way more likely to give you a straight answer than me or anyone else, seeing as you’re the one who supposedly did the terrible thing.”
“Yeah. Seriously, you should go and do it right now,” Trina said. “Maybe then this whole thing will be over before the end of the day. If it actually turns out to be a misunderstanding, that is.”
“Hm. I guess I could try,” I said reluctantly, pulse quickening at the mere thought of approaching Hunter. “But… I don’t know where he is. So maybe I should just leave it for now.”
Adam glanced at his watch. “Lunch is over in ten minutes, and he’ll probably need to grab some stuff from his locker before his next class. You could go and wait near there and try to catch him when he does that.”
“I really don’t know if I should,” I said, heart racing even faster now. “He seriously looked like he wanted to strangle me the other day.”
Trina rolled her eyes. “It’ll be fine. He’s not going to strangle you in front of everyone in the school.”
I chewed my bottom lip for a moment. Then I finally let out a sigh and nodded. “All right. I’ll go. Will you come with me?”
“It’s probably better that you talk to him alone,” Adam replied. “Like I said before, he’s more likely to give you a straight answer than us, so if we’re all there, he might shut down and refuse to say anything again.”
“Fair enough.” I stood up on shaky legs and took a deep breath. “Wish me luck, then.”
“You don’t need luck. Just channel some of that awesome Laney-bravery,” Trina said with a grin. “It got you through Friday night with him, right?”