I rubbed my hands to warm them and glanced over at the scoreboard. The Warriors were ahead of their opponents by sixteen points. That didn’t surprise me. Erin told me earlier that homecoming games were usually played against lower division teams in order to give the home team an easy win for everyone in town to celebrate. Not that Jax and his teammates really needed the edge. According to Erin, they were one of the best high school teams in the state.
Even more reason to not care about football,I thought to myself bitterly.Fuck Jax.
I still couldn’t believe he thought I was some sort of psychopath who’d weaseled my way into his house to carry out a crazy revenge scheme against his father. It made a strange, twisted kind of sense when I put it into context with everything George told me, but even then, it was still absurd.
At least I finally understood why Jax had always refused to tell me what his problem was, though. He probably assumed I’d lie to cover up my nefarious schemes, so he figured there was no point bringing it up with me.
A buzzer went off to announce halftime. I felt a twinge in my bladder and turned to Erin. “I need the bathroom. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a feminine voice said from somewhere behind me.
My stomach sank. I turned my head over my shoulder, expecting to see one of the many mean girls who’d bullied me over the last couple of weeks. Instead, I saw an unfamiliar girl with a neutral expression on her face.
“Sorry, I overheard you saying you need the bathroom,” she went on, pulling her black and gold scarf tighter around her neck. “Trust me—don’t even bother trying to use the ones here. I went earlier, and I was stuck in the line for twenty freakin’ minutes. I think some of the stalls ran out of paper, so that’s why it’s so busy. But anyway, you should go up to the school and use one of the bathrooms there. It’s a pretty long walk but you’ll still save time in the end.”
My brows puckered. “Isn’t the school locked?”
The girl shook her head. “They keep it open late on game nights in case stuff like this happens.”
I cast a wary glance at Erin, wondering if the other girl was trying to trick me for some reason. I knew I was probably being paranoid, but after all the bullying and harassment I’d experienced recently, I figured I could never be too careful.
Erin nodded. “Yeah, they always do that,” she said. “She’s right; it’s a good idea to avoid the crazy lines here. Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, it’s okay. It’s not that far.”
I thanked the random girl for her advice and told Erin and George I’d be back as soon as possible. Then I left the stadium, crossed the parking lot, and set off on the brightly-lit path leading up to the school.
The closer I got, the more I regretted saying no to Erin when she offered to accompany me on the walk. I turned her down because I didn’t want to make her miss any of the game, but now I was worried something would happen to me while I was alone.
What if that girl behind us wasn’t so innocent and friendly after all? What if she’d texted some other people to let them know I was on my way up this path, and now there was some sort of ambush waiting for me at the other end?
The logical part of my brain knew it was just paranoia rearing its ugly head again. Still, I couldn’t stop the tremors in my hands or the shivers from racing up and down my spine. That was what bullying did to people—it turned them into terrified, traumatized messes. I could never truly relax or let my guard down, because I was always wondering when the next awful thing was going to happen to me.
Thankfully, no one was waiting for me when I reached the school. The classrooms and minor hallways were dark, but the main halls were lit up and the doors were unlocked. Breathing a sigh of relief, I stepped inside and turned right, making a beeline for the closest bathroom.
Once I was done, I headed back the way I came until a faint sound made me stop in my tracks. I frowned and tilted my head, straining to listen. It was a voice. No, two voices. They were coming from somewhere down the dim hallway on my left, and they sounded quite heated.
I stepped over and peered down the hall. Light was filtering out from under one of the classroom doors. I recognized it as my English class, which I took with a cool young teacher named Mr. Blythe. I figured he was probably marking essays and chatting to someone on the phone at the same time, but then I remembered that I’d heard two voices.
Why would anyone be with Mr. Blythe at this hour, and why would they be angry? Was he having an argument with another teacher?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I slowly crept down the hall. The heated voices grew clearer as I drew closer to the semi-open classroom door.
“Holy shit,” I said under my breath, putting one hand over my mouth. One of the voices belonged to Mr. Blythe, and the other belonged to Cerina Vincent.
I inched forward so I could peek through the crack in the door and catch the rest of their conversation.
“… all the sneaking around. All the lying. All the bullshit. I don’t want to do it anymore. Ican’tdo it anymore,” Cerina was saying. Her arms were folded, and her face was pink.
“Cerina, please calm down. Try to be reasonable and think this through for a moment,” Mr. Blythe replied, thick brows raised high on his forehead.
“Ihavethought it through!” Cerina said, stomping one foot on the floor. “I’m going to tell. I’m serious. I’ll do it!”
“Whose life will get ruined in the process, Cerina? Why don’t you think about that?” Mr. Blythe said, stepping out from behind his desk. “Honestly, I’m telling you this out of concern for you. You should really reconsider. Just calm down. Breathe. Think about the repercussions for your own life.”
Cerina was silent for a few beats. “Okay. Fine. I’ll think about it,” she finally said in a sulky tone. “But it can’t go on like this. Something needs to change.”
“I know. You’re right.” Mr. Blythe leaned forward and murmured something else in Cerina’s ear that I couldn’t catch.