“Yet, it fits you so damn well.”
The corner of her lips curl and then slowly relaxes as her breaths become deep and even.
“Just homework notes?” Katie asks from the doorway.
Hadley’s been asleep for well over an hour, more than enough time for me to have left. I’ve been lying to myself, claiming I don’t want to wake her when in reality, I just don’t want to leave. I’ve been reading through the notes she emailed me, trying to catch up on weeks of the missed class.
I glance at Hadley and then at Katie. “We’re fully dressed and on top of the blankets. Do you really think anything happened?” I say voice muted so I don’t wake her.
“Hadley has plans. Ambitions.”
“Relax, Katie. We’re just friends.”
Carsen appears behind Katie. “Night, guys.” He raises his shoulders when he notes that Hadley’s asleep. “Oh, shit. Sorry,” he whispers. He takes a step back, tugging Katie back toward the hall, their whispers disappearing before the click of her bedroom door.
I’m careful to not disturb Hadley as I stand and move her laptop to the desk. I move the pillows and pull the blankets up to her chin. The action has her rolling, and cuddling the blankets.
I take my school bag down to the basement, my thoughts in ten places as I pull the blankets back, and yelp as I jump back, finding another rubber snake tucked into my blankets.
Chapter18
Hadley
“Nolan didn’t really hide your phone in here, did he?” Hannah asks as I tear the note off of the roasting pan filled with red Jell-O sitting on the top shelf of the fridge.
Ring, Ring.Is scrawled across the scrap of paper that I flip over to find an address before folding it and sliding it into my back pocket before pulling the pan from the fridge. In the center is a dark object—my missing (stolen) phone.
Hannah cackles. “How many packs of Jell-O did he use?”
I shake my head, poking the firm surface that warbles under my touch. “This is so vindictive.” The past two weeks have passed in a blur of routine, blissfully interrupted by pranks that have kept me on my toes.
I Saran wrapped Nolan’s bedroom door at face level. He covered the inside and outside of my car with a million sticky notes. I tucked a straw into a salsa packet and taped it shut before dunking it into his soft drink. He Duct Taped me to my bed while asleep. I charmed the lady at the bakery, explaining my ex had cheated on me and convinced her to fill a box of doughnuts with mayonnaise instead of crème filling. He retaliated by leaving coloring crayons on my windshield, causing a rainbow to appear with every use for the last three days.
Hannah laughs harder as I dig into the Jell-O that is surprisingly difficult to cut through. Thankfully, he sealed my phone in a baggie.
“Is Katie going out with us tonight?” I ask, checking to make sure my phone still works after being refrigerated for a full night and day.
“Yes. She said when we got the final clue to text the address to her and she and Carsen will meet us there.”
“What about Ethan?”
Her eyes brighten at the mere mention of him. They do every single time. It’s ridiculously cute and slightly nauseating. “They have a late practice but he’s going to meet us there as soon as he can.”
I nod. Nolan and I don’t often confer schedules, I can snuggle next to him and walk with him to class every Wednesday, but comparing schedules seems to cross an invisible and arbitrary line one of us has drawn and both of us maintain.
We’re going to our second Camden tradition tonight. Nolan has left clues tied to pranks all week. This last one is the address for the event.
“Are we going to have to run again?” she asks.
I shake my head. “All I know is that it’s at a theater on campus,” I tell her. “I asked some people from class if they heard anything, but no one’s heard of anything. I’m half expecting it to be a trick and we’re going to walk in on a prank.”
Hannah winces. “He’d totally do that.”
He would.
“So the question is, do we take the risk and go or stay home?”
“We have to go. If it’s not a prank, we’ll regret it.”