Chapter Three

That’s where I go first thing in the morning, back to the guidance office to double-check my file. It’s full of exactly what I submitted: transcripts, reference letters, miscellaneous things, and my fake essay, but nothing I myself didn’t send in.

So with peace of mind for now, I set out for the rest of the day with the student tech crew, and eight hours later the day is gone.

“Remind me why I signed up for tech crew?” Sharon, the girl beside me bitches.

“Because it’ll look good on your college apps.” I drag my tired body across the polished tile and gleaming wood of the dorm hall. For me, the scholarship requires it.

“Right.” Sharon yawns. “That. Do you realize we unboxed, set up, wired, and installed fifty computers today?”

“You counted?”

“Yeah, I counted. My body’s screaming. Wish these dorms had bathtubs. I’d so be in one right now.”

“And classes start first thing in the morning.”

Sharon groans. “Don’t remind me.”

I let myself into my room. “See you later.”

“Four Motrin, here I come.”

I wave as I click my door closed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so exhausted.

With the biggest sigh in history, I slip off my shoes and moan with pleasure. I glance across the tile floor to the empty twin bed that’s supposed to belong to my roommate. Maybe she decided not to come.

Sitting on the floor, I stretch my legs toward the ceiling and prop them on the wall, like I’ve seen my momma do a million times after being on her feet all night.

Closing my eyes, I allow my mind to drift to my old life. Little ole Viola from that family. Well, I’d shown all of them, hadn’t I? No one had expected me to actually win the scholarship. How many people had told me I wasn’t good enough?

Too many.

But my momma and my good friend Levi had believed in me. So had my Algebra II teacher, Mrs. Nowicki. I smile. She’s one of the ones who wrote me a recommendation letter to this place.

Levi. My smile gets bigger. I miss him. My ex-boyfriend, Manny, hated when I talked to Levi on the phone. In fact one time, Manny even forbade me to talk to Levi. I never really got it. It’s like Manny was jealous or something. Then again, he’d done a lot of that over the year we’d dated—telling me where to go, what to do, and who I could and couldn’t hang out with.

But I’ve never once thought of Levi in that way. We grew up together in the projects and were always more brother and sister than anything. Now, though, Levi plays keyboards for the indie group, Bus Stop. When he started making money, he moved his family into a beautiful home in one of the best neighborhoods in our hometown. That’s what I want, too. I want to make good money and take care of my family.

I sigh again, wiggling my numb, cool toes, and rotating over, I reach for my phone. My ex no longer controls my life. I can talk to whomever I damn well please. Starting with Levi.

“Viola!” he yells on the second ring.

I laugh. “Hey!”

“Oh my God. I forget how crazy our hometown is.”

“Oh, man. You’re home?”

“Yeah, we got a break from the tour, so I came back here to check on everyone.”

“I wish I was there.”

“Me, too,” he agrees. “I could use a Zesto run.”

Zesto makes the best banana splits, and me and Levi have shared way too many of them over the years.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Levi says. “My little sister got pregnant by that stupid idiot she’s been dating.”

I roll my eyes. “Didn’t I tell you?”

“Ugh. I can’t stand him. And boy, oh boy, is Mom pissed.”

“I bet.” I know Levi’s mom well, and she put his sister on birth control when she was thirteen. She also put condoms in her purse on a regular basis so this exact thing wouldn’t happen. So, yeah, his mom is pissed.

“Hey, have you been ’round to see my momma yet?” I ask.

“Yep. She’s doing good. I went and saw her at the club last night before she went on.”

For all her faults, Momma never misses a night of stripping. “How ’bout the twins?”

“They’re good,” he assures me. “I can’t believe they’re in kindergarten.”

“I know.” I smile, thinking of their matching toothless grins.

“Your older sister’s still keeping her distance.”

“Good.” The last thing Momma needs to deal with is my older sister and her meth friends coming around and stealing from her again. “Hey, did Momma tell you if he’s been around lately?”

“Which bastard you referring to? Your dad, your ex, the twins’ dad, your older sister’s dad? Or the many exes of your momma?”

If the students around this place knew what I came from. “You know what, never mind. As long as everyone’s safe.” Because it hasn’t always been that way.

“Yes, all good,” he assures me again. “Hey, you want to hear something weird that happened?”

“Do tell.”

“Remember that girl Rachel who graduated a couple of years before you? She dated Manny before you did?”

Of course I remember Rachel. She’d been horrible to me the whole year Manny and I went out. Stirring up gossip. Even keyed my momma’s old car. “Yeah, I remember.”

“They found her dead.”

I blink. “Did you say dead?”

“Yeah, about an hour south in the woods behind some convenience store. Somebody had beaten her senseless and strangled her.”

“Oh my God,” I murmur. I never liked Rachel, but dead? Jesus. “Any idea who did it?”

“No, nothing yet.”

Rachel has a brother a couple years younger than me. He was always a sweet and quiet boy, and despite Rachel being a raving bitch to pretty much everyone, she was kind to her brother. Remembering that sends a pang of sorrow through me. “Will you keep me posted?”

“Of course.”