MADDIE
Allie and I sat alone at our table during lunch. Blaise had skipped school to be with Vera in the hospital. Imani had stayed home to heal up a bit more. The guys were nowhere to be found. And Nicole still hadn’t answered us.
I pushed around some mashed potatoes on my plate and frowned. “You think …”
“Hmm?” Allie asked in a daze, peering up at me.
“Forget it,” I mumbled, not even knowing what I had planned to say.
My eyes were heavy, and I wanted to sleep for days without having to worry about someone trying to take me out with the rest of the good girls at Redwood. I drew a hand across my face and glanced down at my phone when it buzzed on the table.
Did this bitch really think I was stupid enough to meet her—or him—at the park in the dark?! Especially after we had all just gotten shot at in the police chief’s front yard and yet nobody at Redwood seemed to know about it?
Seemed fishy to me.
When the second message rolled in, I bit my tongue and replied.
Then, I blocked the number, which I should’ve done a long, long time ago. Sandra had done it once, but this shithead had still texted me from a second number. Besides, I didn’t have time for this absolute bullshit and this nonstop drama. First, Alec being assaulted. Then, Piper and us getting shot at. I didn’t need an insecure asshole trying to distract me.
Or plotting to kill me.
A couple of moments later, Sakura wandered into the cafeteria in a large sweatshirt that covered her growing belly and a brown-bagged lunch. She slid onto the seat next to Allie and frowned. “The guys are talking to Callan right now, if you are looking for them.”
“Thanks,” I said with a half-smile.
Though I wanted to know what they were talking about. While Alec had stayed with me last night, we’d barely talked to each other since our fight at the hospital. He didn’t like that I wanted to help take charge, and I understood his reasons.
But my friends had almost been killed yesterday while we were just checking on Nicole. We hadn’t even been trying to hunt anyone down, beat anyone up, or kill the rich. We’d wanted to do something nice, and we’d gotten fucked for it.
“How’re the others?” Sakura whispered, lips trembling. “Callan said that they were shot.”
“They’re recovering in the hospital,” Allie said.
Suddenly, Sakura burst out into a fit of tears, sniffling with her head hanging. Allie moved closer to her and gently rubbed her back while I frowned and thought about Vera sitting in the hospital room without me. Sure, she had Blaise, but I wanted to be with her too.
“We’re going to the hospital after school,” I said. “You’re welcome to come with us.”
“Really?” Sakura said, teary eyes wide.
Allie smiled. “Of course. Imani will be there too. She stayed home today.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay,” Sakura said, wiping her tears and placing her hand on her belly underneath the table. “Callan is bringing me to a doctor’s appointment today for the”—she paused, glanced around, and lowered her voice—“baby.”
“When will you know the sex?” I asked.
Cheeks rounding, she smiled. “Hopefully today.”
“No way!” Allie exclaimed, grabbing her hand. “You have to tell us right away.”
I beamed at them because while all this shit had been going on, we finally had something to smile about. I just hoped that Sakura and Mr. Avery would stay out of the drama as much as they could. I didn’t want anything to happen to Sakura or the baby.
“Of course I will,” Sakura said. “I really want a girl.”
“Me too!”
“What does Mr. Avery want?” Allie asked.
“He wants a girl too.”
“God, I’m so happy for you,” I said, grinning, my gaze shifting from Sakura to behind her.
Nicole stood with the dean of students near the cafeteria doors, her blonde hair shielding her face and her arms crossed over her chest, as if she wasn’t comfortable in her own body—very unlike the bubbly, flirtatious Nicole.
After a moment, Nicole turned toward us and kept her gaze on the ground. Once she reached our table, she slid next to Allie, buried her face into the crook of her neck, and burst out into quiet tears.
“I’m so sorry that I didn’t text you earlier,” she sobbed. “It’s my fault that you … that … it happened.” She sniffled. “I should’ve … I should’ve sucked it up and come into school yesterday so you didn’t come looking for me.”
“You’re not to blame, Nicole,” Allie whispered. “We’re just glad that you’re safe.”
“I am to blame,” she said. “If I had just … texted you, then nobody would’ve gotten shot.”
When she lifted her head and her hair fell out of her face, I stiffened. Bruises the size of someone’s hands decorated her neck, and her bottom lip had split open and scabbed over. I glanced at Allie, who fumed.
“Who did this to you?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it, Als,” she said. “You should be worried about Imani and Vera.”
“One of these days, your dad is going to kill you,” Allie said.
Everyone stayed quiet, even Nicole because I think she actually believed it to be true too. A shiver ran down my spine, and I shook my head, hoping that we could get her out of this at some point. She might’ve been captain of the cheer team, but she didn’t have any support.
“On the brighter side, Poison was right,” she said with a half-smile that didn’t meet her eyes. “Piper’s father had something to do with her death. From what I gathered, Piper saw the face of the woman who had been working with that other idiot.”
“Spencer?” I asked.
“Yes,” Nicole said. “I don’t know much more than that, but I’m assuming she didn’t want Piper to say anything, so instead of threatening her, she decided that it’d be best to get rid of her for good with Piper’s father’s help.”
“Which means that …” Allie paused. “Piper must’ve recognized the woman.”
“Hey, boys!” Mrs. Dawson shouted through the windows as she walked from her car and toward one of the side doors with a brown bag, probably filled with her lunch. She wiggled her fingers at them and swayed her hips from side to side, her teal pants blinding me.
“Do you think it’s someone from school?” I asked.
Nicole followed my stare and frowned. “I don’t know. Could be.”
I scanned the cafeteria for anyone who might be suspicious and caught Sandra staring at me from across the room, her eyeliner so sharp that it could cut me, and her lips curled into a sinister smirk. I balled my hands into fists underneath the table.
No more hasty decisions, Maddie.
Yet my hands ached to wrap around their throats. If either of them had been the one to do it, to hurt Piper and Vera and all of my friends, then they would pay for it. I didn’t care what kind of trouble it would land me in. They would get everything that was coming to them.