ROMAN: If y’all could see Ryne’s face right now.
“Really not helpful, Rome.”
He shrugs. “What are you gonna do?”
“First I’m gonna kick Evan’s ass…” I shake my head. I’m not really gonna kick his ass, but honestly what the fuck man? What. The. Fuck. It doesn’t escape my notice Roman’s question is directed to me like it’s my responsibility to address this shit. Somewhere in the deep, dark corners of my mind, a voice agrees.
EVAN: That’s not the worst part
“Oh, God.” I do groan this time and run my hands through my hair. In the group message screen, the bubbles pop up again.
ME: Type faster.
A few seconds later another round of messages comes through from Evan.
EVAN: I guess it has all his notes and other shit he needs for the prep they’re doing today after school for the dance. He stood there blinking and muttering about decorations and placements.
EVAN: Archer wouldn’t give me a chance to explain, and Dacen couldn’t even form a coherent sentence before we had to leave for the first period. So, yeah…
EVAN: Pretty sure I broke him
I stare down at my phone and grit my teeth. I take it back. “Definitely kicking his ass.”
Roman takes one look at me and nods. “Warranted. If you’re not gonna take my advice to fuck Becker and move on, then yeah.”
* * *
Over the next three periods,I try to rouse Dacen, but not one thing I say seems to actually make it through his ears and into his brain. I even try to joke with him, and yes it was very painful, but that doesn’t work either. By the time psychology is over and the bell rings for lunch period, Dacen is a frantic mess. He grabs his things and shoves them haphazardly into his bag, not even bothering to zip it before he throws it across his body.
“Dacen, hold up.”
He looks at me, not through me this time thankfully, and frowns. “I have to go talk to Lucy. She’s gonna kill me.”
I’m fairly confident Lucy isn’t going to kill Dacen. She’s pretty level-headed. But then again, she’s extremely Type-A so who the hell knows really. I slowly leave the classroom, watching Dacen half-walk, half-jog down the hallway toward the cafeteria. I make a pit stop in the bathroom and while I’m washing my hands I stare at myself in the mirror. There’s a deep crease between my eyebrows and my eyes are bloodshot from lack of sleep. Wonderful. I look like shit. Dacen feels like shit. There’s nothing I can do about my lack of sleep, but there might be something I can do for Dacen.
I dry my hands and pull my phone from my back pocket. There are about twenty missed texts in the group chat. Everyone wants to know where I am, and apparently Evan isn’t at lunch either so Roman asks if I need bail money. I chuckle and shake my head, but don’t have time to respond to them now. I scroll through my contacts until I find Noah’s number, and then open up a message to him and start typing. A few minutes later I head out to grab a quick bite to eat, feeling much lighter than I had earlier this morning.
* * *
“Dude,where the hell were you at lunch?” Tyler turns and demands as soon as I take my seat behind him in algebra.
I shrug and pull my stuff out. “I was busy.”
“Do I even wanna know, Ryne?”
I ignore his question as Mr. Archer gets started on today’s lesson. When there are about ten minutes left in class, my phone lights up with a text. Just one word:Incoming. A few seconds later the classroom door bursts open and in runs Samantha Finley, one of the varsity cheerleaders.
“Mr. Archer, someone’s throwing up in the hallway!”
Archer frowns at her and hesitates, setting his clicker down on the desk next to his laptop. She runs up to him and tugs on his arm. “Come on!”
“Class, just continue with this problem until the bell rings. I’m not sure how long this will take.”
He follows her out of the classroom. Tyler turns around, eyebrows raised. I shrug, grabbing my stuff and shoving it into my backpack as fast as humanly possible.
* * *
I’mantsy all last period but manage to cover it up well enough that Coach King doesn’t notice my mind is mostly elsewhere right now and not here in chemistry class. When the final bell rings for the day, nervous energy flares in my stomach and courses through my veins. I’m so jittery I’m almost shaking. I take a deep breath and pack up my things, then head out into the hallway and walk toward my locker.
