“So I’m assuming there will be an investigation into her conduct?” Nik asks. “I mean, not only was she cheating but she was also harassing Ishita with this false accusation?”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Principal Gallagher says grimly. “I think we’ve traumatized the poor girl enough. Ishita didn’t cheat on the test, Aisling did. I will accept that and we will move on. Ishita can continue on in the election for Head Girl; she has our endorsement. Thank you for clearing everything up for everyone, Nikhita.”
“So, Ishita had to be scrutinized, embarrassed in front of our parents … and Aisling gets off scot-free? With no consequences?”
“There will be consequences,” Principal Gallagher says unconvincingly. “Detention—”
“Detention.” Nik scoffs. I’m already getting up from my chair. At least my name is cleared, whatever happens—or doesn’t happen—to Aisling.
“We should go, Nik,” I mumble.
“Ishu—”
“Please?”
Nik heaves a sigh of her own, settling Ms. Gallagher with one last glare, before the two of us slip outside.
chapter thirty-eight
ishu
“YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING TO DOthat, you know.” I tell Nik back in the car. I don’t exactly feel relief from the truth finally coming out, but at least some of the overbearing pressure weighing on me seems to have lifted. I feel lighter.
Nik smirks at me from the driver’s seat. “The fun is in the surprise.”
“Not when my school career is at stake …” I say. “Where are we going?”
Nik is turning onto the wrong road, not the one that will lead us home.
“We should celebrate the fact that we’ve bested that fucked-up school, and—whatever that girl’s name is,” Nik says. “Lunch, on me.”
“Aisling.” The feel of her name against my tongue fills me with a kind of dread. “I can’t believe the school won’t even do anything to her …”
“Let’s not think about that,” Nik says. She pulls the car into park in front of Mao’s. “Thai food?”
Later on, as Nik forks pad thai into her mouth, her gaze rests on me—curiosity flickering in her eyes.
“What?” I ask, when she’s been staring wordlessly for long enough to make me feel uncomfortable.
“Tell me what happened with Hani.”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” I shove a forkful of noodles into my mouth to avoid talking. Nik just pokes me on my side.
“I flew all the way over here—”
“’Oo can’ juz’ use tha’ ‘scuze.”
Nik rolls her eyes. “I’m not going to stop bothering you until you tell me everything. Doesn’t matter if you’re eating. I’m your sister—I can help you deal with all of this.” She raises an eyebrow almost threateningly. I swallow down my noodles and heave a sigh.
“It’s complicated.”
“Would it even be romance if it wasn’t?”
I play with the noodles with my fork for a moment, before launching into it. “The thing is … Aisling is kind of Hani’s best friend.”
Whatever Nik was expecting, I guess it wasn’t that, because she almost falls off her chair with the shock of it. The knife and fork she was using drops to the ground with a clatter. The other customers at the restaurant look over at us with glares. Nik shoots them polite smiles and bends down to pick up the cutlery, before setting it down on the table and staring me down.
“Hani doesn’t seem like the type of person to be friends with her. I mean … I don’t know …”
