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Nimrod’s head bounced down and up. Once. “Yep.”

The door opened a third time. Ethan shot inside, his whole face twisted in fury. He took our tables in with barely a look and immediately went to sit on my other side.

He shook his head at me. His face hardened. “Don’t. You feel bad because I’m here, blah blah blah. Etcetera. It’s whatever. I overheard Claudia talking about you and I was coming out to warn you, but the librarian stopped me to ask if I’m the one moving all the books in the library.” He glared at Emcee and Nimrod.

Emcee held out his hand, his chair scraping against the floor as he stood up. “I’m sorry, man. Mckenna set me straight. Both of us.” He indicated Nimrod. “We stand with our boys. We didn’t know the situation.”

Ethan’s lips thinned. He made no move to shake his hand. “It’s not the first time Claudia’s been mean before. She does it all the time.”

Emcee’s hand lowered, wavering, before his shoulders rolled back. His hand stretched out longer, more firm. “I’ve always stayed out of chick fights, but no more. My little brother gets bullied in middle school and I am not down with that shit. I won’t let Claudia bully Cole anymore. Or anyone else, if I can help it.”

Ethan didn’t look moved, but he shook his hand. “Dude. Just sit down. You’re embarrassing me.”

Nimrod started laughing.

Most everyone in the room had been openly watching us the whole time. The few who hadn’t now turned.

Cassian’s phone began vibrating.

Lee calling.

I showed Cassian, and he nodded to me. “Go. He’s not calling to talk to me.”

My throat was full of emotion as I shoved back my chair and slipped out of the room. The hallway was empty, but I answered, speaking quietly just in case, “Hey.”

He breathed out on his end. “Thank fucking Christ. Finally. Jesus. Shit.” He choked out, “Cole.”

I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Where are you?” He softened his tone too.

“I’m in the hallway, but I don’t know⁠—”

Noah popped out of the library, searching, and when he saw me, he strode right for me.

“Hold on,” I said into the phone.

Noah skimmed me up and down, his face hardening, but he didn’t comment on how I looked. He took in the phone, his head moving a little. Maybe he saw Lee’s name? Maybe he just knew I needed privacy because he gestured with his head. “Follow me.”

“What’s happening?” Lee clipped out on his end.

“Noah’s here. He’s taking me somewhere.”

“Follow him. He knows all the secret rooms and stuff.”

I frowned at that but remembered the first fire that Noah lit was in some boiler room. I said to Noah, “I don’t want to go to the boiler room.”

Lee barked out a laugh through the phone.

Noah’s lip twitched, just barely. “I wouldn’t take you there. Here.” He disappeared through a door.

I opened it, or tried. It was locked.

“Try it again,” came from the other side.

I tried again. The door handle opened easily, unlocked. Noah waited until I had the door open and he went down a small hallway. I had no idea what these rooms were for, but it was a set of small rooms. He pointed at one. “Bathroom.” He went through a different door.

I opened it. It was unlocked already and inside looked like a lounge room. A loveseat. A small kitchen area. A table. A blanket was even folded on one of the chairs. Noah gestured around the place. “Your school uses this area if there’s a crisis that happens and a student needs a moment. Your counselor uses it for napping, but she’s busy. I’ll keep watch. If she comes down, I’ll give you plenty of warning. Though, honestly, she should’ve offered this to you right away.” The ends of his lips lifted, somewhat. “The answer for why you could hurt that girl so easily is adrenaline. You had pent-up anger from your mom and your grandparents and you had a target to release some of it. That’s all. There’s nothing wrong with you. You won’t be able to do it again, not as easily, if it ever happened.” He went back to the door, but said before disappearing through it, “The ghost in the principal’s office could see your thoughts. You were too shook up to guard them like you normally do now. He told me. And he wasn’t judging you. He likes to haunt the principal."