Page 26 of The Lies I Tell

“I can give you a ride to your car if you want.”

“No thanks,” I said, grabbing my clothes and heading back to the bathroom. “I’ll call a cab.”

“Suit yourself,” Nate said.

***

I managed to hold myself together on the ride back to the bar, my car the only one left in the lot. I swiped my credit card to pay for the cab, my hands still shaking. When I was safe behind the wheel, I let the tears come. In the span of a few hours, I’d become a different person. A rape victim. I was now one of those stories people read about, the ones where they’d shake their heads and say, How could she not have known that might happen?

I checked my voicemail. Four messages from Frank. Three from my mother. I knew I should drive straight to the nearest police station and report Nate. But as I pulled onto the empty road, I thought about the questions I’d have to answer. The paperwork I’d have to fill out, followed by a trip to the hospital for a rape kit. It would eat up my entire day, and what I needed to do was get to Northside and catch that teacher on his way into school. That way I could still get Frank what he needed. Make up some kind of a story about why it was late, so that I wouldn’t have to explain that I hadn’t been where I was supposed to be. That I’d withheld Meg’s tip from Frank, hoping to keep it for myself.

Think like a man. Grab opportunities like a man.I made a U-turn and headed toward Northside High.

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