AllFreeNovel
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I stop walking, feeling like this is some sort of setup. “What’s the catch, Jagger? None of you guys do anything nice without a cost. Not to mention, your friends wouldn’t be too happy if you were anything short of monstrous to me. So what are you really up to?”
His hands fly up in surrender. “No catch. No games. Just a genuine offer to escape the craziness of The Academy for an afternoon.”
After a moment of considering it, I shake my head and turn around to head back to the school. “I’m not buying it. If you’re not going topunishme for standing up to Neo, then I’m going back to class.”
The leaves crunch beneath my boots, but it's the only sound. When I look over my shoulder, I see Jagger still standing in the same spot I left him. “What are you doing?”
“Head back to class. If the guys ask, I made you eat your salad off the ground or something.” He tosses me the bag and I catch it in midair. Jagger turns around and keeps walking up the trail, away from the main campus.
“Where are you going?” I holler at him, not sure why I care.
Jagger does a one-eighty and walks backward. His hands fly up and he says, “Told ya. One of my favorite places.” He smirks, sending a flush of adrenaline through me, and I find myself smiling back.
Seconds later, he makes a sharp turn off the trail and disappears.
I’m walking back leisurely, knowing I’m already late for calculus. My arms sway with my bag in one hand as I watch my feet on the trail. The leaves are changing to a medley of colors—yellows, reds, oranges. Many have dried and fallen and now coat the trails. With all the foot traffic, they’re pushed down and settled into the mix of dirt and rock. Fall has always been my favorite time of the year, and I can’t help but feel giddy over the upcoming season. Crazy how it’s only the first day of classes and there’s already a nip in the air. Back home, school starts the week before Labor Day. At The Academy, we don’t begin until a week after. I’m not complaining about that aspect of this place. A shorter school year is definitely a perk.
I still can’t believe Jagger had this lunch made for me. Lifting the bag, I unfold the brown paper and peek inside to find a salad in a to-go container—as per his demands to Andy.
Beneath the container is a napkin that catches my eye. It’s not the napkin that has me digging it out; it’s the scribbled ink on it.
I stop walking and pull out the container, stuffing it in my arm to free my hands. When I get the napkin out, my heart drops into my stomach. Written in blood red marker are the words,IF YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME, YOU’RE DEAD WRONG!
Just when I thought Jagger was being civil, I’m reminded why I can’t trust anything these guys do or say.
My eyes shoot up from the napkin when the sound of leaves crunching hits my ears. “Who’s there?” I look left, right, then over my shoulder, finding no one in sight, but I still hear them.
“Hello,” I say louder, stuffing the container and the napkin back in the bag.
The sound comes from behind me, so I spin around.
Nothing.
There’s commotion to the left, so I spin again.
Still nothing.
“I know someone’s there.”
A familiar sound hits my ears. It’s me. Or my voice, at least.
“A pact then. To never attend that abomination. We’re in control of our own destiny. Fuck The Academy and fuck Boulder Cove University.”
My stomach knots at the sound of the recording playing through the woods.
“New York City, here we come,” Maddie sings chipperly.
Tears prick the corners of my eyes.Her voice. Her sweet, beautiful voice.
“Why are you doing this?” I shout over the static of the recording.
“How about a pinkie promise?” I continue. “Graduate from Essex High and go to NYC to pursue our dreams.”
“Stop it!” I scream. “This isn’t funny.”
These guys, of all people, know how much it hurts that she’s not here. That’s she’s stuck in that home, unable to wake up. Why would they torture me with her voice? Torture themselves?
The recording stops, but I don’t. I toss the bag into the brush off the trail and my feet move as fast as they can. “Where are you, asshole? Show your damn face!”
