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“I called an ambulance,” Chloe said, reaching us, out of breath. “You need to get out of those clothes.”
“It’ll be here quickly,” I said, glancing up at Margo. Her eyes were back to normal, but she looked ready to throw up. I sat on the ground, Emma clinging to me. I gripped her hands in mine, rubbing them and blowing them to try to heat them up. Her eyes closed slowly. “Wake up,” I said sharply. “Chloe, keep her awake. She hit her head. She looks concussed.”
She tried, and as the ambulance sirens sounded in the distance, she looked at me, her eyes tearful. “You saved her.”
“Anybody would have done the same.”
“But they didn’t.Youdid.”
The ambulance pulled up. Chloe immediately told the paramedics what happened. They tried to force me into the ambulance with them, no matter what I said.
One of them, Abbi, gave me a stern look. “Nathan would never forgive me if I didn’t insist. Now shut up, and put up with it.”
I rolled my eyes, letting her wrap an aluminium sheet around my shoulders.
I glanced at Margo. She looked lost. “Chloe, get Margo home. Please.”
She nodded, waving us off in the ambulance. I was shivering, but I was more concerned about Emma. She reached for my hand, asking me to stay with her. At the hospital, I waited until her parents showed up. By then, Nathan and Perdita had already arrived to fuss over me. But all I could think about was Margo. If she hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been there, and Emma might have died.
Margo had knownsomethingwas about to happen. Yet she was ashamed of her secret. So what did any of it mean?
Chapter 19
Margo
Emma was backat school on Monday, and immediately, zoned in on Dorian with her friends. I hadn’t spoken to Dorian since, mortified by the way I’d flaked out in front of him. I wasn’t even sure what happened exactly. The incident was still a blur to me. I saw it through a darkened lens and couldn’t really figure out all of the details.
The only thing I knew for sure was that Dorian was a hero now, and he appeared to have forgotten all about me because he hadn’t sought me out either. I knew what it was like to be despised by everyone. Of course he was enjoying the attention, but it nipped all the same.
I walked by Victor and some others in the hallway between classes and heard them grumble about Dorian drawing attention when they were supposed to be hiding out. Hiding from what exactly? I wasn’t the only one with secrets.
Victor caught me looking and bared his teeth at me.
“Weirdo,” I muttered and kept walking. He was such a freak. I avoided most of the drama, and it was as though I hadn’t even been at the canal. I hid in the toilets while Emma and some others invaded the bathroom.
“Adam said sorry,” Emma said. “But his parents have banned him from being around me. I don’t really care.” She laughed. “But did you hear how Dorian saved my life? Like actually saved me?”
“Yes,” Chloe said dryly. “Multiple times. I wasactuallythere, you know.”
Emma sighed. “He just carried me around like it was nothing.” I heard her looking through her bag for something. “I used to think he was a bit dorky, but he’s turned out to be kinda cute, right?”
I winced as the girls giggled about Dorian for a few minutes until the bell rang. When I finally escaped, Chloe was still in the bathroom. She gave me an understanding nod before she left.
I wandered outside at lunchtime, braving the cold because I doubted I could stomach watching Dorian be the centre of attention. Emma and her friends had treated him like dirt, and now he was their king. It made me want to throw something. I just wasn’t entirely sure why.
I sensed him walking toward me and tried to concentrate on the book I hadn’t been able to read more than a sentence of at a time.
He sat next to me, far too close, and I shifted over a little. I didn’t mean to; I was just used to giving people space.
“Wanna hang out later?” he asked.
I snapped my book closed and angled my body to face him. “Sure you have enough time for little old me?”
His eyes widened. “What are you, jealous?”
“Ugh, get over yourself.” Was I?
“Did you know that your eyes change colour?” he said abruptly.
