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“I know,” I tell her. “I was actually holding his phone in my hand when you called.”
“Why?” she asks. “I mean, I tried to call your phone, and it went straight to voicemail.”
“Yeah, I dropped it in the river, and it got ruined,” I reply vaguely, unsure if I want to tell her the whole story of what happened on the phone or not.
“That sucks,” Harlow says. “Are you going to be able to get a new one soon?”
“Yeah, I’ll have one tomorrow,” I tell her.
“Cool.” She gives a short pause. “So, I don’t want to like freak you out or anything, but I feel like I should tell you about a rumor I heard at school. Not that I believe it or anything, but you also weren’t there later in the day, so I just wanted to double-check that you’re okay.”
Panic begins to seize a hold of me. Rumors? Like perhaps I’m a murderer?
“What’d you hear?” My voice comes out sort of crackly, and Jax and Hunter completely notice.
“Is everything okay?” Hunter mouths while Jax looks at me worriedly.
I waver then shrug. “I’m not sure yet,”I mouth back.
His lips tug downward into a frown, and he casts a quick glance at Jax.
I turn away from the guys and squeeze my eyes shut. “What’d you hear?” I hold my breath.
“That you got suspended because you were dealing drugs,” she replies in a hesitant tone. “But I don’t really believe it. However, you also weren’t in school later in the day, so I thought I’d check in and see if anything is wrong.”
“I’m fine,” I assure her. Aren’t I? “There was just an incident at lunch that prevented me from going back to school.” I glance at Hunter, unsure how much he wants me to tell her.
“If you want to, you can tell her about the bridge incident,” he says, as if reading my mind. “But can you please keep the whole game starting thing a secret?”
I nod and give him a thumbs-up. Then I proceed to tell Harlow what happened.
By the time I’m finished, she’s completely and utterly furious.
“Oh my God, I hate this damn town!” she spats. “Seriously, everyone here sucks.”
“I almost agree with you,” I assure her, my gaze straying to Jax and Hunter, who are watching me with confusion. “Not everyone does, though.”
“Yeah, I guess,” she mumbles. Then she heaves a heavy sigh. “I’m glad Jax was there to save you. And my brother. You really do need to learn how to swim, though.”
I cringe at the idea. “I wish I could, but I’ve never been able to.”
“Well, never can be a temporary word,” she informs me. “You should ask Hunter or Jax to teach you. Both of them are really good swimmers. But I’m sure you know that since they saved you today.”
“I’ll think about it,” I tell her, but I don’t want to at all.
“Good,” she says, sounding like she’s calmed down a bit. “I have somewhere to be, so I can’t talk for much longer, but there’s so much stuff I want to talk to you about, so I’m wondering if you want to have lunch tomorrow with me.”
I smile at that. “I’d love to.”
“Awesome. Meet me at my locker at lunchtime?”
I agree, and then we hang up.
The second I get off the phone, Hunter asks, “What’d she want?”
“She heard I was dealing drugs and got suspended from school,” I tell him. “She wanted to fact check the rumor.”
Jax, who’s sank down on the bed, straightens, tension rippling through his body. “What?”
