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“I just don’t think Laney should be alone after what happened. It might even be a good idea for us to take her off campus altogether for a while,” she said. “We could take her into town and get her some pancakes at our favorite place. I know it won’t fix what happened, but it could help to cheer her up abit.”
Sanders let out a sigh. “You’re really pushing it, Ms. Seaborne, but… all right. You can skip your morning classes and return afterlunch.”
“Thanks,sir.”
He shot her and Adam a warning look. “I mean what I said. I expect both of you back in your usual classes by fifthperiod.”
“We’ll bethere.”
Sanders straightened his shoulders. “All right, then. I’ll talk to all of yousoon.”
He strode away, and my eyes widened as I watched him go. “Wow. He was a lot nicer thanusual.”
Trina snorted. “Of course he was. He’s probably worried you’re going to try to sue theschool.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line. “If I had a lawyer, I’d probably think aboutit.”
“Save yourself the trouble,” Adam said. “We know Hunter did it, which means my dad would end up paying for it, so we may as well skip all the legal drama, and I’ll just write you a check on behalf of my familynow.”
I let out a short, humorless laugh. “Thanks for the offer, but it’s not your fault your brother is an asshole. You shouldn’t have topay.”
He shrugged. “Eh, it’s my dad’s money, so it’sfine.”
“Well, if I’m everthatstrapped for cash, I’ll consider hitting youup.”
“You can let me pay for the pancakes, at least,” he said, returning my smile. “Let’sgo.”
Half an hour later, the three of us were in our usual booth at Café Seven with the biggest spread of comfort food I’d ever seen. Adam and Trina had ordered almost everything on themenu.
It looked and smelled heavenly, but I wasn’t hungry. All I could do was listlessly prod at my syrup-coated pancakes, wishing I didn’t feel sosick.
Trina looked at me from across the table with a wrinkled brow. “How are you feeling?” sheasked.
“Like I’ll throw up if I actually eatanything.”
“I meant emotionally, not physically,” she said, tilting her chin very slightly to oneside.
I put my fork down and sighed. “I guess I feel kind of numb,” I said. “It almost feels like this morning happened to anotherperson.”
She offered me a sympathetic smile. “I getit.”
“I just can’t believe Hunter would do this to me,” I said, shaking myhead.
“Me neither,” Adam said. “He’s done shitty things in the past, but this is a whole new level. I’m actually shocked that he didit.”
Trina nodded. “Same. I mean, I always thought he was a dick, even before you started at RFA,” she said, still looking at me. “But this surpasses every expectation I’ve ever had of him and his capacity for being a dick. It’sunbelievable.”
Adam’s brows furrowed at that. “Hold on… why are we so sure it was actually him?” he saidslowly.
“What do you mean?” Trina said. “It was obviouslyhim.”
“I know that was the conclusion we jumped to, but now I don’t know if it actually makes sense,” he replied. “Like we were just saying, this is a real low, even for someone like Hunter. I just can’t see him doingit.”
“Doesn’t mean hedidn’t.”
“But he wasn’t the only one who knew about that video. We did,” he said, gesturing to himself and then Trina. “I mean, obviously it wasn’tuswho did this shit, but who knows? Someone could’ve overheard us talking about it that night, when Laney first told us.Right?”
“No.” Trina shook her head. “The place was totally empty, unless you count the waitress and the owner. But they wouldn’t do thisshit.”
