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I saw her wring her hands together, and I knew she was scared. I wished I could stay with her at night, hide in her closet or something. I wanted to protect my friend. But did I need to protect her from Sorina?
The Mayor and Principal Garrison prattled on about the new rules for a while, and I leaned back into my seat, closing my eyes, trying to formulate a plan.
I looked over at Nicole, and she was watching me, eyes red. I grabbed her hand, pulling her from her seat. “We’ll be back,” I said over my shoulder. Jessica and Kyrie shared matching looks of suspicion.
We checked out with the teacher at the entrance, lying about needing to go to our lockers. I held onto Nicole’s hand in pretense to convince the teacher she was my girlfriend, but I wasn’t sure whether the lie landed. I didn’t care.
When we made it to the hallway, Nicole pulled her hand from mine. “What’s going on?”
I walked down the hall to my locker wordlessly.
“Nick, what the hell?” she called after me, hurrying up.
When I made it to my locker, I grabbed the lock, twisting it, putting in the combination. “I want you to tell me more about your friendship with Amber.”
“What do you mean? She was my partner in science. That’s it,” she said, the lie making her choke up.
I opened my locker, reaching for the little notebook I kept in my pocket when I went to class. “Stop lying to me,” I said, staring Nicole in the eyes.
She crossed her arms, eyes glassy. “I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are,” I said. “I’ve felt it ever since you first said her name. Something was going on.”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “What do you mean, something wasgoing on?”
“I don’t fucking know, Nicole. But you gotta stop keeping us in the dark about whatever the hell it is.”
Nicole stomped away, and I chased after her, glancing around the hallway. She ducked into the girl’s restroom, and I swore before following her in.
She whirled around. “You can’t be in here, Nick.”
“Quit calling me Nick,” I replied, crouching down to look beneath the stall doors. There was no one in there.
“Fuck off,” she said, reaching for a stall door. I blocked it.
“And that’s how I can tell you’re lying.”
“How?” she asked, her voice sounding off.
“You sound like Jessica right now. You don’t swear, you don’t call me Nick. You’re pissed.”
“I’m scared,” she admitted as she reached for a chain around her neck.
“No, Kyrie’s scared. This is something else. Tell me what’s going on, or I’ll ask Jessica.”
Nicole laughed. “Jessica doesn’t know shit about me.”
“Yeah, but she’ll never leave you alone if she thinks there’s something to figure out. Billy won’t either.”
“Billy wasn’t fucking Amber. He only cares about Sam.”
“So who was fucking Amber, then?” I yell.
Nicole shoved me, tears falling. “I was. Are you fucking happy? They said she had a necklace in her mouth,” her words broke at the end, and I stepped back, hands falling to my side.
Nicole reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace, tears running down her face. We stared at each other before she tucked it back inside her T-shirt.
Whatever I thought Nicole was hiding, it wasn’t that. And I hated myself for pushing her, for pulling it out. This time, I didn’t block her when she grabbed the stall door, opening it wide.
