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She doesn’t say anything for a long time, blowing her nose and wiping her eyes. Eventually, curiosity made it impossible for me not to blurt it out. “Do you believe me?”
“Yes, yes, of course, I do.” She throws her arms around me, and I stiffen in surprise at first. “I’m sorry. But I just feel like I have to hug you. I can’t believe you went through all of this alone. I am so, so sorry. You are the last person in the world to ever deserve something like what happened to you.”
I hardly hear most of what she says. The only thing that matters is she believes me. Finally, at last, somebody believes me.
But it isn’t long before the truth comes rushing back. I can’t avoid it. “You’re the only one who believes me.”
She pulls away, wiping her eyes again. “I know. They’ve done a really good job of making it look like you’re super obsessed. That tattoo is just, like, diabolical.”
“I know. And it’s not even the worst thing they’ve done.”
“But they can’t get away with it.”
“I know. I don’t want them to.”
“Do you have any proof at all? Anything?”
“I wish I did. James was really smart about making sure I didn’t have any, but he has things on me.” Even whispering his name makes me shudder in disgust. “At least I don’t have to see him anymore.”
“But god, we have to do something. Not that I’m trying to push you or anything like that,” she insists, “but it just doesn’t seem right for him to get away with this.”
“I know. I don’t want him to. He doesn’t deserve to.”
“Whatever you need, I’m here. I’ll help with whatever I can. You’re the best friend I ever had, and it’s my fault I forgot about that—but I’m going to make it right.”
I believe she means it. And for the first time in weeks, I have a little bit of hope to cling to.
CHAPTER 36
“I didn’t even know they offered fencing as a class.”
Piper nods, all glowy and smiley after her first fencing lesson. “It counts as phys ed credits. Who knew? And I think it’ll be fun. You know I’ve never been athletic like you.”
“So what, you just wave those pointy swords around?” I slash my arm through the air, attracting the attention of a few people walking our way. All they do is go back to their conversation. It’s strange, being able to walk around all free and whatnot, saying and doing pretty much whatever I want without anybody using it to taunt me. That doesn’t mean I won’t pay attention to the people around me when I do something like that, and they notice—maybe once enough time passes. Once I get used to nobody caring very much about what I do and just letting me live my life, I won’t be so quick to look around and make sure nobody is making fun.
“I think it’s a little more than that.” She giggles. “And they put something on the end of the foil, by the way. So we don’t end up stabbing each other to death.”
“Ooh, a foil. You already know all the technical terminology.”
“Yeah, I’m a real expert after one class.”
“Well, it’s good to know you won’t end up impaled. And it seems like it’s going to be fun?”
“It really does. How about you? How was your lit class?”
“You know me. Any excuse to read a book is just fine. We’re covering Beloved first. I have to read five chapters before the next class.”
It’s almost too bizarre how normal this feels. Walking across campus with my best friend, chatting about our classes now that we’ve been through almost the first full week of school. Finally, I’ve got somebody to talk to, and Piper seems so relieved that I want to be friends that it feels like we’ve done nothing but catch up and laugh since she showed up at our room.
I can almost believe I will live a normal life now. I can almost believe it’s possible to forget and move on. After walking around campus these past few days, I know that nobody can look at me and tell what I’ve been through. I don’t have any reason to be paranoid or ashamed. I might have a small tattoo on my ass—which nobody can even see—but there’s no tattoo across my forehead saying what I’ve been through. I need to remember that.
“Heads-up!” We barely have time to react before a football sails not very far over our heads. A tall, athletic guy comes running past at top speed and grabs it at the last second, bobbling it a little on his fingertips before pulling it in close. Piper does a slow, joking sort of clap, and he touches a finger to the brim of his ball cap before running away.
