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Kayla listens intently while Crystal looks confused.
I sigh again and rub my forehead. Guess I’m going to have to tell them. “This summer, my sister killed herself.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss,” Kayla says, her face softening. “No wonder you were crying.”
I avert my gaze. “She was bullied, and I feel like someone’s responsible for her death.”
Kayla gasps. “Oh shit.”
“Are you sure?” Crystal asks.
“She left me a diary, and I’m pretty sure the people she mentioned were part of her choice.”
“Wow,” Crystal says, flabbergasted by my story.
Kayla frowns. “So this fight with Sadie …”
“She pushed a bloody note under my door with a threat on it.”
“Oh Jesus. Bloody?” Crystal slaps her hand in front of her forehead. “This is way above my comfort level.”
“Calm down, Crystal. We don’t know anything yet,” Kayla says.
“What if it’s the Mafia?” Crystal says.
I shush her. “Not so loud.”
She blushes. “Sorry.”
“Point is … I’m going to find out whoever was responsible for the fact that my sister felt she needed to end it all. And that note is all the proof I need.”
“Are you going to go to the police?”
I mull it over for a second.
Any normal student would under normal conditions. But nothing about this university or my sister’s death is normal, and if I did go to the police, I’ll definitely become their next target.
Whoever’s behind this wants me to stop looking, wants me to stop putting the spotlight on them. So I’ll have to take things from a different route. Be inconspicuous and under the radar.
But I won’t be able to do it on my own.
“I’ll think about it,” I answer.
Crystal parts her lips. “But if it’s a threat, you have to—”
“I don’t want to cause any more problems,” I interject. “I have enough as is.”
“Oh, right,” Crystal says.
“You do what you feel is best,” Kayla says, and she rubs my arm. “But I have to say, you’re racking up a lot of enemies for a freshman.”
I laugh. “Well, I’m ready to knock them out if they try me.”
Crystal snorts. “Yeah, we saw that.” She eyes the sorority’s front door.
“Oh, Sadie will be fine,” Kayla replies. “It’s not like she’s so fucking nice to begin with.”
I almost choke on laughter now.
“Wow, you guys have some enemies too, huh?” I say as we go back inside.
Kayla rolls her eyes. “Don’t even mention her fucking name. I’m glad you tore some hair out.”
Crystal leans in and whispers, “That girl once tried to rip Kayla’s hair out of her scalp because she thought Kayla had kissed her crush.”
“She deserved this, just saying,” Kayla says as we walk up the stairs. “Well, anyway, let’s go to bed. Sleep on it,” she tells me.
I nod and yawn, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight.
Someone’s made me a target now.
And I’m not gonna let this rest.
I will find that fucking Nathan guy, and when I do, he’d better pray for mercy …
Because I’ll stop at nothing to avenge my sister.
PENELOPE
Months ago
“Oh my God, it hurts!” I squeak, trying not to look, but it’s hard when the needle keeps puncturing my skin. God, it makes me want to pull my hand back.
“It’s almost done,” Eve says. “You can do it.”
“Did yours hurt this much too?” I ask.
“Yup, but it’s worth it,” she says.
“Fuck,” I growl, and even the tattoo artist laughs.
Finally, it stops, and he wipes off the excess ink. “All done.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief as I sit up straight, feeling a little woozy in the head. “Phew.”
“Look at it,” Eve says.
I hold up my arm and admire the beautiful calligraphy. “Eve.”
“Now we finally match!” she squeals, and she hugs me tight.
Her arm was tattooed in the same calligraphy font with my name, and we push our arms together to admire them in the mirror at the back of RINGO’s shop.
“Satisfied?” the tattoo artist asks.
“It’s perfect,” Eve says. “Right, Pen?”
I nod, and I hug her tight. “Thank you, I love it.”
“Well, you gave this to me last year, so I figured I’d repay the favor,” she says, laughing.
“I deserve it,” I jest back, winking.
“Now let’s go eat some fucking cake. We’ve got a birthday to celebrate.”
She pinches my ass and then walks off to pay at the cash register before we both walk out of the shop.
“Man, it stings so much,” I say as we make our way down the street.
“It’ll calm down. Keep the clear tape on, though,” she says.
“Did your other one hurt that much too?”
“What? This one?” She points at a small circular line on her hand. “Not really. It’s too tiny.”
I smirk at her self-assuredness. She’s so much like me it almost hurts because it’s like watching myself in a mirror. “What does it mean anyway?”
Her eyes briefly widen before she averts them and laughs it off. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was testing if I could do a real tattoo, so it needed to be something tiny and … insignificant.”
