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She sighs. “How about her copy of Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book?”
“My bad,” I say, and take it out from one of my drawers. She gives me a look. “What? I thought it was Sam’s when I borrowed it.”
She gets up in a single fluid movement and snatches the book from my gloved hand. “It’s not that. I don’t know. I don’t know how I got talked into this. Daneca was just so upset.”
“She was upset? She’s the one who just broke his heart.”
I expect Lila to say something cruel about Sam or me or about love in general, but she just nods. “Yeah.”
“Last night—,” I start.
She crosses the room, shaking her head. “How about a T-shirt with the words ‘NERD HERD’ on it? Have you seen one of those?”
I shake my head as she starts picking up laundry off the floor. “So I guess you guys got really close? You and Daneca?” I ask.
Lila shrugs. “She’s been trying to help me.”
I frown. “With what?”
“School. I’m a little behind. I might not be here for that much longer.” Lila straightens, a wadded-up shirt in her hand. When she looks at me, she looks more sad than angry.
“What? Why?” I take a step toward her. I remember something Daneca said about Lila having to do remedial work. She hasn’t been taking classes since she was fourteen; that’s a lot to catch up on. Still, I figured she could handle it. I figured she could handle anything.
“I only came here for you. I’m no good at this school stuff.” She unsticks a postcard from the wall over Sam’s bed, which involves her climbing onto the mattress in a way that ignites every filthy thought I’ve ever had. “Okay. I think that’s it,” she says.
“Lila,” I say as she walks toward the door. “You’re one of the smartest people I know—”
“She doesn’t want to see you, either,” Lila says, cutting me off. “I have no idea what you did to Daneca, but I think she’s madder at you than she is at Sam.”
“Me?” I drop my voice to a whisper so that we won’t be overheard. “I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who told her I turned you into a cat.”
“What?” Lila’s mouth parts slightly. “You’re crazy. I never said that!”
“Oh,” I say, honestly puzzled. “I thought you must have. Daneca was asking me all these questions—weird questions. Sorry. I didn’t mean anything. It’s your story to tell if you want to tell it. I’ve got no right—”
She shakes her head. “You better hope she doesn’t figure it out. With her mother’s crazy worker advocacy stuff, she’d probably go straight to the government. You’d wind up press-ganged into one of those federal brainwashing programs.”
I smile guiltily. “Yeah, well, I’m glad you didn’t say anything to her.”
Lila rolls her eyes. “I know how to keep a secret.”
As she leaves with Daneca’s stuff, I am shamed into realizing how many secrets Lila has kept. She’s had the means to ruin my life pretty much since she became human again. One word to her father, and I would be dead. Since my mother worked her, Lila has even more means and a better motive. The fact that she hasn’t done it is a miracle. And I have not even the slightest idea why she hasn’t, when she has every reason, now that the curse has worn off.
I lean back on my bed.
My whole life I’ve been trained as a con artist, trained to read what people mean underneath what they say. But right now I can’t read her.
* * *
At dinner Mina denies knowing anyone who would blackmail her for spite. No one has ever teased her at Wallingford, no one has ever laughed behind her back. She gets along with absolutely everybody.
We sit together, slowly eating roast chicken and potatoes off our trays while she answers my questions. I wait for Sam to show up, but he never does. Lila doesn’t come into the dining hall either.
When I press Mina, she tells me that her ex-boyfriend doesn’t go to school at Wallingford. His name is Jay Smith, apparently, and he goes to public school, but she isn’t sure which one. She met him at the mall, but she’s a little fuzzy on where. His parents are very strict, so she was never allowed to go to his house. She deleted his number when they broke up.
Everything is a dead end.
Like she doesn’t want me to suspect anyone. Like she doesn’t want me to be investigating the very thing she asked me to fix.
