AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I close my eyes and bend down to pick up the pieces.
There is only one person I can think of with the power to convince Daneca to stay away from Barron. Lila.
* * *
I text Lila that I will meet her anywhere she wants, that I need to tell her something, that it’s not about her or me, that it’s important. She doesn’t respond. I don’t see her in the halls or the lunch room.
Sam grabs my arm the minute I walk into the cafeteria, though, so even if she was, there wouldn’t be much I could say to her. He’s got bed-head and is looking at me with the gaze of someone who’s hanging on to their sanity by a very thin thread.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” he demands in a tone that suggests false calm. “You snuck out. You wanted me not to see you with her.”
“Whoa.” I hold up both of my hands in a sign of surrender. “You grunted and opened your eyes. I thought you were awake already.” It’s a lie, but hopefully a believable one. Lots of times I’ve said a few things, rolled over, and gone immediately back to sleep. It’s just that Sam usually kicks my bed frame again before he heads out.
He blinks a couple times, rapidly, like he’s restraining himself.
“What were you and Daneca arguing about this morning?” he asks finally.
“I said she was being a jerk,” I tell him, frowning. “That you didn’t deserve the way she was treating you.”
“Yeah?” He slouches a little. I feel like the lout that I am. He wants to believe me, I can tell. “You sure? It seemed worse. She looked really mad.”
“I guess maybe I didn’t say it in a nice way,” I say.
He sighs, but the fury has gone out of him. “You shouldn’t talk to her like that. She’s your friend too.”
“Not anymore,” I say, and shrug.
Then he looks grateful and I feel even worse, because I sound like a loyal friend who is declaring how firmly I’m on his side, when actually she’s the one who’s done with me.
“Cassel,” a girl’s voice says from just behind us. I turn to find Mina Lange looking up at me. She smiles, but she looks tired, which makes me feel suddenly protective. “Can we talk about tomorrow?”
Sam glances at her, then back at me. Then he looks up toward heaven, like that’s the only possible explanation for luck like mine with women.
I can guarantee that’s not where it comes from.
“Uh,” I say. “Sure. I’ve been considering things, and—” I’m improvising, since I honestly haven’t thought much about Mina’s problem since our last conversation. The weekend came and swept everything away with it.
“Not here,” she says, interrupting me.
I jerk my head toward the door. “Sure. We’ll go to the library. There won’t be that many people there, and we can find a quiet place in the back.”
“What’s going on?” Sam asks.
“Ah,” I say. “Sam, Mina. Mina, Sam.”
“We have a film studies class together,” Sam says. “I know who she is.”
“I’m just helping her out with something.” It occurs to me that this is a perfect opportunity to distract Sam from all things Daneca-related. “But you should come to the library with us. Be the Watson to my Sherlock, the Hawk to my Spenser, the Mouse to my Easy, the Bunter to my Wimsey.”
Sam snorts. “The fat Sancho Panza to your delusional Quixote.” Then he looks at Mina and his neck colors, as if he has realized that he just made both of us sound pretty bad.
“I really don’t think—,” Mina starts.
“Sam is completely trustworthy, if overly modest,” I say. “Anything you can tell me, you can tell him.”
She gives him a suspicious once-over. “Okay. But it’s happening tomorrow. We need to get the camera back before then or find some way to pay them or—”
“The library,” I say, reminding her.
