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Elias grabbed her arm and hauled her to standing. “Can you make yourself throw up?” he asked. He started half pushing, half carrying her through the maze of desks.
“Why, what’s wrong?” she said, struggling in his arms.
“Whatever Eden took, it’s in her water,”
Three
Elias hurried her to the bathroom.
“Oh shit,” Bianca whispered.
“Yeah,” Elias agreed. He pushed open the women’s room and came in with her, bringing her to the sink. “How much did you drink?”
“I don’t—like a gulp? I was really thirsty.”
“Whatever you drank is probably already making its way into your system now.”
“So, what do I do?”
“Stick your fingers down your throat,” he said, indicating the sink.
She thought about it and balked. “I never got the hang of bulimia in high school,” she said. She stuck her fingers down her throat anyway, trying to make herself throw up. It just made her cough. She tried again. Nothing.
“It’s okay,” he said, smoothing back some stray tendrils of her hair. “Wiggle your fingers around,” he said.
“I’m trying!” she said around her hand. She gave up and took her hand out. “I’ve never been able to do this. I just don’t have much of a gag reflex.”
He raised his eyebrows and gave her a weak smile.
“Ha-ha,” she replied dryly, thinking he was cute. Then the fear hit her. “Am I going to pass out like Eden did? What if the drugs were laced with poison or something?”
Eden’s head was suddenly way too hot. She pulled off the platinum blonde wig and her straight black hair came down around her shoulder. She grabbed her hair with one hand, bent over the sink again, and shoved more fingers down her throat. She did get herself to gag but nothing came out. She felt Elias’s hand on her back, soothing her.
He turned on the tap for her. Bianca washed her hands, trying not to panic.
“There’s gotta be someone here who can help,” he said, already leading her out of the bathroom and back toward Roberts’ desk.
“I’m kind of freaking out,” she said, keeping her voice down so she didn’t start screaming.
“You’re gonna be okay,” he said, sounding completely calm. He plunked her down in the chair next to Roberts’ desk. “Wait here. I’m gonna ask around. Discreetly.” Bianca nodded, staring up at him with wide eyes, trying not to think about OD-ing. “I’ll be right back,” he said, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly, and then he left.
Bianca felt hot and her skin felt different. She could sense the individual hairs on her arms lifting, and the pulsing of the overhead lighting coming down on her in waves. Everything was too loud all of a sudden. Too loud, too close, and too hot.
She felt a burst of energy hum down her legs and she stood up. She needed to get out of the room. There was too much color in the light and too much sound in her skin. Her heart was racing. She headed for the door, and that was worse because everyone was at or around the door. She covered her ears and ducked her head, just trying to get out from under the sound that was pushing her down and sending her away.
When she finally burst through the double doors and made it out into the cool night she filled her lungs with bright air, full of moonlight. Her legs were still humming so she started to run. It felt so much better to move. She didn’t know why her heart was racing like it was but she vaguely remembered a beautiful man saying something about being right back. Elias! She had to go find him.
Of course, she had no idea where he went because she had no idea who he was or where he’d come from, but shewantedto know all of those things. She wanted to know him. There was a big hill and she went over it, thinking maybe he would be on the other side. Her skin felt so awake, and she kept taking big lungfuls of air like she couldn’t get enough of how good it felt to breathe. She saw a river. And she remembered something about a boat on a river at a party.
Maybe Elias was wherever that boat would take her? She went down to the little river and got in the boat, threw the rope overboard, and let the current take her.
“Bianca!” someone yelled. Or was it the trees yelling?
“Who’s there?” she yelled back, curious. Suddenly, a beautiful man burst through the tree line. He was running along the riverbank. “Elias!” she called joyfully. “You came!”
“Bianca, listen to me. Grab the paddle.”
She looked around at the bottom of the boat until she found the paddle. She lifted it up and showed it to him.
