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Heather bumps my arm, and I snap out of my trance.
“Please, Ms. Hart, don’t let us keep you.” The professor points at my bag, and the sound registers.
My phone is ringing. I forgot to silence it.
“Please answer the phone.” Her tone is harsh.
This isn’t good.
The semester has only just started, and my professor already hates me. She made a speech on the first day of class, warning us to silence our phones or live to regret it.
Now I understand precisely what she meant by that.
That’s the problem with taking a class in your major. The classes are smaller, so the professors know you.
Especially here at Ludlow, a small, private college. Everyone in the department knows me.
The phone keeps ringing, and I have to hit the little button. I don’t want to, but I also know I have no choice.
“On speaker. So everyone can hear who so rudely interrupted my lecture.”
I pull it out and instantly cringe when I see the word Erin on the screen. This is going to be bad. There is no telling what she will say.
“Answer it.”
So, I do.
I press the button.
The sound of my heartbeat drums in my ears.
Then I hear the familiar sound of Erin sniffling, and I want to melt into the chair.
Erin is about to go on a crazy, dramatic rant for my class to hear.
I look up at the professor, imploring her not to make me do this, trying desperately to convey that I’ve learned my lesson.
But she only smiles at me. One that says I sealed my own fate.
I don’t interrupt my sister.
Instead, I wait for her.
But the words she says are not what I expect.
And as she says them . . .
My hand opens. My fingers slip. And the phone crashes to the floor.
“Ronald is dead.”
Chapter
Two
PAYTON
I can’t believe Ronald is dead. After finally learning what happened to him, the sense of relief I thought I would get isn’t there. It hurts.
