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“Okay.” I gestured to the hallway corner. “Back to the act?”
He nodded and followed me back to my locker.
“I think it’s fine,” I said loudly as I retrieved my phone along with my textbooks. “There’s a few typos in the second and third paragraphs, and the conclusion could be a little more polished. But apart from that, it’s good.”
“Cool. Thanks.” Jensen smiled and gently stroked my free hand. “I better get to class.”
He headed to his English class, and I headed to Economics. Halfway through the session, the burner phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. Jensen had just messaged me. Sorry, I forgot to ask earlier. How are you feeling?
Sick and sore, I wrote back.
My Econ teacher glared at me from the front of the room as he watched me tapping away at the phone screen, but he didn’t confiscate it. After my hospital stay, Zara and Ali had ensured that I had special permission from the school to have my phone on me at all times, and there was no way any of my teachers could tell the difference between the burner phone and my usual phone.
That sucks. I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better, Jensen replied.
It’s okay. just talking to you makes me feel a bit better, I said.
I stashed the phone back in my pocket. The teacher was still giving me dirty looks. It occurred to me that he probably wasn’t even angry about the phone. He was probably just annoyed at me because of my reputation. After the smear campaign the Prescotts had started against me, he and the other staffers at school probably viewed me as ‘that annoying trashy kid who’s totally wrecking our school’s stellar reputation’.
With a sigh, I put my head down and did the required reading for the class. I did the same in my next few classes, keeping to myself and staying quiet.
When the bell finally rang, I headed to my locker to put my books away. After I closed it, I spotted a familiar face out of the corner of my eye.
“Addy!” I called out, waving a hand. She looked just as bad as Jensen described earlier, sporting a huge black eye with one arm in a cast and sling.
When she heard me, she sped up, making a beeline for the end of the hall. I broke into a sprint to catch up with her. “Hey, are you heading to the Mill?” I asked, gently touching a hand to her uninjured arm.
She whirled around, eyes flashing. “Oh my god, Amerie! I told you, I don’t want to be friends with you!” she shouted. “Stop stalking me!”
With that, she hurried away. I stayed rooted to the spot, crestfallen. Maybe Jensen was wrong. Maybe Addy really didn’t like me.
“Ooh, burn,” a brunette girl murmured to her friend a few feet away. “Even the school weirdo doesn’t want to hang out with the junkie.”
I lifted my chin and glared at her. “Shut the fuck up.”
The girl sneered at me, but her expression quickly morphed into fear, and she scurried away with her friend. I turned to see Jensen standing behind me. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Not really.” I let out a heavy sigh, shoulders sagging. “Addy just yelled at me in front of everyone.”
He quickly wrote another message to me on his Notes app. She’s probably worried people are watching her. Same as you.
Out loud, he said, “Let’s go to the Mill and talk to her there. I’m sure you two can sort out your issues.”
We headed to the school newspaper office. Addy was at her desk, frowning at something on her computer screen. When she saw us, she stood and lifted a hand. “You two don’t need to be here today,” she said. “I don’t have any work for you to do right now.”
Jensen held up his phone. He’d written another note on the screen. We need to talk. It’s about the Rosmerta Society.
Addy’s eyes widened, and she emphatically shook her head, one hand gesturing to her phone.
My heart rate instantly doubled. Jensen was right. Addy was worried someone was listening to all of her conversations via a spy bug, just like me.
She cleared her throat. “Look, Amerie, I’m sorry for all the bullying, okay? It was childish. I should’ve just been honest with you from the start about not liking you,” she said loudly. “But seeing as we both work here at the paper, let’s agree to be civil with one another.”
I nodded. “Sounds good.”
Addy pointed to her phone again. Then she pointed to me and Jensen in turn and flicked her hand, motioning for us to leave our phones on her desk. “Speaking of the paper,” she said. “I actually need someone to help me with the storage cupboard. It’s filled with back issues and other random stuff, and I’ve been meaning to rearrange it all for a while. Seeing as you’re here, could you help me out with that?”
“Sure.”
