Duality: Vol 1, Melancholia (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) by Elle Casey Page A

it.”
    Someone banged the door shut next to me.  My face burned with the fear of being discovered.  I slowly lowered my feet to the floor and sat on the seat.  I was afraid to take off while the guy was still in there, sure he’d see me and know I’d heard everything.
    “You see that new chick?  Rae?” said a different voice.
    “Yeah, I saw her,” said the guy who’d been talking to Holder.  It was killing me that no one was saying his name, and he was still over by the urinals nowhere near my door.  There was no way I could see who he is unless I stood on the toilet.
    The voices were moving towards the exit.  The person in the stall next to me started grunting.
    Someone shouted out some encouragement.  “Just relax, man.  Let it flow.”
    “Fuck you,” said the guy in the stall.  He was very unhappy.
    The main door opened and the sounds of the hallway came into the bathroom again.  I waited until they went silent and the room emptied of all sounds except the ones of pain coming from the stall next to me, before moving from my hiding spot.
    “Jesus, God, remind me never to eat the burritos from the cafeteria again,” said the guy next to me.
    I pushed out of the stall and walked quickly to the door.
    “Hey!  Who’s in here?”
    I ignored the guy and went out into the hallway, looking left and right, trying to figure out who’d been talking about getting a girl alone and also who’d been talking about Rae.
    There was no way for me to know, though; it could have been anyone.  There were groups of guys all over the place, and none of them looked guilty of anything more serious than checking out girls’ asses as they walked by wearing short skirts.
    I gave up on my hunt and turned right, following the hall that would lead me to the detention room, totally lost in thought.  Who are they trying to get alone?  And what are they going to do when they get her there?  Whoever it is, she has detention and I’m going to see her in a matter of minutes.  I wonder if I should bother saying anything to anyone.
    I laughed bitterly at the idea of telling someone in the Main Office what I knew.  I hadn’t exactly set myself up as a credible source of anything at this school, the way I was always disappearing into the bathrooms and running out of class.  They’d probably send me to another psychologist or something if I announced there was a grand conspiracy to attack a girl being put together by a teacher and student in the bathrooms during class.  That the teacher was Mr. Holder, one of the chemistry teachers, was pretty clear - at least from what the student had said about his detention.  But who was the student?
    I decided my best plan was to just keep my eyes and ears open.  If I saw anything bad happening, I’d tell someone.  Otherwise, I was just going to mind my own business and hope it was my overactive imagination turning a totally innocent thing into something sinister.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Twelve: Rae
     
    I WAS PUTTING AWAY THE paint set and water can when the bell rang.  Quickly rinsing out the container and brushes, I stacked them up next to the sink with all the others and went back to my desk to retrieve my picture.  We were supposed to hang them up to dry on lines the teacher had set up along the sides of the classroom.  Each of us had assigned spaces on the line, and they went in order of our table layouts around the room.
    Malcolm’s picture was still sitting on the desk.  I grabbed it along with mine and hung it next to our table in a hurry.  I had to get outside soon or Jasmine would probably leave without me.  Most of the class was already gone.
    I clipped his painting up first and then mine.  As I was stepping back to pick up my backpack, I sensed someone behind me.
    I turned around and found the teacher there.  He wasn’t preoccupied or grouchy anymore; he was smiling brightly.  I caught a glimpse of the last student leaving the