isn’t my plan, so I’m doing my best just to stay the hell out of it.”
Alistair turned in the other direction and began walking, his hand still pressed tightly against his cheek. As I watched him go, I saw a piece of notebook paper flutter to the ground.
For a moment I held my breath, sure he’d notice that he’d dropped it, but he kept walking. The second he rounded the corner, I snatched up the piece of paper. I figured with my luck it would be something stupid, like his Latin homework, but I was wrong.
The piece of notebook paper had clearly been ripped from a journal of some sort. There were cutouts of beautiful girls in bathing suits and words pasted across their faces.
Too young to die, too old to live.
Gone. Gone. Gone.
Tick tock, time’s out.
I examined the girls in the pictures, trying to see if any of them looked like Bethany or even Taylor. Maybe this was some kind of hit list the Brotherhood had created? But these girls just looked like a bunch of models randomly snipped from magazines. I carefully folded the paper and slipped it into the pocket of my uniform skirt. And just as I was about to push into the girls’ bathroom to check on Taylor, I caught a flash of plaid at the end of the hallway, light spilling in from the huge bay window behind the girl. But there was no mistaking her.
She was taller than Grace, and while their hair color was the same, it hung differently down her back. For a split second, I lost my place. I felt like months had been ripped away from me, that I was back at square one. But this flash of a girl was new. I’d only caught a glimpse, but there was no mistaking her thick hair, her height, her swagger.
It was Bethany.
Chapter 15
The bell rang and kids poured into the hallway, a sea of plaid and khaki. I pushed through, showered with nasty looks and sarcastic laughs. I screamed her name, forcing my legs into action as I turned the corner after her. “Bethany, wait!”
But when I made it to the bay window, the hall was almost clear of students who’d already found their way into classrooms and she was gone.
I collapsed onto the window’s wooden ledge and let myself slip back into that place where I’d seen Grace so many times before, the darker place where nothing seemed to matter. Dr. P., my parents, Liam, Seth, so many people counted on me to stay normal. I had promised all of them at one point or another that I’d stay away from the Sisterhood and the Brotherhood, that I’d ignore the ghosts or the hallucinations, whatever you wanted to call the things I saw that weren’t really there.
But when I thought of leaving it all behind, ignoring Taylor, forgetting the picture of Bethany and her trashed house, my throat burned. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the paper again, wondering what it all meant. I could help Taylor find Bethany. I could be there for her so she wouldn’t have to go through the most terrifying, lonely, heartbreaking moment of her life alone.
Or I could walk away.
My stomach knotted when I noticed the time. Doors were clicking shut, teachers launching into lectures. I was headed into demerit territory. I slid down from the window seat and considered going back for Taylor. But based on her dealings with McAdams, Taylor wasn’t quite as prone to demerits. I didn’t have that same luxury. And then I heard my name called from down the hall.
For a split second I thought it was Bethany and my entire body clenched, the slip of paper floating to the ground. But it was just Maddie, rushing down the hall toward me, her uniform still hanging off her thin form despite her having put on some weight. I held Grace’s pearls and bent to retrieve the paper just as Maddie made it to my side.
“Someone said they saw you out here. Richardson’s about to write a demerit, but I told her you needed help. What’s going on?” Maddie was out of breath as though her trip down the hall had taken everything out of her.
I tried to discreetly fold the
Alistair turned in the other direction and began walking, his hand still pressed tightly against his cheek. As I watched him go, I saw a piece of notebook paper flutter to the ground.
For a moment I held my breath, sure he’d notice that he’d dropped it, but he kept walking. The second he rounded the corner, I snatched up the piece of paper. I figured with my luck it would be something stupid, like his Latin homework, but I was wrong.
The piece of notebook paper had clearly been ripped from a journal of some sort. There were cutouts of beautiful girls in bathing suits and words pasted across their faces.
Too young to die, too old to live.
Gone. Gone. Gone.
Tick tock, time’s out.
I examined the girls in the pictures, trying to see if any of them looked like Bethany or even Taylor. Maybe this was some kind of hit list the Brotherhood had created? But these girls just looked like a bunch of models randomly snipped from magazines. I carefully folded the paper and slipped it into the pocket of my uniform skirt. And just as I was about to push into the girls’ bathroom to check on Taylor, I caught a flash of plaid at the end of the hallway, light spilling in from the huge bay window behind the girl. But there was no mistaking her.
She was taller than Grace, and while their hair color was the same, it hung differently down her back. For a split second, I lost my place. I felt like months had been ripped away from me, that I was back at square one. But this flash of a girl was new. I’d only caught a glimpse, but there was no mistaking her thick hair, her height, her swagger.
It was Bethany.
Chapter 15
The bell rang and kids poured into the hallway, a sea of plaid and khaki. I pushed through, showered with nasty looks and sarcastic laughs. I screamed her name, forcing my legs into action as I turned the corner after her. “Bethany, wait!”
But when I made it to the bay window, the hall was almost clear of students who’d already found their way into classrooms and she was gone.
I collapsed onto the window’s wooden ledge and let myself slip back into that place where I’d seen Grace so many times before, the darker place where nothing seemed to matter. Dr. P., my parents, Liam, Seth, so many people counted on me to stay normal. I had promised all of them at one point or another that I’d stay away from the Sisterhood and the Brotherhood, that I’d ignore the ghosts or the hallucinations, whatever you wanted to call the things I saw that weren’t really there.
But when I thought of leaving it all behind, ignoring Taylor, forgetting the picture of Bethany and her trashed house, my throat burned. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the paper again, wondering what it all meant. I could help Taylor find Bethany. I could be there for her so she wouldn’t have to go through the most terrifying, lonely, heartbreaking moment of her life alone.
Or I could walk away.
My stomach knotted when I noticed the time. Doors were clicking shut, teachers launching into lectures. I was headed into demerit territory. I slid down from the window seat and considered going back for Taylor. But based on her dealings with McAdams, Taylor wasn’t quite as prone to demerits. I didn’t have that same luxury. And then I heard my name called from down the hall.
For a split second I thought it was Bethany and my entire body clenched, the slip of paper floating to the ground. But it was just Maddie, rushing down the hall toward me, her uniform still hanging off her thin form despite her having put on some weight. I held Grace’s pearls and bent to retrieve the paper just as Maddie made it to my side.
“Someone said they saw you out here. Richardson’s about to write a demerit, but I told her you needed help. What’s going on?” Maddie was out of breath as though her trip down the hall had taken everything out of her.
I tried to discreetly fold the
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