it,” I press. “I just need to ask you a few questions and I’ll leave you alone.”
“You’re crazy for coming out here,” she whispers hotly.
Yeah well, she isn’t saying anything I’m not aware of myself. The fact that I’m here, wanting to find out more about the rivalry between the Matthews and the Fitz brothers, is stupid. I should be trying to find out more about my father and Nicky, but instead, here I am.
“Why?” I ask. “Why do you say that?”
I hold her stare for a few seconds, then in one fell swoop, the door opens wider, then she pulls me in and shuts the door so fast I’m still stunned at her quick reflexes.
“What the hell were you thinking coming here? You do know you have something like a bounty on your head?”
That turns my stomach, as my mind flashes back to the night at the Devil’s Track when Julian’s car blew up. If Liam hadn’t jumped out… a shudder rolls down my spine.
“A bounty on my head?”
“You know what I’m talking about,” she says, staring at me with a frown on her face. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Are you all right?”
She runs past me with a hand over her mouth, and dashes toward the bathroom off the hallway and then she starts throwing up.
Feeling sorry for her, I drop my bag in the hallway and go after her. I find her kneeling in front of the toilet, puking her guts out, so I just stand behind her and hold her hair back, rubbing her back.
We’re silent when she’s done.
I go to grab her a glass of cold water and she accepts it without looking at me, her eyes shifting from left to right.
I lean back on the door frame, watching her pale reflection in the mirror as I wait for her to speak.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she starts, her voice groggy.
“I’m not thinking of anything at all.”
“You were never a very good liar.”
“I’ve had a bit of practice since we last had an actual, meaningful heart to heart,” I mutter and she scoffs.
“A heart to heart? With the Ice Queen of Clintwood Academy?” She scoffs again.
“I don’t care what you want to call it. You haven’t been honest with me either in the past few years so, yeah. I’d say we are the same.”
But unlike her, I’d never set her up to take the fall for an attempted murder! Jesus.
“Oh yeah? What do you want, Mia, huh?”
“I want you to tell me the truth.”
She eyes me through the mirror, and I notice something in her vacant expression that raises the hairs at the back of my neck. That look is so familiar, I feel like I just saw it on my face.
Fear.
Pure, unadulterated fear
“Kristine,” I start, taking a step closer to her. “Are you all right?”
She looks away, her shoulders shaking.
“Please don’t pretend like you care,” she whispers. “You’ve never cared about me.”
“Is that what you think?” I question, a frown on my face.
“What else is there for me to think, Mia?” she fires back, turning around now to look at me. “You’ve always had everything together. Mia Montague, always well dressed with a perfect smile on your face, clever retorts and clap backs on your tongue that everyone adores. Good Lord nothing and no one can touch you. All iced up and fearless, why would I think that you care about little ole me?”
I’m silent as I look at the girl I’ve called my best friend for so long, I have no idea where we had this falling out that has led us to this. Even after all the warnings from Rye and Jaz about Kristine’s shitty character, I have no idea why I’ve remained friends with her.
Is it because I didn’t have it in me to make any other friends or is it that I wanted to keep my enemies even closer than friends? If that’s so, look where that got me.
“Is that why you did it then?” I question silently. “You were jealous of my perfect ice mask and how I carried myself, so you helped them destroy me?”
She doesn’t bother acting confused. She knows exactly what I’m talking about.
“Yeah, maybe I was jealous,” she starts, her voice hard. “Or maybe I felt like you abandoned me, but all the decisions I’ve made in my life are my own.”
“So, in other words, you signed away my life to those bastards because you hate me, huh?”
“Yes!” she shouts, tears now streaming down