baiting him.
C'mon, Theo, don't get in trouble, I silently begged. What I wouldn't give for telepathy.
And I knew why Lainey had attacked me. Henry. It was because I went to the dance with Henry, who she had branded on day one as hers. Whether he agreed with that or not. There was every possibility she had started that rumor about them dating, as well.
"That's enough," McPherson growled.
"Yeah, I mean, I was hoping that Ariel and I could be friends," Lainey purred. "But it's like they won't accept me into their little club." Now she was just pushing buttons.
"Don't exaggerate," McPherson said to her. "We need to talk about a fair punishment."
"Punishment?" Lainey sputtered.
"You were fighting in class. We have a no tolerance policy for fighting. I think that three lunch detentions, for both of you, is an extremely fair and mild discipline..."
"What?" Theo asked. "What about punishing her for the fact that she broke my friend's face?"
In my lightheadedness that made me giggle again. I noticed warm wetness seeping out of my nose. More bleeding. I rushed over and grabbed some paper towels. I walked too fast and swayed on my feet, so I had to sit on the cot. Unfortunately I missed the last few minutes of the discipline meeting, and Theo and Lainey were in the hall.
They must have stopped right outside the sick bay door.
"How would you like it if Ariel's family sued the crap out of you?" Theo asked bitterly.
"I'd like to see them try," Lainey snorted, in the same tone of voice that she probably used to talk about the weather. "My father's lawyer has never lost a case, and we'd bankrupt her family with legal fees before it was over. But give her my condolences for her nose, anyway. My uncle's a plastic surgeon; I should give her his card."
"What is wrong with you? Are you even human?" Theo asked incredulously, speaking my feelings out loud.
Lainey dropped her voice low. "Maybe she shouldn't have gone after what was mine."
I heard hear footsteps going down the hall. When I was sure she was gone, I cracked the door open. Theo was still standing in the hall, frozen, the detention slip in her hand.
"Well, didn't that just suck?" I said. Theo turned unfocused eyes to me. Without a word she came over and hugged me tightly. She pulled back and studied my face, wincing. Okay, maybe it was a little bad.
Pink glitter was smudged all over her cheeks and forehead, and her eyes were bright red from crying.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"For what?" I asked.
"That all of this happened."
"Uh, it's not your fault," I said, leaning against the door.
"Are you okay? It looks terrible." She tilted her head to inspect my wound from a different angle.
"Well, it hurts, yeah."
"It made a really nasty sound when you hit the floor," she said, shaking her head. "That was really twisted."
"That's Lainey for you."
"He didn't even punish her for hitting you," Theo said, jerking her thumb in the direction of McPherson's office. "He said it was an unfortunate accident. He just gave us detention for fighting."
"I heard," I sighed. "We just can't win."
"Because everyone puts up with it," Theo reasoned. Her anger was coming back. I could tell she had quite the temper buried beneath the colorful cuteness.
"Can I remind you not to piss Lainey off?" I said gently. "Remember, more money, more connections, way more power than we lowly worker ants?"
She pounded her fist against the wall. "That's the same crap she pulled when she sprained my ankle."
"What?" I asked, frowning.
"She knocked me down at the mall, and my ankle got twisted." Her eyes flickered to one of the many pictures of missing girls that were in the hallway. "And I wasn't going to say this, but...I'm pretty sure that she was there, too. I recognized her when the posters went up."
I glanced at the picture. She was talking about Jenna.
"But that was back in May, so I didn't think it was important," she continued.
A bell rang, the perfect excuse for her to bolt.
"I've got to go," Theo said, scampering away before I had a chance to digest what she was saying.
"Theo?" I called, but she just ignored me.
Chapter 18
"Your dad is here," Nurse Callie said, appearing behind me from the door to the Nurse's station. "You were supposed to be lying down."
"I thought that I was going to throw up," I lied. "Walking around helped."
I followed her to the front office. Hugh was standing in his tweed coat,