Gravity - By Abigail Boyd Page 0,91

a word to me in weeks," I said, the hurt that I felt bubbling to the surface. "You were the one going on about how we were friends, and then you just ignored me like I was invisible."

"I know." He looked down again.

I quickly scanned my room to make sure I had no embarrassing personal effects sitting out. He was twisting his key ring around his thumb, the keys jingling softly. "I found out some things and...there's a lot going on in my life right now."

"Yeah, well, mine too." I was uncomfortable, thinking that it was a mistake to let him in. Not just into my room, but to let him in to my life at all. There was a moment of loaded silence.

"I pulled the fire alarm."

"What?" I asked, my eyes widening. But I had heard him fine.

He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. "I pulled the fire alarm."

I opened my mouth to speak, and shut it again. In my shock I had no words, no clever response.

"But I didn't start the fire," he said, and now he was looking at me, his eyes begging me to believe him.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. I stood up, suddenly wide awake and alert. And very aware that I could be in the room with an arsonist.

"It's such a long story, it's hard to explain. I don't even know if I know enough to explain it." He was babbling, unlike most of the time when he always seemed to know the right words. "I was being blackmailed."

I stood silent, my look conveying that he should continue.

"When we moved here, I started getting emails from an address I didn't recognize. The person presented evidence that he had something bad on my father, something that would destroy him professionally and maybe even destroy his marriage to my mother."

I sat back on my bed, legs crossed as I held my ankles for support.

"The last email that I received told me to go up to the top floor of the school, and pull the fire alarm. It didn't say why, it just gave me a time and a location. I figured they needed to clear the school for some reason, but now I'm thinking I was being set up. And I think I know who's behind it. McPherson."

"I just felt like I had to talk to someone," he continued. "And you're the closest person to me right now. I avoided you before because I didn't want to pull you into this with me. When I'm stressed out, I'm a bastard. I can't deal with anything. I told you I care about you and I meant it. That's why I had to come here tonight."

That admission made my heart swoop, at the same time that my head was reeling.

"I wasn't supposed to ask questions," he said, rubbing his face with his hands and then looking up at me. "So I tried not to."

I could tell he was sure I didn't believe him. "I swear, I'm telling you the truth. I have no reason to lie."

"Do you have any idea what the blackmail itself is?" I asked, pushing my hair back.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with his work," he said thoughtfully. "In the profession he's in, there are all kinds of situations he could get himself into. Lying for a client, stealing..."

"Is your father capable of that?" It was a hard question, but I felt that I had to ask it.

"Yes," he said without hesitation.

"What do you suggest we do about it?" I asked, my shoulders slumping as I tried to process what he told me. The surrealism of the night, having my real life crush sitting in my bedroom, unloading all of his secrets to me. A month, even a few weeks, ago I would have welcomed it. Now it felt like I was being handed a slice of an incredible burden.

"I want to check out the security office," Henry said, his mind made up. "I figure we find some way to get everyone out of the office, and then go in there and look through the files.

"And you make fun of my strange trespassing ideas," I scoffed, trying to bring a little levity to the situation. He smiled weakly, a shadow of its former glory. Everything about him seemed paler and muted, like the colors were washing out and soon he would be completely gray.

"Will you help me?" he asked, his dark eyes pleading.

"Yes," I said.

After a moment, he put his hands on