trust. It might make him question it too, and he’d stop sharing these details with me. “I’m glad you can talk to me about it.”
His brows softened, and he hesitated, as if deciding what exactly to say. After a moment, he rolled to his side, making himself comfortable on the lawn. “Anyway, I just wanted to warn you. Be careful tomorrow night.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said, though my tone made it clear that I didn’t believe it would be enough.
“We’ll do our best. My head’s on the line as much as yours, and you’re not exposing us, Whittaker.”
“Right.”
“And, Chloe?”
I looked to him, his tone bringing goose bumps to the nape of my neck.
“At the party tomorrow . . . don’t play the girls’ games.”
Games. It was their favorite pastime. I released a long exhale. I had already prepared myself to do what I needed to get in. And playing their games was just another challenge to gain my place.
“If only Monica had your guidance,” I said, an edge of bitterness tainting my words.
William paled, his expression now grim, and I knew I’d crossed a line. He felt guilty for what had happened to Monica Pennington.
I watched as he ran his fingertips over the grass in front of him, his thoughts far away. Why did I feel the urge to comfort him when I should only feel angry? It felt foreign to be with someone who was close to her too. Sometimes I felt like I was the only one who even remembered what Arlington was like with her here.
“Come on,” I said, standing and brushing grass from my legs.
“Where are we going?” he asked, his brows furrowing as he hastily picked up his jacket to follow me through the hedge.
“Away,” I said. I wanted to visit the place Monica and I went to when things still felt like they were normal. “Away from Arlington. At least for a few hours.”
I shook off the feeling that this was a stupid idea. I wanted to hug my best friend, to stop missing her and to just hang with her for a day. But things weren’t that simple anymore. Instead, I’d settle for anything that would bring me even a tiny bit closer to her.
But as much as I wanted to reconnect with her, I didn’t want to face another harsh reminder that Monica had left me alone to fend for myself through the hell that was Arlington. For now, William was the only person at this school I didn’t have to pretend around. And even if it was just through blackmail—even if it was just temporary—I could use that. I could use his company.
Besides, part of me wanted him to see it too. I wanted to somehow show him what things were like before everyone knew Monica as just another girl in the Level One clique.
After a dry summer, I wasn’t confident that our swimming hole was anything more than cracked mud at the bottom of the secret valley, but the rain from the other day gave me some hope. I hadn’t really thought of the place much since Monica sprained her ankle and her mom said we weren’t allowed to go anymore, but now that I’d remembered, all I wanted to do was to see it again, to be reminded it was real. That she was real.
I led William back to the parking lot, and when we were in the car I gave directions that he followed with some reluctance. Even though he didn’t even know where we were going, he humored me anyway. Though I was already breaking our pact by showing him, it felt like actually mentioning it aloud would be a betrayal to Monica.
When we finally arrived, I realized that heeled boots were not going to be ideal for hiking from the road to the water hole. I kicked them off in William’s car. Walking in only my socks over the dirt, I started clearing trees from our path, leading him into the edge of the forest.
“You’re still not telling me where we’re going?” he asked in disbelief after we’d been walking for at least ten minutes. It was muscle memory, which branches to duck beneath and which rocks to avoid. I felt twigs dig into the soles of my feet and winced.
“I don’t need to tell you. You’re about to see.”
Just as I pushed aside branches from a blooming wild milkweed, I saw the familiar landscape, the hard rock falling to a crystal pond.
I smiled. Though