at Brendan. He pushes back to get out of the way but not fast enough. The plate lands upside-down on his lap. He stares at it with his hands raised, like he can’t figure out what to do next.
The room freezes like someone scratched a record. Other than a few gasps and captured giggles, no one moves. If they had their personal phones, I'm sure this would be trending. Just as quickly, the murmur of voices picks up and everyone has moved past the drama, like it’s yesterday’s headline.
Ashton rises and struts across the dining hall as if it’s a catwalk. I stare after her.
“What the hell did you do?” I demand.
Brendan shoots me a sideways glare. “None of your fucking business. Stay out of it.”
“You’re such an asshole!” I snarl, chucking a roll that bounces off his forehead. Lance laughs loudly, pointing at Brendan’s stunned expression. I rise and race after Ashton. But I don’t find her. Not in her room, unless she’s refusing to answer. Or anywhere in the dorm. And she’s not at Screaming Point either. She could be roaming the Court, but I may never find her there. I walk around it for as long as I can anyway until I’m forced to return to my room for curfew.
She finally answers my hundredth call as I’m approaching the dorm.
“Hey, what’s up?” she answers with a smile in her voice.
“Um, are you okay?” I ask carefully.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Her sing-song voice grates on my nerves.
“Ashton. Be real, please. What happened with Brendan? You can trust me.”
“I know,” she says, all pretenses gone. Her voice is flat. “But I can’t tell you.”
Then she hangs up. I stare at my phone, trying to decide if I should be angry or worried.
The tension between Ashton and Brendan becomes so intense, I can’t be in the same room with the two of them. That’s when they’re in the same room together. And it’s not because they argue. Hell, they don’t even look at each other. Brendan continues to be his arrogant, can’t-be-bothered self, and Ashton gets high—All. The. Time. It’s amazing she can function and has yet to get caught. Especially when it carries over to the country club. I hear about it from Grant, who’s honestly concerned for her. Even Lily says something about Ashton spiraling, and she doesn’t see her nearly as much as we do.
“Do you think you should talk to her?” Lily asks when she bumps into me in the library a few days after the food bomb.
“I’m trying,” I reply. “But she won’t respond to my texts, and whenever I see her, she’s so out of it.”
“I know,” Lily says in a hush, glancing around. “I saw her drinking in the service area of the Green yesterday. She’s not even hiding it. If she doesn’t pull herself together, the club will fire her.”
I sigh.
I seriously have no idea how to handle this situation. Ashton is my first authentically emotional friend. And I may not be saying that just right. What I mean is that Nina and Tori deal with their problems. If something’s bothering them, they let it be known—sometimes with a punch to the throat. Or a tongue-lashing so severe, the recipient is left in a fetal position, muttering to themselves. And I pretty much coped the same way.
Whatever we can’t deal with, we sort out on our own behind a suit of armor. We confide in each other, but we aren’t really … vulnerable. Things tend to get thrown and shattered. We’re not big on tears. So this is completely unknown territory for me, and I have no idea how to be a supportive friend. I’d leave her alone and let her have her space, except I can’t stand by while she self-destructs.
I notice Grant enter the library. When he sees Lily talking to me, he visibly slows and ducks down another aisle. So … everyone’s avoiding each other? The only person I can’t seem to get away from is Lance. He’s always finding me, in the Court, at the gym, and at every meal. And his enthusiasm hasn’t gone unnoticed by Sophia, the only other person who has been sitting with me in the dining hall lately. Her suspicious glances are starting to worry me.
That brings me back to Lily, standing in front of me, asking me how I’m planning to save Ashton from herself.
“I’ll keep trying to talk to her,” I tell Lily.
“Maybe you should talk to Brendan. This has to be