Empire High Betrayal (Empire High #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,25

to resolve myself. I needed to talk to Miller. And Felix. I pulled out my phone. It would be easy to send either of them a text. But that seemed harsh. I owed them each an explanation for why I couldn’t be with them.

As I stared at my phone, the only person I really wanted to talk to was Kennedy. My dad had said I should let her rest. But I’d let her rest all day. I needed to hear her voice for myself. Just to make sure she was okay. Maybe she’d have some advice for me too. I clicked on her name in my phone.

And waited.

And waited.

I opened the lid of the box of condoms in Matt’s nightstand. It looked like there were only a few missing. That was a good sign. I knew he’d been with other girls. But there was something nice about knowing that maybe it wasn’t that high of a number.

The phone kept ringing.

I closed the lid and sat down on the edge of the bed. Just when I thought it would go to voicemail I got a groggy, “Hello?”.

“Kennedy! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Her voice sounded so small. Just like it had after she’d told me about what Cupcake had done to her. The realization hit me hard. Cupcake had drugged her. Getting drugged by Isabella was probably bringing all those feelings back. I imagined her curled up on a ball in her bed, her knees tucked into her chest. It killed me to see her like that last time. And it was my fault she was like that now. I didn’t want her to disappear on me again. She was the brave one. Not me.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I never meant to drag you into…”

“Stop,” she said with a small laugh. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was Isabella. God, I feel like such an idiot. I barely remember last night. But I remember drinking with her. I remember for just a minute it seemed like she was actually my friend. I feel so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” I said. “Isabella is really good at convincing people of things.” She had convinced me to get into that damn limo. And for a few seconds there, she had convinced me I was trash. She’d even tried to convince me I didn’t belong in this world. But I did belong. And I wasn’t going anywhere. “I wish I was there to hug you.”

“Me too.” She sniffed. “Are you okay?” she asked.

I blinked fast, forcing my own tears not to fall. I needed to be strong for her. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“That didn’t sound convincing at all. What exactly happened last night? The last thing I remember was dancing.”

I filled her in on every detail. All of it. Rachel, James, Dr. Wilson, every single thing that happened last night. I was already feeling lighter once I got it off my chest.

“I believe most of what you said. But there’s no way I rawred at Robert Hunter.”

“Oh that part was absolutely true.”

She laughed for real this time. “How am I ever supposed to go back to school after that?”

“Try going back to school after running around outside homecoming in just your underwear.”

She laughed again. “Yeah, that would be worse. God, I can’t believe I slept through all that. And I can’t believe you saw James’…you know.”

I laughed. I wanted to say that I hadn’t really. That I’d put my hand out to block the scene. But I had seen it. I had stood there like a frozen pervert. I’d never live it down. “I wish I had just been sleeping last night,” I said.

“Oh I much prefer your adventure. How do you always end up with an Untouchable erotically bathing you?”

I laughed. I’d forgotten that she’d referred to Matt’s washing my hand as erotically bathing. “It wasn’t erotic. He’s my friend.”

“Mhm. A friend who showers with you? Kisses you? Takes care of you when you’re hurt? He sounds like a knight in shining armor. And it sounds like he’s the opposite of Cupcake down there. Or else you would have said otherwise.”

I laughed. James definitely didn’t have a mini dong, or however Kennedy liked to put it. And it was true, I liked James. But he wasn’t my knight in shining armor. I needed to fill Kennedy in on what happened after last night. “I’m back together with Matt.”

“Really? How did that happen? The last thing you said about him was that he was drunk. What about