Dixon grins like he couldn’t be prouder of himself. Byron has the decency to seem surprised, saving face in front of the other staff members, of course. Breaker is whispering something to Delaney, forcing her close as she tries to push him away.
“Of course, I was. Reed was an entitled bitch. Whoever killed her did us all a favor.”
The microphone slips from my hand and hits the wood planks on the stage. It cackles and pops from the impact. I hustle down the steps and come face-to-face with the boys. Marek keeps his head down, unlike the others, and Dixon hands me my purse.
Byron steps in front of me, blocking my exit. His hands clasp my biceps, keeping me from leaving. “It should have been you. Not her.”
I finally break away from his grasp and walk up the aisle to storm out of the auditorium. My classmates offer me a slow clap for a performance that wasn’t truly mine. A few spew obscenities at me as I pass. I’d agree with their nasty names if it had actually been me on the recording and not some twisted prank.
Out on the front lawn, I lift my head towards the sky, praying to be struck down by lightning in the middle of a sunny day. The odds are stacked against me, much like they are to survive this.
“Palmer Weston.” My mother’s voice breaks me free from the fog that’s overtaken my thoughts. “Get over here right now. You have some explaining to do.”
I see her and my father crossing the path to me. Not once did they tell me they would be at the ceremony today. They’re both alumni, meeting each other freshman year and living out some rich kid fantasy of marrying your high school sweetheart.
“Mom, that wasn’t me,” I explain, holding up my hands, begging them to understand.
She reaches up and connects her flat palm across my cheek. “You are a disgrace. You want to know why your sister was so beloved? It was because she was smart and beautiful and everything you will never be.” Her hand raises again to punish my face for what she believes I’ve done wrong.
My father grips her wrist, stopping her assault. “Karen, let’s go. It’s not worth it.”
What he means is I’m not worth it.
Hand in hand, they walk away from me. Abandoned and in shock, I punch the closest thing I can. My knuckles split and bleed on the brick sign.
Doors slam behind me, and I turn to find a sea of angry glares directed at me. Marek leads the pack, with Byron, Dixon, and Breaker flanking him. They have a new darkness in their eyes, more so than before. Perhaps I haven’t wanted to see it. Maybe Reed’s memory has blinded me, making it so I’m only willing to accept what she’d told me about them.
The corner of Marek’s lips lifts as he turns away from me, proving what I already know.
Near the corner of the building, Julia Webb is arguing about something with Declan Dumas. When she tries to leave, his hand wraps around her bicep, pulling her in close. She winces under his strength. What could Declan have to do with a fourteen-year-old girl? They disappear into the building, forcing my attention to the crowd outside.
Every glare they believe I’ve earned. Without question, my classmates believe what they heard instead of being willing to look through to the truth.
I’ve been made the criminal by the real villains.
But why? Everything that has happened between Marek and me has seemed genuine, and although a little fucking twisted, there’s no way it can all have been a lie.
“What the hell was that?” Delaney finally catches up to me as I’m pushing my pin number into the dorm keypad for the third time. My room is the only place I want to be right now, and of course, access is denied.
The sun glints off the shiny black paint on Breaker’s Escalade. From the passenger seat, Dixon winks, then rolls up the window, disappearing behind the tinted glass.
“God dammit!” I shout, gesturing for Delaney to try her code.
They are responsible for this. All of it. The pulling me into their vortex. The making me feel safe among the monsters. The baffling false recording. Now, my safe haven. Locking me out of my dorm is their way of showing me they’ve got my number.
They know how to make me weak.
I run the steps two at a time and slam my door once Delaney and I