dry leaves and toss them at him, sending them fluttering through the air like brown snowflakes.
“You’re a serious toilet-paper-wad, you know that?”
He throws his head back and laughs at me, like that’s the dumbest thing he’s ever heard in his life.
“Ow, burn, Chuck, burn.” Tobias winks at me and then gestures with his chin toward the door. “Let’s blow this joint before the murderer shows up, okay? I can’t die until I’ve beaten Micah’s ass during drag racing. Fucker always wins.”
“Against you?!” I ask as I follow him out into the cooling evening air. “And you let me race him anyway?” Tobias just laughs and keeps walking as I jog to keep up with those long legs of his. Somewhere just off the path, one of those stupid owls hoots.
And somewhere out there … there’s the mystery of Jenica’s death, just waiting to be solved.
On Thursday, Church sends out a group text cancelling the Culinary Club meeting. I'm surprised to find that I'm actually a little disappointed. For a while, I try to entertain myself in my room, but I just feel cooped-up and anxious after everything the twins told me.
Fuck. This secret at Adamson Academy is likely to get me killed.
“I give up,” I murmur, texting Dad to make sure he's home. If he is, I'm going to go up there and tell him about the notes, and the shadowy figure on Halloween night. Even if he locks me in the house for the rest of my high school career, fine. It's better than ending up hanging from a noose in the forest.
But of course Dad texts me that he's at a meeting, so I head downstairs and follow a group of boys back to the main building. That way, I'm not alone on the paths, but I have a clear, safe shot to the kitchen. I have a key, so even though the door is locked, and the cover pulled down on the window, I let myself in.
I don't expect to see Ranger Woodruff wearing a pink and white checkered apron with lace and frills … and nothing else. Like, I walk into the room, and I see his perfect ass right there in plain view.
He spins around with a spatula in hand, his sapphire eyes widening in shock.
“Get the fuck out of here!” he roars, but the door is already swinging shut behind me. My back presses against it, and I slap a hand over my mouth to stifle the squeal of laughter that wants to come out. “I swear to god, Chuck Carson, if you don't turn and leave this room—”
But it's already occurred to me that I might have a way to end my bullying once and for all. Well, at least from Ranger anyway. Church and Spencer are entirely different stories. And the twins … I'm not really sure what to think about the twins.
“Why are you naked?” I choke out, whipping my phone from my pocket and using burst shot to take about a million pictures all at once. Ranger drops his spatula and comes at me. He's so fast that I can barely turn around before he's grabbing me around the waist and hauling me back. “It's already uploading to the cloud!” I shout as he tries to grab my phone. “It's too late. You can't take those pictures away from me unless you sign into my account.”
“You'll sign into the account for me and take care of it,” he snarls, his body pressed awfully close against mine. “Or I'll shove your fucking head down the clogged toilet in the bathroom down the hall, and see how long you can choke on shit before you give in.”
I slam my foot down on Ranger's instep, and he snarls in pain. His grip, however, doesn't lessen. Not at all. In fact, all that move does is make him squeeze me harder.
He leans forward, and a necklace falls over his shoulder, swinging in front of me enticingly. It's a silver key with one end in the shape of a heart. I reach up and snatch it, breaking the chain and then tossing it as hard as I can toward the wall above the sink. It bounces off and pings right down the drain.
“Fucking hell!” Ranger snaps, releasing me and letting me fall to my knees on the floor. He rushes over and sticks his hand down the drain, cursing, and then kicking the door panel with his big, black combat boot. “If I lose this