---

In the Last Chapter…

Jason beats Adam up, and doesn’t stop until Adam kicks him between the legs in self-defense. The two boys get taken to the principal’s office, where an angry Mr. Scott informs them that suspension is the best-case scenario. Thanks to a tip from Zelda, Mr. Salvador saves the day, advocating for Adam, even though Nicole tries to help in her own way. Adam isn’t even suspended, and talks to Mr. Scott at lunchtime, and even asks for Scott’s advice on what to do with Nicole. Scott gives him advice but the reader doesn’t find out what it is. Adam’s friends at lunch are supportive when they find out everything, including Athena and Adam’s sexual history. Nicole has to take the bus thanks to her crashed car and feels powerless after her talk with Mr. Scott, so Adam cheers her up and the two of them hang out and have sex. Afterwards, Nicole offers to play GTA with him and Adam marvels at how nice their relationship to each other truly is.

---

“You know, I’ve been in this game for a lot of years, and I got out alive. That makes me the right age,” Michael de Santa’s voice rang from Nicole’s television. 

“Yeah, I know how you feel,” Nicole replied dryly, the controller in her hand. Her legs were draped over mine, with me sitting up on her bed, and her lying across me, facing the TV. “You sure you don’t want a turn?” she asked, holding the controller towards me.

“Nah, I like watching you play,” I told her gently, rubbing her legs sympathetically. 

“Okay,” Nicole replied, not unhappy to get to keep playing. It was cute.

“…Then you can rip people off and get paid for it,” Michael’s voice continued. “It’s called capitalism.”

“Ugggh…” Nicole groaned.

“Three, two, one…” I joked, knowing she was headed for a rant.

I was spot-on. “You know, at least GTA four had the sense to make their critique of corporate America a bit more subtle, which is insane to say about a GTA game, but here we are. Plus, capitalism was idealized through this idea of labor creating value to escape the rentier-based economy, not reinforce it. Not a single one of those fucking writers have ever read The Wealth of Nations, Adam. Not a single fucking one.”

I grinned, looking at her. “Are you done?”

“No,” she replied brattily, still fired up yet smiling at me. “I bet you anything that this is just going to get more common with time. We’re going to get kids going ‘fuck capitalism’ and they don’t even fucking know what it is. You really think we’re living in a system where labor is given value and landlords have been cast aside? Or wait, do you think capitalism invites landlords? Maybe people are just going to think that capitalism is corporate America – as if a single fucking free market non-state-capitalist country has ever existed – all because you’re too dumb to notice we live in a reskinned mercantilist dystopia? Ugh!” She paused. “Okay, now I’m done.” She chuckled. “Did you even take in a word I just said?”

“Like, I didn’t understand it, but if you care about it, I’m listening and I’m trying to follow along,” I told her with a chuckle.

She chuckled again and turned back to the TV, shaking her head. “You’re the only guy that puts up with me,” she told me with a flat, dead voice. “The fuck was I thinking breaking up with you? I should be fucking marrying you.”

I laughed. “That would end so badly for both of us.”

“Yeah, well, y’know.” There were no bad feelings as the both of us let that topic float away into the air. It was odd, being able to make lighthearted banter about not being in a relationship anymore, even though I felt like she was so much more than a friend. It was like we transcended relationships or something. We lived through it, and man did we ever get our hearts broken through it, but… was it really that bad to have these kinds of feelings for each other and not top it off by saying, “we’re a couple again”?

Plus, it was nice to feel like I could pursue anyone I wanted… well, almost anyone. I would have been lying if I said I didn’t still have some kind of feelings for Zelda, and those feelings were not dulled down at all after she saved my ass from getting expelled. Plus, there was that little incident of me having a threesome with her and getting to see her naked. That was a thing.

I was lost in my own world of thought for a bit before realizing that Franklin was standing motionless in the game. My eyes shifted from the TV, to Nicole, back to the TV. I leaned forward and saw that same far-away look in Nicole’s eyes, and gave a small sigh as I moved her legs off of me and sat her up on the bed.

“Hey, c’mon,” I coaxed, keeping her back up with my hand, feeling my heart sink. It always did when Nicole got like this. “It’s okay. Everything’s fine. Things are fine. I’m here, I’m… I can just be here for you. You can put your head on my shoulder if you want.” She didn’t move, so I gingerly moved her head until it rested on my shoulder. It was like I was maneuvering a puppet. “It’s alright. You can keep your head here as long as you want. Until you get better. I’ll be the shoulder to put your head on. I’ll be… I’ll be Shoulder Man.”

I hit pause on her game and hugged her from the side with my other hand. Selfishly I wasn’t the biggest fan of just sitting in awkward silence in an uncomfortable position, but this wasn’t about me. I was selfish with her one too many times. Never again. I held her, not too tightly, and time passed us by. Was it a minute? Ten? Thirty? I wasn’t sure. It felt like an eternity passed before I heard her slowly exhale. I took my head off of hers and looked at her. She was blinking slowly.

She eventually came back to the world, then started to laugh. “…Shoulder Man?” she asked humorously. “I’m fucking calling you that every day now, I hope you know that.”

I grimaced. “Great,” I replied sarcastically. I felt a kiss on the side of my head, and turned with a smile to face Nicole. “Hey.”

“Hi,” she replied, almost shyly. “Uh… thanks.”

“I get it, today has been rough on you,” I replied.

She shook her head slightly, feeling my face with her hand, where my bruising was. “I don’t get you,” she murmured. “After all this time, I don’t get you.”

“Hey, it’s only been a year and a bit,” I pointed out, then stole a kiss from her lips. “But I’m sure there will be a lot more.”

She lowered an eyebrow and leaned away, smiling disapprovingly. “Too coupley,” she instructed. The two of us went back to gaming for a bit before realizing how late it was, and with a sigh from both of us, we concluded that I should be heading home. I got my things and then mentally prepared myself for the walk of shame – the walk to Nicole’s front door.

Sure enough, when we went down the stairs, Nicole’s dad was home. I steeled myself, Nicole’s hand supportively rubbing my shoulder, and walked downstairs. As we descended, Nicole whispered, “You don’t have to say anything.”

I smiled politely at her, but couldn’t agree. Once I was on the ground floor, I cleared my throat. “Hell-”

“You’re not staying for dinner,” Mr. Baker’s voice cut through my words like scissors through paper.

I paused. Okay, this was playing the game on hard mode, if that was the expression. “I understand that I was-”

“No,” Mrs. Baker cut in dourly, seemingly on the same wavelength as her husband. “You’re not going to give us a speech. You’re going to leave, now. You already came into this house when you weren’t welcome, and Nicole, we’ll be talking about that later.” Neither parent had looked me in the eye yet. My eyes flickered to the jar on the counter behind them, the Disappointment Jar or whatever – it was full.

I cleared my throat. I’d really need to impress them if I wanted to come over again. “I-”

I felt Nicole’s hand clamp down on my shoulder. “I get what you’re trying to do,” she breathed into my ear. “It’s not going to work. Just trust me, give it time instead. I’ll make them okay with it.”

I hesitated, then stopped. I looked at Nicole, then at her parents. With a sigh, I trudged back towards where I left my shoes. Once they were on, Nicole and I were out the door, walking back to my place.

“What did you tell them?” I asked, trudging through the snow.

Nicole shrugged noncommittally. “What didn’t I tell them?” she asked, cool as a cucumber. “Plus, they’re dealing with the car shit right now too. I’m, uh, not their favorite kid right now, and with one dead and the other not speaking to them, it’s not like I got stiff competition.”

I wanted to ask what that comment about… who was it, Spencer?… not speaking to them meant, but, time and place. “And you plan on turning it around?”

“I’m Nicole Baker. What can’t I do?” she asked with a slight laugh. 

I shot her a smile, and we said our goodbyes. I was glad to see her in such a good mood. I liked to believe that I helped her through her episode and I was the reason why she was so happy tonight and that I was special, but… maybe that was wishful thinking.

***

Wishful thinking indeed. After the party and the fight and all that, I was ready to never experience drama ever again, but as always, the universe had other plans. The first trick the universe played the next week came on Monday morning, when I accidentally saw Megan and Zelda together in some secluded hallway. They weren’t kissing, but clearly there was some tension going on. Zelda had her hand on Megan’s shirt collar, pulling her in, telling her something assertively with Megan looking like she was drinking in every word. Zelda was some kind of budding dominatrix for sure. Unfortunately, I stood there staring for too long, and once Megan saw me, she turned pink and ran, right past me, towards her first class.

I watched her leave as Zelda approached me from behind with a hearty sigh. “Thank you, Adam.”

“Hey, I didn’t-”

“I know, it was a joke,” she replied, disappointment still clouding her voice. “Still, that’s progress, and it’s not like you don’t know about me and her. Maybe someday I’ll ask you to be our lookout boy when we meet before school again.”

I smiled cockily. “And what would I get in return?” I asked her.

Her smile was just as cocky. “Maybe I’ll let you borrow her once or twice. After all, unlike me, she seems to be operating under the delusion she’s not a lesbian. It might be healthy for her to do something with a guy every so often.”

My jaw nearly dropped. “Jesus…” I muttered. “You think she’s a lesbian?”

“A hundred percent. Never been more sure. And until I need to go back to Denmark, she’s mine,” she added without a hint of shame.

“Wow. You’re as horny as a… as a guy,” I mumbled.

She shrugged. “I’m getting used to American culture,” she joked. “You’re the one that decided to have sex with a girl while another girl gave her the ride of her life.”

“Hey now,” I replied competitively, “remember that I was her original boyfriend. I’m the one that made her love sex.”

“And then she hated it, if I recall correctly,” Zelda countered with zero hesitation. “You had to make her love it from when she felt, at worst, neutral about sex. I got her to want me when she hated sex. Not bad if I do say so myself.”

The image of Megan throwing snow on that hill and screaming flashed in my mind. She hated that she loved sex again. “Um… just be careful,” I replied, losing my smug demeanor. “She could get hurt.”

“She’s obsessed with me,” Zelda replied dismissively. “She’s just temporarily embarrassed about it. You’ll see.”

I gazed worryingly at Zelda. I may have underestimated her, and not in the fun way.

***

The universe wasn’t content to play just one trick on me. The next trick was played the next day, at lunch. Right before the bell rang, Megan got as sick of Carson’s PDA with Sabrina as I was, and finally decided to pipe up.

“Are you two even trying to hide it anymore?” she accused, probably less playfully than she wanted to. That said, her annoyed tone wasn’t undeserved – I mean, Zelda and Megan were clearly fooling around too, but from how they associated at lunch, no one could have guessed it. For all of Zelda’s confidence, she never once tried to do anything with Megan, and frankly, I was looking to see if she would. 

Sabrina only giggled. “Should we tell them?” she asked.

“We can see,” Athena laughed.

“No, no,” Sabrina dismissed her. “Carson and me are dating now!”

Zelda smiled diplomatically. “Congratulations,” she said with little emotion, clearly still not a big fan of him. Megan’s brow furrowed for a second, but upon hearing Zelda’s congratulations, her anxiety melted and she nodded and smiled. Athena looked surprised, but was also happy.

Why wasn’t I happy? I should have been. I wanted to be. But when I looked at Sabrina, I felt… betrayed somehow. There was a time where it felt like the only girl that could have possibly been my girlfriend after Nicole was Sabrina. And now, she was dating Carson? They had nothing together. All they did was fool around at lunch. That wasn’t couple material. That wasn’t couple material at all. 

I couldn’t resist asking Sabrina to wait behind after the bell rang, and even though she was confused, she accepted it. The others left for class and I asked Sabrina if we could walk slowly to her locker together and talk, and with an unsure expression, she agreed.

As we walked, my legs felt like they were made of lead. This was already weird, and every second spent confused was just going to make things weirder for Sabrina. “I just want to say something that’s been on my mind,” I began. “I’m really happy that you’re with Carson and you’re happy now, but… I dunno. I thought something was happening between us for a bit, and that seemed to go kind of… quickly. Like, we were flirting and getting along so well and suddenly we were… not. Right? Isn’t that weird? Didn’t we have something going?”

Sabrina was just giving me a weirded-out, uncomfortable expression. “Um, no, I don’t think so,” she replied.

“What?” I blurted out, stopping. “Sabrina, we were saying stuff like, ‘you’re the only person who gets me’ and having deep life chats. We were…” My cheeks burned. “The s-sex… felt different, with you,” I added in a quiet voice. “None of that meant anything to you?”

“Well, we were only friends with benefits, right?” Sabrina asked. “Besides, it was really clear that no one is going to make you move on from Nicole for a long time.”

I straightened my back. “Is that what this is about?”

“No!” she protested. “I’m literally just dating Carson because I like him! Like, I’m sorry, but I just don’t see you like that! Okay??” She paused. “I’d like to walk back to my locker by myself please.” Without waiting for me to answer, she clutched her bag to her chest and started powerwalking away, leaving me dumbfounded.

So what, all that time we spent, that was nothing? It was that easy to throw me to the side when she discovered some new boy? Was that it? I stopped talking to Morgan for her! …Well, Morgan made it pretty clear she was a dead end too, but still! Even if Sabrina stopped wanting to have sex with me, fine, but… We talked like we were the closest of friends for, like, weeks. How did she even find the desire to throw all that away? And all just because she found a new boy to fuck. How insulting.

I rolled my eyes at nothing and started to walk towards my locker. This just wasn’t my week.

***

Part of me was kind of happy my friend group were all hooking up with each other and getting serious. Megan and Zelda, for instance, were cute together, and I liked both of them a lot. As much as that one encounter with Zelda was a bit of a red flag, it was a one-off event. At the lunch table she was perfectly pleasant to be around, unless Carson was saying something particularly awful, and she was an amazing friend to have in drama class. It was clear Salvador was starting to like her. Salvador liked to insist he never played favorites, but…

“Good. We’re going to start today’s warmup with our undulation movements. Adam, you’re going to lead them. Go.”

…It was a lie. Like, even I could tell I was one of his favorites, and I wasn’t the only one. I almost turned pink as I got everyone on stage and started directing people to accent their movements appropriately, knowing that below the surface, a few of them thought I was this stuck-up little teacher’s pet. 

“It’s all about the buildup, the buildup,” Salvador repeated from the audience seats. “Slow and slight, slow and slight, slow and slight, large!”

I saw one of the students roll their eyes. On autopilot, I opened my mouth. “Hey, come on, no eye-rolling. Focus!”

I turned pinker still. Zelda, not stopping her movement, nonetheless smiled in surprise. The kid I called out, as well as a few of his neighbors, scowled at me. I didn’t even mean to say anything, it just sort of… came out. I avoided eye contact, continuing to be the example everyone used, until Salvador was satisfied and gave us our activity of the day. Once he started, we all went to our seats, and Zelda promptly got out her phone to text me a single word.

Wow.

I turned to her. “Shut up,” I whisper-groaned. I couldn’t wait how she was planning to use this moment to further decode me or whatever. Hell, I couldn’t get it out of my head either. Was this me leading, or me turning into a dick? Hell, in this class – forgive me, Salvador – was there even a difference?

***

“Can I ask about Jason?” I asked uneasily.

Athena’s mood visibly dropped, despite the fact that she was playing her favorite game. Some kind of Pokemon game for the Gamecube. It came out like a decade ago. There had been like three new generations of Pokemon since, but Athena apparently just played this one over and over. “Um, what do you even need to ask?” she replied hesitantly.

“I’m just wondering what even happened, to be honest,” I replied. “Like, if he’s still going to Hazelwood, if you two still talk…”

She sighed and paused her game. “No, we don’t. I already wasn’t planning on talking to him when we broke up, and I’m definitely not fucking talking to him anymore. And that’s not going to change. Happy?” 

I clearly hit some kind of sore spot. “Okay, okay, sorry…” I soothed.

She exhaled. “No, it’s fine, I’m sorry. It’s just… he was such a big part of my life for so long… and TBH, I feel like a dumbass.”

“A dumbass? Why?” I asked.

“Um…” She started, looking at the controller, handing it over to me. “Do you want to play? I can’t talk and play at the same time.”

“Honestly, I prefer watching you. I barely get how to play Pokemon,” I insisted.

“It’s really easy, but okay,” she conceded, putting the controller down beside her. “It’s like, I spent a lot of time just being in a relationship, and I was, like, telling myself that if I put in enough effort, it would all pay out. He liked me a lot, I… I still think I liked him a lot. It’s just that stuff became too much, you know?”

I nodded along, supportively patting her thigh. She lay back on her bed and I followed suit. We both stared up at the ceiling as she continued. “And like, now I’m wondering if… if I just told myself I liked him or something. Like, if I just wanted to be desired or something. TBH I didn’t feel bad at all when I cheated on him. I felt, like, nothing. It felt like we were somehow already done.”

I shivered, remembering Nicole having described something similar. I never even thought about whether she would have cheated on me. She had no reservations about kissing me when I was with Megan.

“Now it feels like I wasted my time with him,” Athena continued. “Like, I could have been with a guy I liked, or having fun sex with someone else, or… or even on my own, but like, happily on my own, you know?”

I nodded. “I think people feel like that a lot,” I commented lightly. We sat in silence for a bit, and eventually her foot found mine. Wordlessly, we began to have some kind of wrestling match with our feet, until Athena won. We both chuckled quietly.

She turned to me. “Are you doing okay with you and Nicole being splitsville?”

I shrugged. “We’re still close, and that’s nice,” I revealed. “There was a time where I thought our friendship was for sure over, but it feels like we can survive anything.”

“Wow,” Athena murmured, leaning in towards me. “I’m jealous.”

“Don’t be,” I laughed. “It comes with a lot of bullshit. Occasionally one of us makes a nuclear-level bad move and we spend like a week not talking to each other. We’re basically that toxic on-and-off couple where everyone is waiting for them to block each other for good.”

Athena cocked her head, frowning in confusion. “So… do you want to stop talking to her?”

“Hell no. Honestly, I’ve just learned to love the toxic,” I admitted. “Toxic is nice if it’s with her.”

Athena shook her head, smiling slightly. “You’re still in love with her.”

“I don’t even know what being in love is anymore,” I told her genuinely. “I even thought after Nicole that there was one girl I could kiiinda see myself dating, but now she’s just distant from me. It actually kind of pisses me off.”

Her face fell. “Oh,” she simply said. “It’s not me, is it?”

“What? No!” I instinctively replied. “No, it was…” Bad idea to tell her. “Some girl. You don’t know her.”

“Huh,” Athena mumbled, leaning into my arm. She kissed it once or twice, then playfully bit it. “What was she like?”

“Ow! …She was nice,” I murmured, pulling my arm back.

“Wow, don’t get too wordy, you’ll bore me,” Athena joked.

I shrugged. “She was… cool. She actually listened to me, it felt like she was always thinking what I was thinking… I guess your usual stuff.”

“And how was the sex?” she pressed on.

“You’re just going to presume I had sex with her?” I asked.

She winked at me. “It’s you, of course you did,” she plainly answered, then stole a quick kiss on the lips from me. God, Athena was good at kissing. If there was a divine creator, they gave her the best lips on the planet. It was like her kisses were on another level. Everything about her kisses felt good, from the juiciness of her lips to her full eagerness in using them. She pulled back from the long yet innocent kiss, eyed the bulge in my pants, and smirked. “See? You got hard just from kissing me.”

I grinned sheepishly. “You kissed me, and your kisses are the best. Don’t blame me.” 

She giggled, then dove in for another kiss. Before long, she was on top of me, grinding against me while we shamelessly opened our mouths, French kissing each other. It was really nice knowing that, despite our complicated past, Athena and I could fool around like this and both of us knew it didn’t need to be anything serious. Nicole and I could talk a big game about being friends that fuck and not getting feelings involved, but Athena could walk the walk.

And this happened every time Athena and I hung out. If anything, this time it took longer than usual for us to get to fucking. Both of us were eager to make up for lost time, happily taking each other’s clothes off, with Athena always insisting on getting her face close to my dick whenever she took my pants off.

“Mmm…” she moaned happily, sliding my pants and underwear off in one slow, satisfying motion. My rock-hard cock stayed contained, my shaft coming into view inch by inch, until it eventually sprang up and out of my pants, hitting my stomach before settling in the air. “God, I can’t get enough of this fucking cock,” Athena moaned, licking the underside of my shaft. She didn’t bother to wait for my response before taking me into her mouth, giving me another one of her amazing sloppy blowjobs.

Athena’s mouth was definitely talented. She’d taken in everything she learned from all the other blowjobs she gave me and put her knowledge to good work, using every trick her mouth could muster. And every time, there was something new she did.

“Check this out, stud,” she murmured once her mouth was off of my dick.

She put her mouth back on me, and her tongue started to give particular attention to the underside of my dick. It almost felt like it tickled, but in a really good way. I was actually squirming. I thought I knew everything there was to know about blowjobs, and yet here I was, squirming, all while Athena’s sloppy, wet, heavenly mouth was giving me new sensations I never thought I would feel. 

“Ohh, fuuuuck…” I moaned, holding her head in place. I practically didn’t know what else I could even be doing. My cock was continuously throbbing in her mouth, and her tongue was causing me sensations I never even knew I could feel, and at this point, I had gotten quite a few blowjobs. There was no way in hell I was going to last long here.

“I’m either going to blow in your mouth, or we’re going to fuck,” I groaned. 

Athena’s eyes looked up at me and sparkled, not stopping at all. She didn’t even need to tell me – she wanted both. I couldn’t even think straight, and leaned my head back and moaned, feeling my load firing out of my dick at mach speed. There was no other word for it – I came urgently, with even Athena being surprised at the speed and velocity of my punk firing into her mouth. She was Athena though, so she handled it with grace, swallowing every drop, her tongue still somehow nurturing my dick yet doing it gently enough to not cause me any pain.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” I murmured, realizing only then that her mouth was still on me. My cock had barely softened at all, and showed no signs of getting any softer. She and I both knew that, if anything, it was only going to get harder in the next few minutes.

Sure enough, with another throb, I went full mast again in her mouth. Athena took her mouth off of me, grinning triumphantly, and assumed the position, getting on all fours on her bed. “You don’t want me to eat you out or anything?” I offered.

“Just stick it in me,” she practically barked. “I want to feel you inside me. Hurry up!”

What a fucking dream I was living. Athena’s pussy was beautifully puffy and glistening with wetness for me, a picture of pure sexiness. I lined myself up behind her, with her juices and the copious amounts of spit on my dick providing ample lube. She began to shake when she felt me enter her, with a low guttural moan escaping her lips. “Godddd, your cock is so fucking perfect,” she moaned.

“Your pussy is perfect too, Athena,” I moaned back. Even from behind, I could see her beam with happiness – I wasn’t sure if it was because I called her pussy perfect or because I used her name. Either way, I pushed until my thighs were touching hers, the delicious feeling of skin-on-skin savored by both of us. Once we were both ready, I began to thrust back and forth, with Athena moaning immediately.

I grabbed her hips and set us in a good rhythm, and she matched immediately, throwing herself back to meet my hips, her inner muscles working my cock perfectly. The feeling of her hips in my hands was so good, nearly enough to rival her blowjobs! I wanted to experiment more with her, but the feeling was just too good. I surrendered myself to pumping my cock in and out of her like an animal, drilling her with reckless abandon. Athena soon lost all of her inhibitions and started humping back into me like a wild animal too, moaning and cussing and repeating my name.

“Adam, Adam… oh fuck, you feel so fucking good, Adam! Yes, yes!” She was bucking and shivering and giving herself in to the immense pleasure she was feeling, but then again, so was I. I wanted so badly to just fill her with my seed, I wanted to see her moan and arch her back. I wanted to claim her.

Before I knew it, my load had built back up and without so much as an “Ahh!”, I thrust deeply into her, knowing she was going to receive spurt after spurt inside her. I got my wish – Athena arched her back and took it, moaning up to the ceiling, enjoying the feeling of my warm load spilling into her. She nearly went cross-eyed, losing herself to the feelings, and I nearly whited out feeling the same pleasure of our unity. Athena’s pussy was heaven, no two ways about it.

We remained there for a few seconds before we both loudly exhaled at the same time, and giggled at the coincidence. I slowly pulled out of her and collapsed next to her, my face hitting the pillow. Moments later, I felt a hand gently pat my back. Figuring she wanted my attention, I flipped over. “Mm?”

“Oh! No, just… you said you prefer when I stay here and stuff, so I’m trying to… you know…” she clumsily stated.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s really sweet of you, Athena,” I told her warmly. Wow. So her previous behavior wasn’t even just her being detached with a FWB, the idea of pillow talk or whatever was… new to her. How weird. What the hell was her relationship with Jason even like?

I guess I didn’t really need to think of that much more. It seemed like Jason was expelled, even though I didn’t get a solid confirmation. Served him right, anyways. He was the one who punched me in the face. I deserved to win after that, and I did. Some part of me felt slightly bad for the guy, given he clearly thought the world of the girl who had just begged for my cock, but… I heard it straight from her mouth. I saw how they interacted. I knew what he was like. It was good that they broke up. Maybe now Athena would find herself, whatever “finding” meant. Hell, whoever “herself” really was.

***

“This is the big one,” Nicole said authoritatively, pointing to the whiteboard with one of those retractable sticks. It looked more like we were being briefed on wartime strategy than a school dance, despite the whiteboard just saying “Valentine’s Day Dance” on it with a little drawn heart after it. “Couples are going to get PDA-y around each other here. The best way to prevent us feeling like we need to gauge our eyes out is to make the expectations clear upfront.”

Jarrod leaned in to whisper to me. “Why would Nicole of all females be the one to be weird about PDA? I thought she was the school slut or whatever.”

I wanted to warn him about Nicole’s superhuman powers, but it was too late. Even though Jarrod whispered so delicately even I could barely hear it, Nicole swiftly piped up. “Because, Jarrod, there’s a time and place for everything. I’m all for freedom of expression in this school, including love, but to do it in a crowded, grimy place with everyone else there, especially everyone else doing it… it sets a standard. They might go too far, they might hurt some feelings, and they might tell other students with their actions that they too can go too far and hurt feelings.” She hit the desk in front of her with the stick. “Oh, and don’t call girls ‘females.’ It’s weird and off-putting.”

Jarrod winced in discomfort at being called out. He definitely wasn’t her biggest fan right now. I leaned in, not caring if Nicole heard me. “Because Mr. Scott is in the room,” I whispered back. Nicole definitely heard me, but didn’t say anything. 

It was definitely odd. Mr. Scott usually made his presence very well known when he attended meetings, communicating his purpose upfront. This time was a little different, with him having slipped surreptitiously into the meeting halfway through. Nicole was as adaptive as ever, barely changing her attitude yet being a little more diplomatic with her wording and reasoning whenever he was in the room. 

In fact, she didn’t even address him at all until the end of the meeting, and by the end it was clear why. She was nervous. “Okay, so…” she mumbled, fiddling with her hands. “Is there, uh, any other business? Anything anyone can think of? Don’t be shy.” She looked around the room. Even though all of us were decently attentive, no one had anything to say. “Okay, Mr. Scott… I can only imagine what this is about.”

Mr. Scott sighed as he got up from his chair. “It’s just a formality, Nicole, we have to do it with every case like this,” he pointed out, walking up to the front of the room. “Good afternoon, Student Council. It’s great to see you all working hard to support the student body. Now, it gives me no pleasure to remind you of this, but around two weeks ago, your VP, as you may know…”

My blood ran cold. I looked urgently at Nicole, who made sure to stand behind Scott before adopting a fed-up expression and rolling her eyes.

“…and even though he was found to have acted primarily in self-defense, the facts remain that he did strike another student. Given this, I’m required to hold this referendum,” Scott concluded.

“Not even remotely the correct usage of the term,” Nicole mumbled behind him. 

Mr. Scott ignored her. “So, all I’m going to ask for is a blind vote. Adam here will step into the hallway, and all of you will vote on one simple question: are you comfortable with Adam staying in the Council or not? You’ll all have your heads down so you won’t know who voted for what. Majority wins. Does anyone feel too uninformed or otherwise ineligible to vote?”

A pause wafted through the room. “I mean, he’s our friend,” Megan eventually piped up. “I think we’re all definitely biased.”

“Ah, thank you, Ms. Schneider,” Mr. Scott replied. “That is a good point. He is your friend and it’s natural to feel this way. All I’m asking you to do is think like a Council member here. A Council member was found to have broken school rules-”

“By acting in self-defense,” Nicole sang behind him.

“-and you need to be able to see that purely from a Council perspective,” Scott concluded, putting extra emphasis on the first few words so that his voice outperformed Nicole’s while he talked over her. “Are there any questions, Adam?”

“I thought we resolved this,” I told him bitterly.

“We did. This is just protocol. I need to do my job just as you need to do yours. It’s not personal. If I held the vote last year but not the one this year, that would have been personal, in your favor. I can’t play favorites with students.”

“Ooh, what happened last year?” Jarrod asked eagerly. 

“Oh hell no,” Nicole immediately snapped. “We’re not talking about that.”

“I agree with Nicole,” Mr. Scott added. “Adam…?”

I sighed, walking into the hallway, letting them get it over with. What a bullshit system. I didn’t fight back in the one fight I had last year and all it did was get me punched more. Suddenly I realize this guy isn’t going to hold back, I do one small thing, and suddenly I’m this big bad guy? Like, I get I was ‘lucky’ because I didn’t get expelled, but it felt manipulative. Almost as if Jason himself was punching me over and over, then pretended to punch me once again, and when it didn’t happen he murmured, “You’re so lucky I didn’t punch you again” or something. It was exactly like that. 

I kept pacing back and forth in the hallway until Nicole opened the door. “You’ll never guess,” she opened with a flat voice. “Apparently, you’re not getting the death penalty for defending yourself. Who knew.” She let me back into the room, and closed the door behind me.

“I’m staying?” I asked Scott.

“You’re staying,” he replied with a nod.

“And thank God,” Nicole interjected, clearly wanting to lighten the mood. “I still need someone to collect the tickets for the dance. Remember, tell them-”

“I know, I know, nothing too PDA-y,” I acknowledged. 

Nicole nodded. “Okay, Bullshi- bullspit over. That’s the meeting. Get out of here, everyone. I’ll see you soon.” People began to file out of the room, with Nicole, Scott and I staying. We didn’t even need to say anything, we just knew.

Once everyone was out of the room, Nicole quietly started to gather her things. Mr. Scott turned to me. “Once again, Adam, it wasn’t personal. You saw how this went down with Phil last year, so you should know more than anyone-”

“Yeah, but Phil actually did what he was accu-” I stopped mid-sentence, realization flooding my brain. “Or… wait… I guess we don’t know if he did, do we…”

Mr. Scott was standing there, arms folded, nodding meaningfully. “It was protocol then and it’s protocol now. Even though you dodged expulsion, that doesn’t mean you get special treatment anywhere else. It doesn’t matter if you’re the most guilty one, nd it doesn’t matter how much we like you. The rules apply to everyone.”

“And if the rules are flawed, how do we as students go about changing those rules?” Nicole asked softly, looping her camera around her neck.

“There is no way we can stop the referendum rule, Nicole, I’m sorry,” Mr. Scott said firmly.

“No, that’s actually fair. When it comes to the vote itself, I’m actually pretty much in agreement with you. Make people realize it’s a Council thing, majority rules. It keeps the group accountable,” she replied, her soft tone not wavering. Mr. Scott seemed surprised at her agreement, but said nothing. Nicole grabbed her retractable stick, extended it, and pointed it at him. “But why in the Sam Hell is this school punishing students for using self-defense when other people are beating them up? Literally what could Adam have done other than that to make sure he didn’t get beat up?”

“The school has a-”

“No!” Nicole’s voice was firm. “You’re the principal. You’re responsible for knowing the rules. I’m asking you a direct question. If the school has this rule and it includes self defense, what. Could Adam have done. Other than what he did. To make sure he didn’t get beat up?”

“There are other avenues than violence,” Mr. Scott answered in a quiet, angry tone. “Disengaging, running away…”

“Jason hit me from the back,” I recounted. “I ended up on the floor. He was standing over me.”

Mr. Scott stared at me with a clearly upset expression. “You had a group of people around you, didn’t you? Someone should have helpe-”

“What could Adam have done??” Nicole demanded icily. She saw his fiery expression from getting interrupted again and winced, pacing the room a little bit. “Mr. Scott, I’m sorry for losing my cool with you like this, but this isn’t fair!”

“I agree that in this instance it’s not! The system isn’t perfect, but-”

“So change it! Literally just change it! You’re the principal! Change it, go case by case, what’s the worst that can happen? You keep talking about showing favoritism to students, but how is this not favoritism?! This isn’t even ‘one kid hit another kid, second kid hits him back,’ this was literally one guy hitting another until they were forced to stop! And they both almost get the same treatment?!” She started pacing around the room again. “Like, what if, what if, Jason was so angry with Adam and knows he loves Hazelwood, and his singular goal was to get Adam expelled at any cost? What then??”

Scott stared at Nicole as she ranted. “That is a fair point,” he replied diplomatically, then sighed. “I can look to see if I can-” He saw Nicole about to interrupt him and raised a finger immediately. “…If I can implement clauses. The rule will stay the same, but possible cases like Adam’s will be allowed to be considered. The school will take steps to ensure no student will fall through the cracks like this. And you’re very right about how students at the end of their rope could… take advantage of the system, as unlikely as that might be. I personally believe Jason wasn’t using this fight to game the system. I think he was just… angry and had poor judgment.”

“Is he expelled?” I asked Mr. Scott.

“Yes,” he replied. “Of course he is. He struck first, he struck you many times, and he had every opportunity to stop. This was also clearly due to a lapse in judgment as well as his temper, and that could theoretically happen again. This isn’t just about punishing students, this is also about removing students who cause fights and risk disrupting the safe atmosphere of our school.” He paused. “That is, in fact, the main reason we expel students who cause fights. It’s not to shame them. We’re aware at this point, Adam, that you were involved in a fight last year, even though you did not hit back. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that while you’re a peaceful person, you don’t… with respect… cause trouble.”

My brow couldn’t be more furrowed, but I said nothing.

“I had to act on the information I was given, and yes, sometimes it’s ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t,’ frankly,” he finished. “And I do very much like you, Adam. It did hurt to have to make that judgment. I’m very aware that no matter what decision I make, it’ll seem like the bad one. Sometimes, that’s a big part of being the principal. Do you think I’m well-liked in this school?”

“Honestly, yes,” I replied. “I won’t lie, I hated this, but across the board, you’ve been kind and fair and stuff. The students do like you.”

“Not universally,” he replied with a slight chuckle. “You just hang around with good people. I can only imagine some people like me quite a lot less than others.”

Nicole was rearranging something in her bag. “You’re looking at me, aren’t you?” she asked exasperatedly. 

“In fact, I wasn’t,” Scott replied, almost humorously.

Nicole raised her head, staring annoyedly at the wall in front of her. “Oh, so I suppose this was another thing I made about me?”

“Nicole,” Mr. Scott simply said. She slowly turned her head around, and was clearly surprised to see a slight smile on his face. “Don’t worry. I like you too, and I’m aware we like to… have our little spats sometimes, but I know you do it because you care so much for the students. We see things differently, and that’s okay. You’re allowed to think of me any way you like. I may highlight your… attitude, with respect, from time to time, but if your impact on this school was just your attitude, things would have turned out differently. You’re right, you know. You’re a very important person to this school, and students should care about what you do for them a lot more than they do.” Without waiting for her response, he waved his hand. “I’m going to get out of here. Have a great night, you two.” True to his word, he left without giving us the opportunity to say anything back.

I looked back to Nicole to see her, still frozen in her position, looking at where Mr. Scott was, one hand in her bag. The only difference I noticed was that her eyes were distinctly misty.

“Are you… crying?” I asked, with a surprised smile on my face. 

“No, shut up,” she replied defiantly.

***

Even with Mr. Scott’s little discussion with us, Nicole and I still had over half an hour left in the school. Nicole made a beeline for the bathroom to freshen up, which left me alone in the hallway for a bit. I went to the main hallway to wander around when I discovered Jarrod sitting on a bench.

“You good?” I asked him.

He gave me a thumbs-up. “Mom’s just late,” he told me, and I nodded. “Hey… so what happened last year?”

I chuckled and groaned to myself. What didn’t happen last year? “Um… long story short, and this is the only version I’m gonna tell ya, because I was kinda close to this event too and got burned…” I sat down on the bench next to him. “The Student Council president got accused of something really awful. Th-”

“Like what?” Jarrod asked.

I sighed. “It was a, uh… I’m not going to expand on this, but it was a sex thing. You can figure it out from there. Yes, it’s what you’re thinking. Anyways, it was never proven, but like, nothing can ever prove prove it. It was a pure he-said-she-said thing. There were, like, cops brought in, but no actual charges were made. She ended up leaving the school and going to another. It was a mess. He actually was booted from the Council for it. It was a whole thing.”

“Woah…” Jarrod murmured, taking it in. “Wait, so do you think he did it?”

“I don’t know,” I replied on instinct. “I really don’t.”

“Wow, I was expecting you to be the type to always believe the female,” Jarrod remarked.

I gave him a look. “Nicole’s right, just say ‘girl,’ it’s kinda weird,” I told him. “I just knew her from before, and she did some shit of her own and-”

“Like what?”

“Nope,” I told him flatly. “Nope nope nope. You could ask me until the end of time and I’ll never tell you. Too personal. So you may as well just drop it.”

“Okay, jeez,” he mumbled, his face flushed a little. “Nicole’s annoying.”

“She has her moments,” I diplomatically replied. 

“How did you date her for so long?” he asked. 

“It’s not that long, we didn’t even last a year,” I chuckled. “I still really like her. Maybe I just get her. Maybe she just gets me. I don’t think love has to be rational.”

“I don’t think f- girls like her really feel love. You know?” Jarrod asked. He saw the weird look I gave him and continued. “Like, this might be an overshare, but she and I had… sex at that party, and then afterwards, she got all detached from me, trying to distance herself from me and insult me and stuff.”

“I heard about that, yeah,” I replied. “I think she was just pissed off at how you kept hyping yourself up. Like, I only heard it from her, but you were bragging and stuff.”

“Umm, yeah, that was because she was insulting me and staying away from me and stuff,” Jarrod replied. Hey look, another he-said-she-said. My favorite. “And that was… my first time. And like, if I knew she was going to be that weird about it… I probably wouldn’t have given it to her.”

That got me. I was staring at the floor before, but that got me to look at the little guy in the eyes. “Yeah, that does suck,” I found myself saying. “I’m really sorry, dude.”

“Like, does she do that with you? I assume you two are still…”

“This is weird,” I told him flatly. “If you need to know, we occasionally… whatever. Yeah, this is weird. Um, even outside of… sex, she just does that with people. She’s very unattached. Odds are, the more attached you get, the more she tries to distance herself from you.”

“Isn’t the whole point of sex to get more connected though?” he asked desperately.

Ooh. What a raw statement. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Most freshman boys don’t see sex like that. They just wanna bang as many girls as possible or whatever.”

“I guess I’m not like that,” Jarrod replied. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Not at all. Not at all, dude,” I told him sincerely. “I’ve been on the other end and no one tells you this, but it sucks. A lot of the time. Hell, the only girl since Nicole I… did that stuff with where I felt an actual connection, she just found another boy to bang and now it’s like I don’t even exist to her anymore. Like, even our friendship may as well not exist.”

“What a bitch!” Jarrod replied eagerly.

Wow, this lil’ guy was quick to hate women. “Well, I wouldn’t call her that,” I replied hesitantly. “But it was mean.” I paused. “Yeah, okay, some things she did were bitchy. But hey, what can you do, right? Just gotta move on. Nicole is obviously smoking hot, but, there’s no ‘fixing her’ or whatever. It doesn’t work like that, at least, not with her. If you want connection, odds are, it’s best to stay away from her.”

Jarrod smiled at me. “Are you just telling me that because you’re still in love with her?” he boldly asked me.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he wasn’t exactly my biggest competition when it came to her. Hell, he himself told me how she distanced herself from him after having sex with him. Not exactly the greenest of flags. I smiled back, and opened my mouth to speak before Jarrod kept talking.

“Because someone else already asked her to the dance, and she said yes.”

I closed my mouth, pushing any instinctual jealousy down. I really thought I was over this jealousy shit. Guess I was still the same freshman underneath all of my new experiences this year after all. “Hey, good for her,” I replied. “I mean, it’s not like she and I are a thing officially at all.”

Jarrod’s smile didn’t wane. “You’re jealous.”

“I’m her ex that still has feelings for her, dude. Of course I’m jealous,” I huffed. “Is this the part where I ask who it was who asked her out?”

“I think it was the guy that hosted the party. Allistair.”

I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. Of all the people who had to be my legit competition, why did it have to be the Overly British Invasion? “Ah, him,” I replied bitterly. “Well hey, good for her.”

Jarrod was overly interested in the way my face reacted. It was almost as if he was lying to see how I reacted. “Do you hate him?”

I rolled my eyes. “He just didn’t make the best first impression on me,” I answered with a huff. “Both he and Nicole pulled some annoying shit that night – no, you’re not allowed to know – and I already had history with Nicole, so we were able to smooth that out, but that’s literally my only interaction with him.”

Jarrod nodded along. “So now you see how I feel, right?” he asked. I glared at him. I really did want to be friendly with this little shit, but man, did he ever make it difficult sometimes. Maybe I was so uncaring about Nicole “always making it about her” because compared to this friggin’ guy, she was a selfless saint. 

***

“Once you get in, just read the sign for the dance rules,” I told the thousandth person to come into the dance that night. This was torture. It was less than thirty degrees outside, and I was stuck doing the damn tickets. Luckily, I only had a few minutes left, then I could join them indoors. 

Most of the students didn’t give me any trouble. One or two of them asked “what rules, why do I have to care about rules” and all that junk, but luckily, I could just direct them to Dave inside. Much like me, Dave didn’t care too much for dances (which was odd considering he was the Dances rep this year) so he just sat in the main hallway, keeping an eye on things, running the event. Plus, the Valentine’s Day Dance drew in a bunch of cute-looking couples who looked smitten with each other, and that was kind of cute…

Cute and a little sad. I felt a few pangs in my heart while thinking of Nicole, wishing not only that I asked her first, but that I could just hang out with her instead. I didn’t care… well… I tried not to care that we weren’t a couple anymore, but it didn’t mean that I didn’t like hanging out with her more than anyone. It just felt different with her. I considered asking Athena, but given she was fresh off of a breakup and plus, it was clear we were actually just friends that fucked, it seemed a little tasteless and tonedeaf to invite her to a Valentine’s day dance when I didn’t even like dancing.

“Woah, look at this sad sack of shit,” I heard a voice jeering at me from the cold outdoors.

I chuckled watching Carson walking up to the entrance with Sabrina not too far behind. “You’re late, bro,” I told him. “I almost packed up and locked the doors without ya.”

“Yeahhh, but I’m sure I could have talked you into opening them again,” Carson laughed, presenting me with his ticket. “Good for two?”

Without losing my smile, I looked at Sabrina. Carson couldn’t see, but she was staring at the floor or at him – basically anywhere but at me. My smile slightly faded. “All good,” I told him. “Enjoy the night.”

“Oh, we plan to, buddy. We plan to,” Carson replied with a wink.

“I’m amazed you’re at such a fancy event like this anyway,” I continued, trying to lighten the mood for myself. Carson liked a good roast every now and then anyways “Isn’t your style normally a night in on the bed, maybe pizza and TV if you’re lucky?”

“Don’t talk to my boyfriend like that.”

I wasn’t the only one to pause at Sabrina’s outburst. Carson looked behind himself towards her too. “Babe, calm down,” he told her in a disappointed voice. “It’s just how we joke around.” He whipped his head back to look at me. “Uh… sorry, buddy.”

“It’s cool,” I told him. “Guess I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I mean, I found it funny,” he lamely mumbled, nearly dragging Sabrina inside, clearly embarrassed. I waited until the door audibly shut behind me, then shook my head. Why the fuck did it all have to go so downhill so quickly…? And what even for? 

I waited for about another minute before accepting that, because fate liked to be funny, those two would be my last tickets of the night. I gazed one last time out into the distance before turning around and coming inside. I kicked the snow off my shoes.

Dave looked at his wristwatch. “Yeah, alright,” he said to himself. “Good to go. Enjoy the rest of the dance.”

I shrugged at him. “I ain’t dancing.” He shrugged back, but didn’t say anything else. He continued to man the front, and it appeared he was the only one still working. “You seen Megan?”

“I think she went in to dance,” Dave replied. “Good luck.”

I gave him a sarcastic look. Honestly, I just wanted to talk with her. Nicole was likely occupied with Allistair – that was my guess, I hadn’t seen her yet tonight, she usually got to the dances before anyone else did – and it wasn’t like cornering Carson and Sabrina would have been a good idea even if they weren’t already on the floor grinding or whatever.

I did let Zelda in. I couldn’t help but wonder if Zelda was trying to work her dommy mommy magic on Megan again. Knowing Zelda, if she was, it was probably working… did that mean it was a bad idea to look for Megan too? Ugh, why did my damn friend group all have to join at the hip together? Suddenly, everything was so complicated when it didn’t need to be. I was really regretting not inviting Athena now – at least she would have been fun to hang out with, and go figure, I didn’t see her or Jason there.

I took one glance inside the gym where we held the dance and went, “nope.” I turned around, head shaking, going back to hang out in the main hallway with Dave and the people taking a rest. It would be another hour or so before Dad arrived, and in a hilarious twist of fate, he was going to be Nicole’s ride too. It made sense since we were practically neighbors and Nicole’s car was out of commission, plus she drove me more times than I could count. Dad could have made this big show about driving his son’s ex back home with him, but, Dad being Dad, he didn’t even comment on it. He just nodded slowly and gave me the thumbs-up, going, “You got it!” I really did love him. 

That did mean I needed to find Nicoel before the night was over though. Luckily, neither she nor Allistair were hard to spot in a crowd, so I just waited for either of them to exist the gym. I didn’t even need to urgently talk to Nicole, I just wanted to confirm. Hopefully Allistair would be a class act given her ex was waiting to talk to her, but I needed to hold out the little hope I had for him.

After a good fifteen minutes or so, sure enough, Allistair emerged out of the gym, looking… down. It was definitely out of character for the normally chipper tall lanky plaid-clad man (he looked like more of a scarecrow than Dave did when he dressed up like a scarecrow on Halloween) so I couldn’t help but approach him, despite my disposition.

“Hey,” I told him from behind as he walked down the hall.

He turned around. “Oh, hey,” he replied. “Wha’s goin’ on?”

“Uh, is Nicole in there? I just needed to talk to her about arranging the ride home and all that,” I let him know, while he leaned against the wall.

“Oh, bad news abou’ tha’ mate, she – no wait, you were in her cah for that too… Oh, mus’ be the otha’ way around.” He looked up at the ceiling and mimed his thoughts with his fingers as he talked. He looked back down at me and shrugged. “Yer guess is as good as mine I’m afraid. Thehe’s a fihst time fer ev’rythin’, and tonigh’s the fihst time I go’ ghosted.”

“Ghosted? What does that mean?” I asked.

“Stay with it, bruv. Suhely ya can figure it out?” He stared at me for a bit. “She didn’t show. Like a ghost. She’s not heah.” He turned around. “It’s kinda affectin’ me so I’ll be in the toilets fer a bit. Excuse me.” He walked away, leaving me kind of confused. I get that ‘ghosting’ or whatever wasn’t beyond Nicole’s pettiness but this was a Council event. Plus, why arrange for me to ride with her if she was planning not to show up? It didn’t make any sense. 

Still, there had to be a reasonable explanation. I pulled out my phone, texting Nicole, asking her if she was at the dance, then waited. For ten minutes. I paced back and forth in the hallway. Ten more minutes went by. Finally, I decided to call her, and the phone rang and rang before going to her voicemail. Nicole wasn’t here, and her phone was on, but she wasn’t answering it. The more I thought about it, the less sense it made, and the more worried I got. I nearly sprinted back to the entrance, formulating a plan as I ran. “Yo, Dave!”

“Mm?” Dave lazily replied, raising his head.

“Have you actually seen Nicole tonight? Like, was she here setting up or anything?”

Dave gave me a weird look, then looked down in thought. “Uh, no, guess I haven’t,” he replied thoughtfully. “She didn’t come in after you set up outside?”

Son of a bitch. Plan C. “Sydney came tonight, right? Can you text her to come out to the main hallway?”

Dave gave me a look. “Uh, sure?” he replied, whipping out his phone. “Everything okay?”

“Maybe. Hopefully. Just be quick please,” I replied, fiddling with my hands. I was nervous. I didn’t like this. Nicole would have shown up tonight. She would have told me. Hell, if she just wanted to let down Allistair, I bet she would have been glad to do it to his face. Luckily, Sydney arrived decently quickly, with Rick not too far behind.

“Hey! You needed me?” she casually opened, her goth makeup contrasting her soft demeanor. 

“Nicole’s not here,” I informed her. “My dad was her ride home. She would have told me. I’m worried.”

“Worried? Why?” Dave asked, as concern clouded Sydney’s and Rick’s faces immediately. Their eyes shifted to Dave simultaneously, then to the door. 

Sydney acted first. “We’re going to call her, we’ll be outside,” she informed Dave as she rushed us outside.

“If you go out, I can’t let you back in, even Council membe-”

“Fuck you, Dave! This is an emergency!” Sydney screeched, effectively shutting Dave up. The three of us walked out into the cold night, the two not caring they had coats on.

“Did you call her?” she asked, whipping her phone. I nodded, and she added, “Fuck. Okay. Um, I have her home phone here, I’ll try that.” She bobbed in place from the cold, as did Rick and I, as we stood at the front of the school, eagerly waiting for her to pick up. The phone rang a few times, and then Sydney’s eyes lit up in urgency.

“Hi! Uh – oh, Mrs. Baker? Hi, it’s Sydney from – yeah. That’s right. She didn’t show and… I…” She listened to the other end, nodding along for a bit, her expression growing more and more serious. Eventually, her eyes went wider, and she audibly gasped. “…What?!” she exclaimed.

“What is it, what?” Rick asked urgently. I stared silently as Sydney waved him away, still listening to the other end.

Eventually, her eyes rose to ours, profound worry in them. My heart sank before she even covered her end of the phone and opened her mouth, but the next sentence shot my heart straight down into the bowels of Hell. “Nicole’s in the fucking hospital.”

---

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