Chapter 7 #2
Paxton sighed. “Can we get this Scooby-Doo cosplay adventure going? Some of us have lives.”
“Yeah, Paxton has a date with his hand,” Bryce said, an easy grin on his face.
Paxton flipped him off.
Nika set her water glass down with a thud. “We thought, in light of them finding Mr. Stephens’s—” She swallowed hard. Took a breath. Continued. “Body, we should maybe get together with the other people who were threatened in the yearbook.”
“Never thought I’d be on a murder list.” Camryn tilted her head thoughtfully. “Is it weird that I’m kind of proud?”
Bryce flicked one of the sugar packets across the table, grinning when it landed in Martina’s lap. “I think you’re overreacting. Dude probably just drove his car into the lake.”
Paxton threw his hands up. “Thank you!” He glared at Zara. “See, it’s not just me.” He flopped back into his chair. “And who can blame him? I mean, have you ever seen what teachers make?”
“That’s awful.” Zara pointed at him. “You’re awful.”
Paxton shrugged, unconcerned by Zara’s assessment. “I’m just saying the truth here.”
Camryn set her elbows on the table, leaning forward. “So, what, it’s just a coincidence that he died in the exact way the yearbook said he would?”
Bryce spread out his hands. “Could be. Coincidences do happen.”
The waitress appeared then, distributing drinks and Martina’s fries. “The rest will be out soon, hons.” They thanked her and waited until she walked away to start talking again.
“I’m not agreeing with Bryce or Paxton,” Zara said as she stirred her soda with her straw. “But we don’t have any proof that he was murdered.” She held up one hand. “Yet. And there’s another option.”
“What?” Nika asked, her brows furrowed. “He died naturally and just happened to drive into a lake?”
“No,” Zara said. “But what if he sabotaged the yearbook? He could have done it as a final fuck-you to the school or us or something before taking his own life.”
Martina grabbed the ketchup bottle. “Okay, but if that was the case, why us? Did any of us have a beef with Mr. Stephens?”
Alexis and Landon immediately shook their heads. Bryce frowned, thinking.
“I’m not sure I ever talked to him, really,” Camryn said. “He wasn’t my counselor.”
“He was pretty supportive of me,” Nika said.
Paxton sneered. “Of course he was.”
Nika glared at him.
“We argued a bit about the yearbook,” Zara said, frowning thoughtfully at her drink. “But nothing too bad, I don’t think. Just normal creative differences.”
“He gave me detention once,” Bryce admitted.
Alexis looked at him. “For what?”
Bryce just shrugged.
Paxton threw one arm over the back of the empty chair, sprawling out like he was king of the table. “Well, Stephens and I got along just peachy.”
Zara frowned at this. “Didn’t he threaten to throw you off yearbook?”
Paxton’s expression smoothed out. “I don’t know what you’re implying, but I’m sure your sources are exaggerating.”
“It’s me,” Zara said dryly. “I’m my sources.”
“Whatever,” Paxton muttered.
Alexis ignored him, dragging the conversation back on topic. “Seems a bit far-fetched.”
The waitress returned, dropping off the rest of the food to the silent table. Though everyone went through the motions, only Bryce seemed to have an actual appetite.
“So that’s it?” Camryn looked around the table, incredulity marking not only her face, but her voice. “We’re all on a murder list, and you’re just going to shrug and say it’s fine?”
Paxton rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because it is fine. Because the whole thing is bullshit.”
“If it’s bullshit, why were Rick’s tires slashed today?” Martina looked at everyone at the table as she said this, like she was waiting for a confession.
“Pretty sure there are lots of reasons to slash Hicks’s tires,” Paxton said, smirking. “I can think of ten right now.”
Rick clenched his jaw, his hand tightening on his mug.
Paxton leaned forward to start in again, but Alexis cut him off with a slash of her hand. “What can we do?” She looked at everyone, her voice calm, but her fingers trembled as she reached for her glass. “I’m open to other options.”
“If we want to know what’s going on,” Zara said, jabbing her fork into her side salad, “we’re going to have to figure it out. It’s on us. No one’s going to tell us anything.”
Paxton shoved away his mostly untouched food. “Look, you can all live out your Scooby-Doo dreams without me. I’m out.” He stood abruptly, zipping up his jacket as he walked away.
“I’m not paying for your food, Embry,” Bryce said to his retreating back.
Paxton didn’t turn around, waving one hand over his shoulder. “I’ll venmo you.”
“We should probably get the check,” Landon said, mopping up the last of his eggs with a piece of toast. “I still have to study for my history test tomorrow.”
Nika watched them all dig out their wallets, her lips pressed tight.
Camryn touched Zara’s arm. “We’ll help. I don’t think this is over. It’s just…where do we start?”
Zara didn’t seem to have an answer, her expression clouded with thought.
Martina glanced at Rick before adding, “Whatever we can do to help. We’re in.”
Bryce shook his head, a smile on his face. “You’re all wasting your time on this. You’ll see.” He popped the last of his pickle into his mouth. “I bet you that wasn’t even Mr. Stephens in that car. He faked his own death and is on the run.”
Martina’s eyebrows went up. “Usually when they release someone’s name to the news like that, they’ve had a positive ID.”
Bryce rested his arms along the back of the booth. “That’s just what they want you to think.”
Nika stared at him. “Unbelievable.”
No one argued with the statement. Rick definitely felt it was all pretty unbelievable, but he also knew they were wasting their breath trying to convince Bryce. Everyone seemed to feel the same as they slid out of their spots at the table to go pay their tabs at the register.
By the time Rick and Martina were finished paying their own bills, the rest of the group was already outside.
“I should tell them about the note,” he said. “From this morning.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t mention it at the table,” Martina said. “Figured you had a reason.”
Rick dug his hands into his pockets. “What if one of them wrote it? I’m not like Bryce or Paxton, looking for conspiracies, but…” He rocked back on his heels, staring at the floor.
“But you can see Paxton taking advantage of the situation and leaving a note to freak you out.” She signed her receipt, handing it back to the cashier. “I get that. But yeah, I think it would be a good idea to tell the people who actually seem to give a shit.”
They pushed through the door together, the cold air slapping them awake. The parking lot was mostly empty, their group already gone except for Nika, Camryn, and Zara, who were clustered around Camryn’s truck.
Rick jogged over to them, Martina at his heels. “Hey,” he said as he got closer. “There’s something you might want to know.” He explained about the note on his doorstep.
“Well, that’s terrifying,” Camryn said.
Zara straightened up, eyes wide. “Can we see it?”
Nika reached out, putting her hand gently onto Rick’s arm. “That must have been really scary. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “I’m fine. But we don’t have the note. We gave it to Teeny’s mom.”
Zara sighed. “You’ll never see it again, then. Amateur move, Hicks.”
“Which is why I took a picture of it before I handed it over,” Martina said, showing them her phone. They all looked solemnly at the photos of both sides of the note.
“Do you think it’s a threat?” Zara asked. “Or someone messing with you?”
“I don’t know.” Rick checked the time on his phone. “But I do know my mom had my uncle stay over tonight. Just in case. So I better be getting home.”
“Be careful,” Nika said softly.
“I think that’s good advice,” Camryn said, looking troubled as she stared at the picture on Martina’s phone. “For all of us.”
Zara adjusted her glasses. “Being careful is good, but sitting around and waiting to see how things play out isn’t smart. I’m going to try and see if I can figure out who hacked into the yearbook and when, or at least figure out the list of who had access to that information.”
Camryn handed Martina back her phone. “The eyes on that note freak me right the fuck out. Which makes me think that, yeah, going the sitting-duck route doesn’t sound so good.”
“We need to figure out what we have in common.” Nika dug her hands into her jacket pockets, her expression pinched in thought. “Why us? What’s so special about us that someone chose to target this specific group?”
“It’s got to be something from school,” Martina said. “None of us are connected outside of it.”
“I can make a spreadsheet,” Nika said, shivering a little in the cold night air. She snuggled deeper into her jacket. “That would make it easy to cross-reference any clubs, extracurriculars, classes—” She stopped when she saw Rick shaking his head. “What? You think it’s a bad idea?”
“I think it’s a great idea. It just won’t apply to me.” Rick didn’t join things, mostly because he lacked the resources, and he wasn’t just talking about money. Things like time and interest were also on that list. “I don’t play sports. I’m not in anything after school.”
“Even last year?” Zara asked. “Because whatever started this happened before the yearbooks went to print.”
Rick bit back what he wanted to say, which was every year since my dad took off, since that was no one’s business but his own. “Even last year.”
“Well,” Nika said, “that simplifies things for you, but I’m going to put all that stuff on the sheet anyway. I’d hate to leave something out and miss a common factor.”
Rick nodded. She was right, which of course she was, because that was Nika—clever and cute, and entirely out of his league.
Martina reached out and patted his arm reassuringly, probably guessing the path of his thoughts.
At least he had her—hard to be too sad when you had the best friend on the planet.
He smiled at her, tight-lipped, and bumped her with his shoulder.
Which was when a thought swam up from the depths of his mind, silent as a shark—what if Martina was on the list because of Rick?
What if being his best friend was the thing that might get her killed?
Had he tainted her somehow? But by doing what?
Not everyone liked him, but he didn’t think anyone hated him enough for this, and none of their pranks had hurt anyone that he knew of.
None of it made any sense.
Logical or not, the fear that, somehow, he’d caused this had him putting his arm around Martina and pulling her close to his side.
On the off chance this was somehow his fault, if he had put her in danger, then he would protect her as best he could.
He’d always said he would be her ride-or-die…
He just hadn’t really thought they’d have to take the phrase so literally.