Chapter 5 #2
I sigh and reach down to grab her feet. Sam holds on to her arms and her head falls back. Maybe she actually fainted since she doesn't flinch when I touch her.
Sam staggers forward. “Is she made of lead or something?”
“No, your arms are hollow.”
He gives me a disapproving look. “You think you’re so funny.”
I smile. “Let’s go.”
Emma’s body dips, barely off the ground, and I have to adjust her skirt every few feet to keep it from riding up.
We inch toward the stairs leading to the front doors, but right before Sam makes his first step up, his hand slips and Emma’s head hits the ground.
“Oh snap.” Sam’s hand flies to his mouth. Then he points a finger at me. “I only dropped her because you suggested it.”
I set her feet down. “Sure you did.”
We both creep closer and hover above her, waiting for any sign of life. I half expect her eyes to fly open and for her to attack me again.
She doesn’t move.
Sam waves his hand in front of her face, but again, no reaction. “Is she dead?” he whispers.
“I doubt it. She’s basically a roach. I don’t think it’s possible to kill her.” She might have a bump on her head tomorrow, but she’s done far more dangerous things and come out unscathed. “She can sleep through just about anything.”
“What do we do now?” Sam asks.
I shake my head and adjust my glasses. “Just grab her bag. I’ll carry her the rest of the way.”
“Like you can—”
I take her arm and wrap it around my neck, lifting her swiftly.
Sam clears his throat. “It appears your arms are in fact . . . not hollow.”
My arms are burning, but I don’t let it show. The sooner we get her to the nurse’s office, the sooner I can go back to ignoring her.
I step up, aiming for the doors.
Sam grabs the bag and then hurries in front of me to open the door. He bows. “After you, Sir Lifts-a-lot.”
“Shut up.”
He smirks. “Oh, come on. You know you love it.”
I brush past him, walking down the hallway. All eyes turn on me, making heat rise on the back of my neck. I wish they’d look away, but their curious expressions follow me all the way around the corner.
I can already hear the rumors starting. Why is Myles with Emma?
Plenty of the students at Cardale went to school with us in elementary and middle school, back when Emma and I were still friends. It’s no secret that something happened between us. They just don’t know what it was.
I ignore everyone.
By the time I get to the nurse’s office, I’m out of breath and my arms ache. I need to set Emma down before I drop her for a second time.
Then again, she’d deserve it after beating me up.
The nurse holds the door wide open. “What happened to Miss Adler?”
Sam follows behind me. “She fainted.”
The nurse makes a face that's a cross between annoyance and frustration. “It wouldn’t be the first time. Bring her here,” she says, leading me to a cot in the back of the room.
I set Emma down. Her head falls onto the pillow, knocking some of the hair out of her face and revealing the drool coming from her mouth.
This girl . . .
I look up at the nurse, rubbing the back of my neck. “Could I get an ice pack?”
She nods. “Yes, of course. Did you get hurt?” She’s an older lady with white hair and enough laugh lines on her face to know she’s lived a great life.
I should tell her the truth, but Emma looks a little too pathetic in her dead opossum position. Besides, if I tell the truth, I’ll have to talk to the principal and it’ll turn into a much bigger deal. Our parents might be called, and I want to keep my mom as far from here as possible. “I fell.”
“You should be more careful,” she says, shaking her finger at me.
“Yeah, you really should be more careful,” Sam echoes, smiling and pointing his finger too.
I glare at him.
Thankfully, it’s all out of view of the nurse.
She walks over to the cupboards, rummaging through every single one before opening the drawers underneath them.
“I thought I had some more instant ice packs, but it looks like I’m out.
Why don’t you sit down on that cot over there, and I’ll be right back.
” She gives me a soft smile and gestures to the cot next to Emma’s.
“Okay, thank you,” I say, sitting. My cot is closer to Emma’s than I’d like, but there isn’t another option. The room is relatively small. It has white curtains hanging from the ceiling that I could pull between us, but I won’t be here long enough to warrant it.
“You fell?” Sam asks, leaning against the exposed brick wall on the other side of the room.
I shrug.
“You were trampled.” His eyebrows fly up. “Attacked. Brutally beaten. You’re fortunate to be alive.”
I rub the back of my neck to stop my headache from getting any worse, but my muscles are so tight I think it’s a lost cause. I’ve been on edge all month, afraid my mom will catch on to my lie, and this is the last thing I need.
Still, death is a bit of an exaggeration. “I think that's a stretch.”
“Nah, she destroyed you. She probably would’ve”—he drags his finger across his neck and clicks his tongue—“if I hadn’t been there to save you.”
He can’t be serious. “You saved me?”
“I think that was obvious. I was so powerful I knocked her out without doing a thing,” he says, gesturing toward her like he’s throwing an invisible weapon.
“Yeah, ‘without doing a thing’ is right.”
His lip curls up like he ate something sour. “Ha-ha.”
“Your words, not mine,” I say, holding back a smile.
“What’s the deal with her sister? What did you do?”
I roll my eyes. “I have no idea.”
“You should ask her,” Sam says.
That sounds like a nightmare. I’d rather come face-to-face with a lion than have to interact with her again. I’ll be better off ignoring her ambush this morning and going on with my life like nothing happened.
A startled snore pulls my attention back to Emma.
I don’t know how she can sleep in a room this bright.
The room is drowning in sunshine. It’s pouring in from the window directly into her face, and yet, her chest rises and falls without skipping a beat.
She’s always been able to sleep in the most awkward places.
Need a bed? Nope. She could sleep on the porch, in her tree house, or in a rickety old chair.
As long as her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving, she’d be asleep.
Even after all this time, I still remember that.
Emma shifts her weight and her body dips over the edge of the cot because somehow in her deep slumber she’s forgotten how gravity works.
Before I have time to react, she crashes to the ground with a thud. Her eyes fly open, staring up at me as she’s wedged between the two cots.
On autopilot I jump to my feet, bending down to check on her. I don’t have time to talk myself out of it because I’m in shock after watching her pancake onto the floor.
Her eyes widen so much I think they might pop out of her head.
Reluctantly, I offer my hand. “Are you—”
She lets out a bloodcurdling scream and kicks her leg toward me with all her might, striking me right in the crotch.
My jaw drops and pain shoots through my body as my knees buckle.
I grab the side of the cot, gripping it so tight I might actually rip a hole in it.
My stomach lurches, and it takes all of my concentration not to throw up.
I can’t even say anything because I’m in so much pain, and she deserves to be yelled at.
She deserves to be verbally assaulted with all of the vile lines I’ve rehearsed in my head over the last couple of years.
Sam rushes over. “Don’t worry, I got you, man.”
He tries to pull me back, but I’m in too much pain to move. “It’s a little late, don’t you think?”
Emma covers her mouth with shaking hands. “It’s really you. I wasn’t dreaming.” She scoots away from me, which I find odd considering she’s the violent one. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be locked up?”
Again with the prison talk. Why is she talking nonsense? I’ve never done anything remotely close to something worth getting arrested for. I don’t jaywalk, I color in the lines, and with the mother I have, I don’t even have the opportunity to misbehave because she smothers me.
“Uh, no.” I grimace, trying to speak. I cough to clear my throat.
“I’m at school.” Where else would I be on a Wednesday morning?
I know better than to skip school because I have to be the perfect student for the rest of baseball season.
If I get in trouble or let my grades fall, that would only give my mother more reason to look closer into my life.
Emma crawls toward me. A shiver runs down my back and my breath stills. It’s so odd being this close to her again and hearing her speak to me. I didn’t think I’d forgotten the way she sounds, but maybe I did. Her voice is so much fuller now.
Her hand comes closer and heat flashes through my entire body, but I can’t bring myself to move.
She almost touches my uniform like she’s trying to decide whether or not it’s real, but when her fingers get close, her face twists into a confused expression and she stops herself.
I have no idea what’s going through her head, but as she stares at me the color drains from her face. “Mallory.”
She pushes down on my shoulder to give herself leverage to stand, and I hit my head on the cot. As soon as she’s back on her feet, she runs out of the room.
There’s no explanation. No apology. Nothing. She’s just gone.
“Why did you just stand there?” I ask, glaring at Sam.
He shrugs. “Well, she’s kinda scary.”
“No kidding.”
He offers me a hand, outstretched like an olive branch, as if it’ll make up for his lack of help before.
Reluctantly, I take it. Once I’m on my feet, I straighten my blazer.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and the words staring back at me make my fingers go numb.
Mallory Adler:
I need to see you.