Chapter Seven
“You do it.” Courtney thrust the bottle of Dawn dish soap at me in the corner of the locker room.
In the background, the hiss of showers rose, drowning out our whispers.
“I don’t know . . .” I glanced at the door to the gym where Beth and Gigi were still running laps after we’d beaten them in a scrimmage during volleyball practice.
Beth’s words to me in the hallway before first period replayed in my mind.
“I’d be careful, Courtney’s probably using you for something.”
“Using me?” I snapped at Beth.
The bell rang, and the morning crowd began to empty into various classrooms down the long hall. When I got out of Courtney’s car in the school’s parking lot, Beth had given me a death stare. And now she was talking to me like Courtney and I couldn’t be growing closer because she actually liked me?
Ever since Courtney had suggested I stay with her while my mom was with her sister in California, Beth had seemed weird about our friendship. My aunt was literally dying of cancer, and apparently all Beth could see was how Courtney was stealing me away.
“Buttering you up,” Beth added. “You know Courtney. Don’t you think it’s weird that she insisted you live with her while your mom is with your aunt?”
“No, we’re friends.” I followed Beth inside Mr. Guthrey’s classroom, trying not to take offense at what Beth was implying.
“Yeah, but not like that,” Beth said over her shoulder. “I’m guessing she wants something from you.”
Now I was irritated. Beth already shared a room with her younger sister, so I couldn’t impose on her like that.
“Would you rather my mom pull me out of school and homeschool me in California? That’d be awesome, spend half my senior year in a completely different state.”
Beth didn’t say anything, her gaze on the whiteboard at the front of the class.
“I think it was generous,” I said, “Courtney offering to have me stay.” Was it really so hard to believe that Courtney and I could be close? “You’re just jealous. And mad that I never called you back last night.” I slid into the desk beside Beth.
“Whatever.” Beth flashed me a dirty look that I hadn’t seen since elementary school. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Come on.” Courtney squeezed my arm, lowering her voice. “It will be so funny. Every volleyball captain deserves a little initiation.”
I shook my head, glancing at the outline of Emma washing her hair behind the shower curtain on the other side of the locker room.
Two other girls from our team occupied the shower stalls on either side of her.
“I feel bad. What if she gets hurt?” I thought of the division championship game we had coming up this weekend.
Emma was our best player, and if we won, we moved on to regionals.
Courtney rolled her eyes. “It’s just a joke. Don’t be a pussy.” She pressed the dish soap against the towel wrapped around my chest.
I started to shake my head again when a twinkle appeared in Courtney’s eyes. “Does Jake know you have that photo of the two of you from our sophomore yearbook in your locker?” She smiled. “I’ll tell him if you don’t do it.”
My mouth fell open in horror. “You wouldn’t!” I’d had a thing for Jake since freshman year, even though he was way out of my league. And he was now dating Emma. I don’t know how Courtney had seen the photo—I’d kept it tucked away. And the only person who knew about my secret crush was Beth.
“What would Emma think of you burning a candle for her new boyfriend?”
I glanced at the door of the gym. Still closed.
“Come on!”
Reluctantly, I allowed Courtney to pull me toward the three occupied showers. Emma was singing Alicia Keys’s “If I Ain’t Got You.”
Courtney slid the rubber mat out of the way with her foot and pointed to the concrete floor. Do it, she mouthed.
I leaned over, then paused. Hearing a click, I looked to Courtney, who held up her phone.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Just capturing the moment so we can laugh about this later.”
I straightened, letting the dish soap fall to my side. What if Emma breaks something? “I can’t.”
Emma turned off the water. Courtney’s eyes rolled upward in exaggerated annoyance.
She swiped the soap bottle from my hand and squirted the clear-blue liquid over the floor in front of Emma’s shower.
My mouth fell open at the soap glistening on the concrete floor as Courtney pushed me back behind a row of lockers.
The door to the gym swung open while Courtney and I crouched. Courtney pressed her finger to her lips when we recognized Gigi’s voice as she entered the locker room.
“Those laps were brutal! Next time—”
An ear-piercing scream erupted from the showers seconds before a thud—and a crack—sounded against the cement floor.
“Emma!” Gigi shrieked.
Courtney’s eyes doubled in size, and she buried the soap bottle beneath the clothes in her locker.
“Aah,” Emma moaned in agony as Coach Kelly came flying through the door.
“What the—” Our coach raced across the room while Courtney and I emerged from behind the lockers.
The two other girls had come out of their showers, dripping wet and clutching their towels. They gaped in horror at Emma, writhing in torment between their feet.
Gigi and Beth were crouched around Emma on the floor. In the eleven years I’d known Emma, I’d never seen her cry—until now. Her face was beet red, twisted in pain. Tears streamed down both of her cheeks. She cried out, forcing her eyes shut as she reached for her ankle.
That’s when I saw it. I gasped while Coach Kelly got to her knees, inserting herself between Gigi and Emma.
“Don’t touch it!” Emma screamed.
The side of Emma’s ankle jutted out at a horrifyingly unnatural angle, and her foot lay limp on its side.
“There’s soap on the floor,” Gigi exclaimed, lifting her hand off the concrete.
Beside me, Courtney drew in a sharp breath.
Coach Kelly’s head whipped in our direction. “You were the only other two in here. Did you do this?”
“No.” Courtney shook her head. “But we saw who did. Two guys. They had hoodies on, so it was hard to see their faces. But they were tall, like Bryson and Jake. I’m almost positive it was them.
” Courtney gestured to me. “We heard them snickering before they ran out the fire door. I thought they were just being pervs.”
Emma gritted her teeth. The color had drained from her face, which was now nearly as white as her towel. “I didn’t hear anyone.”
Coach Kelly frowned. Her eyes shifted to mine. “Is that true, Palmer?”
Emma’s tear-filled eyes locked with mine. I looked away, afraid she would read the guilt on my face. I knew I should tell the truth, but I sensed Courtney’s ice-cold stare in my periphery.
I swallowed, hating myself. “Yeah, I saw them too.”
“Come on in, girls.” Emma’s mom swung the door wide to Emma’s private hospital room in Port Angeles when Beth and I arrived.
“Thanks for coming,” she said, leading the way to Emma’s bed by the window.
“You know, Gigi’s mom was the one who treated Emma in the ER.
She was wonderful,” she said over her shoulder. “Sweetheart, your friends are here.”
Emma opened her eyes, looking groggy. She wore a blue-and-white hospital gown, and her right ankle was elevated, concealed in a protective splint.
“She just got out of surgery,” her mom told us. “So she’s a little drowsy.”
Beth went to Emma’s side. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” Emma said.
“Emma Grace . . .” Her mom frowned. “Watch your language.”
Emma’s gaze traveled to her ankle. “I’ll be out for the rest of the season. So much for playing in our division championship this weekend.”
Emma’s eyes narrowed when she spotted me standing behind Beth. I swallowed.
“Hey, Emma.” I felt horrible, knowing Emma was hoping to get scouted by the Elliott Bay University coach who was rumored to be coming to the division tournament.
Emma was hands down the best player on our team. While the rest of us had aspirations of other careers, Emma’s dream was to play in the Pro Volleyball Federation after college. Playing for Elliott Bay University would help her chances a lot.
Emma opened her mouth to speak, but her mom’s phone rang. She dug through her purse as the ringing grew louder, then checked the caller ID on the flip phone.
“It’s my boss. I’ll be right back.” She exhaled, lifting the phone to her ear as she left the room. “Hi, Dr. Campbell,” she said as she stepped into the hall.
“Where’s Courtney?” Emma asked.
Hearing her name made me feel sick to my stomach.
“And Gigi?”
Beth bit her lip, looking at me to answer.
“Courtney insisted they still go to the football game.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Of course she did.”
“But they’re coming here afterward,” I quickly added. “And Courtney asked me to bring you these clothes she didn’t want.”
I set the Nordstrom bag that reeked of Courtney’s perfume on a chair, and my face flushed with shame, knowing Courtney’s shallow peace offering in no way made up for what we did.
Emma glared at the bag. “I’m not her charity case anymore.” She leaned back against her pillow and met my gaze, her eyes brimming with tears. “Courtney did this on purpose. And she can’t buy her way out of it.”
I wanted to admit it. Tell her she was right. But then I replayed the threats Courtney had made to me after I’d pulled her aside and insisted we tell the truth while Emma was being hauled away in the ambulance.
“We could get expelled!” Courtney hissed.
I gaped at her. “But we didn’t mean for Emma to break her ankle. And I didn’t do it—you did.”
Courtney narrowed her eyes. “That’s not what the photo shows on my phone,” Courtney said, as if I were the stupidest person she’d ever met.
I went quiet, taken aback by her threat.
“Plus, the school won’t care that it was meant to be a joke. They’ll just destroy our lives. We could even be facing criminal charges. Didn’t you see the news about what happened to those two sophomores last week in California who were charged with harassment after prank calling?”
“It was an accident,” I said to Emma.
“You’re covering up for her. Stop lying.” Emma sat up in bed.
I shook my head. I was planning to go to medical school. I couldn’t face expulsion or have something like this on my record.
Emma’s eyes narrowed at the silver Nordstrom bag. She gripped her hospital water jug until her knuckles turned white, then threw it at the shopping bag.
“Emma!” Beth said, her eyes wide. “Calm down.”
“I’ll kill her.”
“Emma,” Beth pursed her lips as if she were scolding a child. “Don’t say that.”
“Oh, stop!” Emma said. “Courtney did this on purpose. Now she’s going to replace me as the team captain, and with me on the bench, she’ll have less competition to get scouted this weekend. I know you had nothing to do with it, Palm.”
Beth looked at me, and my face flushed with guilt. I hadn’t even told her the truth.
“Whatever Courtney’s threatening you with, it isn’t worth it,” Emma continued. “She’s reckless. Dangerous. She needs to face the consequences this time. Palmer, come on. You saw her, I know you did. Tell the truth.”
Emma’s intense blue eyes drilled into mine as Beth waited expectantly beside me.
I slowly shook my head. “It was two guys, like we said.”
Emma tore her gaze from mine and silently watched the rain beat against the window.
I hated myself for lying, knowing my friendship with Emma would likely never be the same.
Emma didn’t deserve this. But if I told the truth, Courtney would make sure I took the blame for what she did.
A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled searching Courtney’s eyes for even a flicker of regret after Emma had been taken away in the ambulance.
Instead of remorse, Courtney’s eyes had held a cold, hollow indifference that could only belong to someone who enjoyed watching others break.