Gasping, I reach for Madeline to pull her back, but I’m too slow.
Quinn hit his target perfectly, but not with a rock.
Shit smears across my window. It’s obvious what it is, even from this side of the glass.
“Oh, gross!” Madeline falls back onto the floor, scrambling to get away from the window. I grab her arm and pull her up and away so that they can’t see us. Before we can get to the other side of my room, there’s a sickening splat and more hits the window.
“Your room! Go!” We fly out of my room. I don’t even think about grabbing my key or anything that I might need later. All I want to do is get out of my room before something else happens, like the glass breaking.
Quinn is making his point clear.
I had told Madeline that now that I knew why he’s acting the way he is, I can handle it, but now I’m not so sure.
I’m pretty determined and strong willed, but shit on the window? I just hope that he’s not willing to push it farther than I can handle.
***
We spent the rest of the evening curled up on Madeline’s bed watching old movies. It was a hell of a day, and I’m surprised that I was even able to make it through it without going insane.
Madeline saw me getting ready to leave and slid off of her bed. “I’ll walk you to your room. Who knows if Quinn is waiting for you or anything.”
“I don’t think he’s that stupid,” I tell her, but I’m grateful for her presence as we walk down the halls. There’s music coming from some of the rooms, but most of the students have turned off their lights for the night. I should have been working on my piece, but I’m exhausted, and spending time with my friend was just as important.
We reach the door and I start to dig in my pockets for my key. “Oh, crap, I think I locked myself out.” Leaning against the doorframe, I try to remember picking up my key when we ran out to Madeline’s room, but I think that I left it. “Do you know how I can get back in?”
“I think it’s open.” Madeline reaches out and gives my door a push. It opens slowly, like it was never latched. “You’re lucky this time, Abs. Looks like you didn’t even lock it.”
“Oh, shit. Do you think someone would have come into my room? I’m worried about someone doing something to my things after the laptop incident.” Thinking hard, I try to remember whether or not I locked the door. “I guess that it doesn’t matter, though, right? What matters is that I can get in and everything’s fine.”
Snaking my arm around the doorframe, I click on the light and then push the rest of the door open. The first thing that I see is my key on the dresser by my bed, but my eyes don’t rest there long.
My room’s been trashed.
All of my clothes are pulled out of my dresser and strewn across my floor. It looks like someone then walked across them with muddy boots on. No, not mud.
I take a sniff and wrinkle my nose.
Someone walked across them with shitty boots on.
My stomach twists as I look around my room, but that’s not all that they did. The mirror above my dresser has been smashed and is on my bed in a thousand sharp, glittering pieces. There’s no way that I’m going to be able to get them out of my sheets and blankets without being at risk for getting cut.
I swallow hard and step into my room, turning to survey the damage. The shit on the window is clearly visible from here, but when I turn around, someone has left me a message on the wall by my door.
“Whore” is clearly written across the wall in bright red paint. The smell if it and the shit is overwhelming and I reach up, covering my mouth with my hand to try to keep from throwing up.
Madeline is still in the doorway, her face pale. “Abby, who did this?”
I can’t believe that she even has to ask. I know that it was Quinn and his friends, but I have no doubt that some of the other students were in on it, too. After picking up a ruined tank top, I brush past her and stomp down the hall. Alice lives here. Her room is close to mine, and I stomp down the hall towards it, ignoring the warning voice in the back of my head that tells me this is a bag idea.
I can’t get to the boys, not without getting in trouble trying to get into their dorm, but I’m pretty sure that she’s going to have answers for my questions. Someone had to let them into the girls’ dorm, and Alice is my prime suspect.
Madeline runs after me, calling my name, but all I can hear is the pounding of my heart. When I reach Alice’s door I bang on it, calling out her name.
“Alice, you bitch, get out here!” She doesn’t answer and I bang on it louder, using my whole fist to make the door shake. Someone peeks out of their room farther down the hall, but I ignore them. I don’t give a shit who I wake up right now.
Alice and I have something to discuss.
“I know that it was you! You bitch, get out here!” I pause, and when I do, I hear footsteps crossing the room, so I step back, holding my breath.
When she opens the door, she cracks it just enough to peer out and look at me. “What the hell is your problem, you whore?”
Whore.
Just the way she causally throws the word out at me and in my face sends a burst of anger through my body. I
