“I really don’t know,” I said. “I went in there to fucking ask her for help with my homework, and she flipped her shit. She brought up Nathan, asking if he told me something, and then she walked over to the window and just fucking jumped out.”
Connor took a deep breath in, then out. “That’s all she said?”
“Yeah. She didn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
“Did you tell your principal the same story?” he asked, which was weird, but I ignored it.
“Mostly. I left Nathan out of it,” I replied, and he nodded.
When the SUV reached the highway, I was relieved that it took the on-ramp headed to North Postings as opposed to South Postings. At least I was headed home. I sat quietly while Connor clicked rapidly at his phone. Then he locked it and slid it into his pocket. There was a knowing expression to his face, but whatever he knew or didn’t know couldn’t matter less to me. I just wanted to go home.
I had a phone call to make.
“Do you think you can keep the details of this interaction to yourself?” Connor asked. “We don’t need nasty rumors flying about.”
“There’s nothing to share,” I replied. “Whatever this has to do with Nathan is between y’all.”
Connor nodded. “Very good.” The SUV pulled up in front of my house, and the lights were off, meaning my mom was probably already gone for work. “Don’t worry about your parole officer. I’ll deal with that. Principal Hix as well.”
“I don’t need any favors, Connor,” I growled.
Connor seemed unphased. “I’m just trying to be a dad, just like I was before.”
To say I was unconvinced would be an understatement, but I didn’t care. I was so uncomfortable that my skin was starting to crawl, so I accepted the statement and got out of the car. I made my way into my house and back to my bedroom. I quickly pulled out my phone. Sicily probably should have been the first call on my list, or at least Annika, but my hands went almost of their own will to one number only.
The phone trilled a few times, and then the other line picked up. “Oh my god,” Cherri’s voice was wavering like she’d been crying. “Where are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, feeling the closest to tears I’d ever been in my entire life. Just hearing her voice was such a relief. I could barely focus. “I had to hear your voice.”
“I needed to hear yours,” she replied. “Deon. I’m sorry. I’m so…” She sniffled. “Are you going back to prison?”
“I don’t think so,” I responded.
“What happened?” she asked. “Hi,” she said suddenly, and it didn’t sound like she was talking to me.
“Cherri?” I asked.
“Sorry,” she replied to me. “Hang on. Avery’s here. I kind of passed out earlier.”
“What? Are you okay?” I asked, panicked.
“Yeah. Hang on.” I could hear Avery and Cherri speaking back and forth before Cherri finally thanked and said goodbye to Avery. “Dee?”
“I’m here,” I replied. “To answer your question, I have no idea what happened. She just fucking flipped out, Cherri. She started asking me about Nathan, she asked if I wanted her to get down on her knees, and then she jumped out the motherfucking window.”
Cherri let out a weak chuckle. “Not the first body that’s ever hit the ground in front of you. You were just at the top this time.”
Hearing it laid out that way started to make me wonder. It couldn’t be a coincidence that two bodies fell from the sky in my life. One of them appeared to be deeply embroiled with my dad and brother. Did that mean the other one was too?
“Suddenly, I’m feeling like all this shit happening in my life isn’t just a series of terrible accidents.”
Cherri scoffed. “I know what you mean. I think we’ve both realized we’re in the center of the spider’s web a little too late to get out.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Fuck.”
24
Cherri
Alistair kept an arm wrapped tightly around my shoulders as we walked toward the front doors of the school the next morning. Spending the night talking to Deon had calmed my nerves some, but I barely got any sleep and was exhausted. The only silver lining, if there was one to be had, was that classes had all been canceled in consideration of helping students process what happened with Miss Abrams. School counselors and Principal Hix walked around, passing out pamphlets about how to deal with grief, suicide, and trauma, among other things, and special staff had been called in to host seminars in each of these subjects. Students weren’t required to attend any of the seminars but were required to stay on school grounds and check in with their homeroom a few times throughout the day.
“Thanks for picking me up, Ali,” I hummed. “I just didn’t think it was a great idea for me to drive.”
“Are you kidding?” Alistair said. “You know I’ve always got your back. You know, one of the girls would have done it, but…”
“I know. Avery told me. Colette had to help organize, and she came early to help. It’s okay. You’re just as good.”
He laughed. “Well, I know that’s not true, but I’ll take it.” I rested my head on his shoulder. The relief felt a lot like a hangover, so I relied on his weight to keep me upright. I kept my eyes peeled for Deon, though he didn’t seem to be around, at least not yet. To break the silence, he asked, “Which of these things should we go to?”
None of them sounded appetizing, but before I could decide which was the least of several evils, Alistair was ripped out of my grip. I was leaning against him so much that I nearly toppled over, but Nathan caught me and wrapped an arm possessively around my waist.
“Keep your hands off her,” he hissed at Alistair.
“Stop it,” I barked at him.
Nathan looked at me, slightly shocked, but did back down.
