She closes the door and hurries after me as I walk into the living room area. “Oh my God, are you okay? I’ve been so worried about you.”
I sink down into a chair and yank my hand through my hair. “I honestly don’t know. I feel a little sick and guilty that River has to clean up my mess. Plus, I lost my phone.” I’m babbling. Thank God, I managed to keep quiet to River about my aunt.
I lower my head into my hands. I have a headache, and I’m so exhausted I can feel it in my soul.
She takes a seat beside me and places a hand on my back. “Hey, everything will be okay. River doesn’t look at it as if he’scleaning up your mess. If anything, it’s Noah’s fault for getting into the mess.”
“Did he tell you why he was in this mess?” I ask since I told River to hear the truth first before he judged.
“No one tells me anything. River and Finn especially keep a ton of stuff from me.” Bitterness edges into her tone. “I’m surprised they even told me what happened to you. And they didn’t tell me much.”
I lift my head and find her staring at me with hope in her eyes that maybe I’ll offer that up.
“I got jumped,” I offer her part of the truth, but I question if I should tell her the entire story. It might be dangerous for her to know. “By someone at the school, I think,” I add when confusion crosses her features.
“Someone jumped you?” She shakes her head in astonishment. “What did they do?”
“Knocked me out and dragged me into the woods. River found me because of this.” I tap the watch on my wrist. “He gave it to me the other day and apparently has a GPS in it.”
“That’s good. I mean, not that you were jumped, but that he gave that to you. But …” Her lips are parted in shock. “Why would anyone jump you?”
Again, I could tell her about the society, but Finn has stressed to be careful talking about it. Plus, I saw society members running around on the football field in cloaks and with knives. Add what they did to me, and I think Finn was right.
“Because I’m a northsider?” I shrug. “I don’t know.” It’s the truth, too.
Normally, when stuff like this happens, it’s due to my mother or father screwing me over. But this is a different world where my parents couldn’t be involved. River said it may have had to do with his initiation, but the society was already after me before that.
Her blonde hair is smoothed back in a ponytail, her makeup is done, and she has on white pants and a lavender top. It’s obvious she was heading somewhere before I showed up.
Needing a break from talking about this, I ask, “Are you heading out?”
“To class, but I can skip if you need me to,” she offers as she reaches for her bag. “Wren can take notes for me.”
I stop her with a shake of my head. “Go to class. I’m fine. I think I’m just going to go to sleep, anyway.”
She hesitates. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, we’ll talk later.” I force a smile that actually aches.
She frowns. Then, with a quiet sigh, she gets up and leaves the dorm.
I sink back into the chair and stare up at the ceiling, my brain straining to grasp what happened to me yesterday. One minute, I’d been hurrying to get to Noah, and the next, I was jumped. Then I blacked out and woke up in the woods.
Not being able to recall anything that happened between the blackout and when I woke up gives me an icky feeling that makes my stomach churn.
Maybe River is right. Perhaps I should get checked out by a doctor. But I’m not about to let him pay for one. I’ll go to the free northside clinic. I’ll skip class today, which isn’t ideal, but is necessary.
Dragging my butt up, I go into my room and change into a pair of loose jeans and a baggy T-shirt. I pull my hair into a high ponytail, slip on my sneakers, then grab my wallet. I’m lucky I didn’t have it on me yesterday, but I don’t have my phone, and I have no clue when I’ll have enough money to purchase a new one.
What the hell am I going to do? Lily is helping me get that job waitressing for the event planner her mom knows, but how am I supposed to stay connected with her if I don’t have a phone?I want to bang my head on the wall. Maybe later. Right now, I need to catch the next bus so I can move on from this.
As I’m exiting the room, River is about to knock. He startles, lowering his hand and blinking a few times
“Shit, you scared me.” He shifts his weight. “I was about to knock.”
“Yeah, I got that.” I step out and shut the door, only realizing as it clicks shut that I have no way of getting back inside.
His eyes scroll over me. “Are you going to class?”
