“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.
Chapter Eight
Present: Day One at Sea
Gigi and Emma turn around in their seats to look at Sequim, all of us seemingly lost in our thoughts as our hometown drifts by in the backdrop. It’s undeniably beautiful with the snowcapped Olympic Mountains behind it. But there’s a heaviness in my chest, no matter how long I look at it. Despite how much I sometimes hated Courtney, it feels selfish, somehow, to enjoy the moment without her.
“I just read this true crime book,” Beth says, breaking the silence. “And the Sea Will Tellby Vincent Bugliosi, the district attorney who prosecuted Charles Manson.”
