She shakes her head. “Spill it.”
The interest in my purse goes back to the go-bag. We were pulled from placements so often in the program that sometimes we didn’t have time to pack. So I started carrying a bag with essential items for Teeny and me. I was never without it and it always turned up in conversation.
“It’s nothing. I just got so used to carrying around my bag, it’s a hard habit to break.”
Thankfully, we’re interrupted when Emma and Ben show up.
“I still can’t believe we’re all hanging out again,” Catherine says to me in a low voice. “I keep waiting for her to do something to piss me off.”
“I know,” I reply quietly. Ethan’s twin sister, Emma, was not my biggest fan when I moved to this town, especially when her brother and I started hanging out.
Emma moves near us, obviously nervous, and I nod for her to sit down in the chair beside me.
“Hey,” she says quietly.
“Hey!” Catherine and I answer back, probably more enthusiastically than necessary. It’s awkward at first but it doesn’t take long before we’re talking about school and who’s hooking up and how we’re all ready for high school to finally be over.
Well, I’m the only one not ready for that last part. I don’t want all of us to be scattered to different colleges. Ethan and I have talked vaguely of our future plans but nothing has been decided.
The guys join us and Ethan lifts me out of my chair, and then sits me back down in his lap. If I’m acting different this week, so is he. It seems like the more nervous or distant I get, the closer and more touchy-feely he gets.
Not that I’m complaining.
Will sits on the arm of Catherine’s chair. “Okay, so next weekend we head to the Gulf to hang at Pearl’s cabin. I say we cut class Friday and get a head start.”
Pearl is Ethan’s aunt and owns the local pizzeria. Even though Dad said I didn’t have to continue working for her once we got out of the program, I’m still there almost every day after school. And Teeny’s usually there with me making pizzas in the back.
“Sounds good to me,” Ben answers.
Catherine pokes her bottom lip out. “I can’t cut any more days or I may not graduate.”
Ethan leans me to one side so he can dig around in his pocket, pulling his keys out. “These are stabbing into my leg.”
I realize a few seconds too late that he plans on putting his keys in my purse. The journal is on top so there is no way he won’t see it.
“Wait!” I grab for my bag, snagging the strap out of his hand, but I leaned too far over and fall out of his lap.
The journal lands on the floor practically at Ethan’s feet. I dive for it, but he beats me to it.
To make matters worse, the taped-up note Thomas left drifts to the ground right between us.
It’s in his hands and he’s reading it before I can even think about what to do. He is going to freak out. Big time.
Everyone is quiet.
Ethan’s eyes find mine and he’s not just freaked out. He’s pissed.
“Is this what I think it is?” he asks.
Catherine moves to his side and peeks over his shoulder, reading the note.
Her eyes get big as saucers. “Is this the journal you lost? How’d you get it back? Who’s ‘T’?”
The rest of the group surrounds us, all wanting to see the note and journal and hear my explanation.
“Yes, it is and I don’t know what the ‘T’ is for. That’s just how the note was signed.” It’s a lame answer and Ethan, at least, knows it. Of course the T is for Thomas, the only name I knew him by.
“When and where did you get this?” His voice sounds a bit like a growl.
