Ariana says nothing.
“You’d gone off Zach, you said. So I thought it was OK…”
Ariana sighs. “You’re right. I had gone off him. To be honest, I didn’t really mind that you were seeing him and I did try to stop the pile-on. But you know what people are like…”
Nika smiles and shakes her head ruefully. “I know. Unreal. But I’m OK, and it’s not your fault. Maybe I can come in and we can chat?”
“Sure thing.” Ariana pulls the door wide.
Nika steps forward, but Ariana holds up a hand.
“It’s just…there’s one other tiny thing.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. The diary pages you put online.”
“Sorry about that. Iknow. Maeve Khoury is the most cringe person ever. She’s like…anyway, sorry you got caught up in it. It’s kind of a compliment though, when you think about it?”
“I’m not worried about me beingcaught up in it.” Ariana makes air quotes and mimics Nika in a way that leaves Nika feeling less sure of herself. “I just can’t believe you’d do that to someone? Especially someone who used to be your best friend. Her diary? Her most private thoughts? You stole it and then put it on the internet?” Her upturned nose crinkles in distaste. “What iswrongwith you?”
Nika’s face heats up and an unfamiliar feeling rises in her gut. She’s not used to being chastised or confronted or criticized and…and who does Ariana think she is, to call her out like this? But this is not the time for arguments…she needs to get inside the house.
“Could I come in to talk about it?” Nika steps forward.
“That’d be a no.” Ariana tilts her head and smiles. “Off you go now.” She makes a shooing motion, steps into her hallway and shuts the door in Nika’s face.
• • •
It’s only when she’s getting back into the car outside Ariana’s that she notices the little silver jaguar from the front of her mum’s car is gone. Shit.Did it come off when she…when she…she can’t think the words now. It seems too crazy. Did she really do that? In a daze, she slips into the driver’s seat, just as Celeste phones to ask her where she is. It’s time to come home, her mother says. Nika heads for her house, feeling sicker by the minute. What was she thinking? Why had she driven at Maeve like that? Not that Maeve didn’t deserve consequences for the attempted poisoning, which isliterallymurder, but Nika should have come up with something that wouldn’t land her in some kind of prison for juveniles. Or adults? She’ll be eighteen next month—would that make her an adult if she’s caught and it goes to court after that date? She has no idea. This is not a problem she’s ever encountered before.Shit.
• • •
At home, she darts in through the back door, then up to her bedroom, without calling in to the living room to see her mum, or the den to see her dad. She’s only just flopped on her bed when she hears Cody’s footsteps thundering up the stairs and the slam of his bedroom door. Then, a moment later, the doorbell rings. Shit. Is it the police? She cracks her door to listen. It’s not. It’s a woman’s voice. Nika creeps out on to the landing and peers through the banisters at the top of the stairs. She can see now, the woman at the door is Moira Fitzpatrick. What is she doing here at this time of night? Nika strains to listen. She’s saying…oh crap, she’s saying Maeve’s in hospital. But why is Moira here? Even if she knows about the accident, what would bring her to their house?Oh god. Realization hits. Nika sits on the top step of the stairs, weak and sick. Maeve must have seen Nika after all. What is she going to do? Should she confess now, get ahead of it? Make sure they know it was an accident?
Then she hears something else that stops her in her tracks.
100
Celeste
Thursday
Celeste stares at Moira Fitzpatrick. She can’t have heard her correctly.
“What…what did you just say?”
“I said Maeve Khoury’s in hospital and, I’m sorry to tell you, Cody seems to have attacked her.”
“Wait, stop for a second. Is Maeve OK?”
“I think so. She was conscious in the ambulance, and I phoned Leesa; she’s on her way to the hospital. But unfortunately, it appears Cody was responsible.”
Celeste feels her jaw clench. She willkillhim. She will absolutely kill him. How has it come to this? She knows how. Ignoring the signs, not getting him assessed, putting her head in the sand. Ignoring the knife and the bruised knuckles. The babysitting incident with Moira Fitzpatrick’s child. Oh god, Moira in her ridiculous gaudy jumpsuit is loving this. Revenge.
“I’ve contacted the guards, but I wanted to do you the courtesy of letting you know before they arrive.”
The courtesy.You wanted to gloat, that’s what this is. But Jesus Christ, she is going to murder Cody. She’s going to throw him out, that’s whatshe’s going to do. There is only so much her mental health can take. She hears a noise from the landing and glances up to see her daughter’s face peering between the banisters. All of this is so unfair on Nika…She straightens her shoulders. Celeste is in no mood to defend Cody, but she can’t lose face.
