It was as if she’d never been there at all.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“This is weird.” Greg whistled through his nose as he surveyed my single room. Andre peered under my bed and lifted up all my books, as if somehow hoping Loretta was hiding somewhere.
“I know, right?” I bounced on the edge of my bed. “The janitors must have snuck in here while I was speaking with the headmistress and cleaned the whole place out. Honestly, I don’t know why we even bother locking the door at all, given the number of people that come and go without our knowledge or consent.”
“This is scary,” Greg peered at the spot near the wall where Loretta’s bed used to be. “It’s like they’ve cleared away every trace of her.”
“The headmistress said her grandparents picked her up. Did Loretta say anything to you about her family?” I asked them.
Both Greg and Andre shook their heads. “All I know is the gossip I heard,” Greg said. “About her mother killing herself and her grandparents being left to raise her. Apparently, they saw Loretta as kind of a demon child infecting their perfect Christian family or something. You?”
“Nope. I’m scared, you guys. Yesterday, Courtney and the monarchs stole something Loretta was writing in a journal and read it out in front of everyone.” I dug my fingers into the mattress as I filled them in on what happened. “It sounded like a suicide note. It was a serious cry for help. I’m worried something’s happened to her. I don’t trust Headmistress West to tell us the truth.”
“How naive is it to believe Loretta’s family realized how awful it was to lock away a child just to punish her for the supposed sins of her mother, and took her home to shower her with gifts and get her the psychiatric help she needs?” Greg suggested.
I shook my head.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Greg looked stricken. “What do we do?”
I lifted an eyebrow in mock surprise. “Break into the headmistress’ office and look at her student records, of course. Maybe if we call her grandparents we could get some answers.”
Andre scribbled a note on his pad and handed it to Greg. “Why is the answer with you always some kind of dangerous stunt?” Greg read the note out with a smile. “Andre does have a point.”
“It’s worth the risk if Loretta is in trouble. I just have a bad, bad feeling about all this. Too much weird stuff has been going on.”
“I’m not saying wedon’tdo it, but we can’t do anything about this now.” Greg slung his bookbag over his shoulder. “We have to get to homeroom.”
I swiped my books from the desk and joined the guys in the hall, locking my room behind me. Everything felt wrong without Loretta, like I’d left without my underwear. But Greg was right, we had to keep going like everything was normal, for now at least.
“So what are you going to do about Ayaz?” Greg asked as we headed across the atrium. “Do you have some new revenge in store?”
“No. Who Ayaz chooses to fuck is his own business.” My cheeks flushed with the memory of what I’d seen. “Courtney’s the one we have to take down.”
Everything was off this morning. As we crossed the atrium to head to our first class, students leaped out of our way like we were poisoned. Groups huddled together under the class lists, talking in hushed whispers. Eyes averted from mine wherever I looked.
“What’s wrong? Do I have food in my teeth or something?” I gave Greg and Andre a big, toothy grin. They didn’t laugh.
“Um, Hazel.” Greg tugged on my arm. Andre pointed up to the board where the merit scores were posted, his eyes wide, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
He pointed to my name.
Hazel Waite: 934 points.
What?
But how…?
Overnight, I’d somehow gained 500 extra points. I was now firmly in the upper half of the table, nestled in the middle of the rich, mediocre students.But why… how?
“That’s impossible,” I muttered.
“Or not,” Greg breathed. “Look at Trey’s score.”
My eyes flew to the top of the table, where Trey’s name had remained ever since the beginning of the school year. It wasn’t there. Instead, Ayaz was now leading the school, followed by Courtney. Trey wasn’t fourth, or fifth, or even tenth. Where was he?
My heart hammered against my chest as I started from the top of the list and scanned each name. I eventually found Trey, only a few names above me, on 946 points.
