As I read the message with the offer to console me, I had another message, this time from Quinn.
Queeny:I think I know what it was, call me.
Me:Where are you?
Queeny:Class
Me:Meet you outside when you’re done
Queeny:Ash? Gray?
Me:Practice. See you in ten
Chapter 9: Jett
Leaning against the tree, I welcomed the shade from the hot sun as I waited for Quinn to come out of class. When I saw the doors open and students coming out, Quinn was easy to spot, tall and graceful. I noticed she had changed her clothes from earlier into three-quarter-length yoga pants and a pink T-shirt knotted at the back. She came down the stairs of the sports sciences building, ignoring most of her classmates. With her hair now in a high ponytail, she cut an impressive figure as she crossed the lawn to meet me.
I watched her as she put her sunglasses on before offering me a wide smile. We were all hoping to head to the NFL, and Quinn had never been happy about being left behind, so she’d decided when she was fourteen, if she couldn’tplaybeside us, she wouldtreatus, and she held onto that determination. She was now studying sports therapy, and she was damn good, too.
“Hey, twice in one day,” she murmured when she was close enough to be heard without drawing attention to us, which would be impossible. She looked hot, and I was the school’s quarterback. We were probably already on someone’s Instagram or TikTok.
“It’s how rumors start,” I told her, causing her to look around uncertainly at my comment, but she laughed despite the underlying truth of it. “They’re both at practice,” I told her quietly as I pointed at my ankle. “I’m not, I’m injured.”
“Bullshit story.” Quinn lowered herself gracefully to the grass, and I followed. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I hesitated, but this was Quinn. “I’m fucking furious.”
“You have a right to be.” As she pulled at the grass, she looked a little uncertain.
“What is it?”
Handing me her phone, she gestured toward the screen. “It’s open.”
As I read the article she had open on a website, I felt my insides twist. “Is this shit legal?”
“Yes, it’s used sometimes as an anesthetic. They call it twilight sedation.” Quinn leaned forward to scroll on her phone. “See here,” she said as she pointed. “It’s used forconscious sedation. Many people are awake and talking when they are given it, and after the procedure, they have no idea what happened.”
“Is it possible,” I asked her as I kept on reading, “that this is what I took?”
“Yes. It’s calledVersed, andit gets given in liquid format as well as IV. In a drink, it can be slightly bitter, it says . . . so Iassumeyou would notice . . . but in beer? I don’t know if you would. I think it can also be diluted down, from what I understand reading it all.”
“I didn’t put the beer down though,” I said as I looked up at her in concern. “I don’t remember much, but Iknowthis.”
“You had to have. Or you drank something else?” Her brow was scrunched in thought as she read on her phone. “Are you sure you only had one beer?”
“Positive. The only other thing I drank was water.”
Quinn’s head snapped up as she tore off her sunglasses to glare at me. “You said one beer, nothing else.”
“No other alcohol. I picked up a bottle of water when I left.” Rubbing my jaw, I thought about it. “I don’t even know if I opened it.”
“You dumbass,” Quinn grumbled as she stood. “It wasinthe water.”
“How?” I said as I rose to my feet with her. “How would anyone know which bottle of water I was going to pick up?”
Quinn hesitated, looking thoughtful before she looked at me in horror. “Unlessyouweren’t the target and everyone at the party was.”
Taking a step back, I looked at her. “How long does it last? You said it can be diluted down, but how long does it stay effective?”
