And now, Elias is going to kill me, too, because of this idiot.
"Shhh!" he says. "Please, just get out here and keep your voice down."
"They haveCAMERAS, Miles! I told you that! It doesn't fucking matter."
The door swings open, slamming into the wall. "Yeah, Miles. We have cameras. It doesn't fucking matter," Elias roars.
I look at him before backing into the wall. I've never seen him this angry before, and I've seen Elias really fucking angry.
"You really are stupid, aren't you, Saige?"
I shake my head. "I didn't do any of this," I tell him. "It was all him. I tried to stop him. He was going to hurt Arcadia—"
"She's lying!" Miles yells. "It washeridea, and I tried to stop her."
"Oh,fuck you, you fucking pussy! At least I didn't piss mygoddamn pantsat the sound of his fucking voice!"
Elias snorts. "Did you really piss your pants, Miles? That's pretty fucking pathetic, man." He laughs hard, and Miles's expression shifts from fear to pure rage.
"We got them on camera," Dax says before stepping inside the room. "It was—"
"Yeah, I know who it was," Elias tells him.
Dax scoffs and then turns to me. "Saige fucking Ripley—caught in the act." He shakes his head as he approaches me, his eyes dropping to my cleavage. "Hmm…all grown up now, aren't you?"
I roll my eyes and look away.
"Anyway, Miles," Elias says, his tone unamused, "go ahead and get in here so I can beat your ass. You can go home, Saige; we'll deal with you later. And when I do, you'll find out just how much Icanstill hurt you."
I'm still fuming, but I grit my teeth, preparing to leave anyway. Just as I turn away, Miles charges inside, swinging that fire poker—not at Elias, but atme.
Suddenly, I'm back in the high school cafeteria, and all I see is red.
Elias steps between us, catching it with his bare hands. If it hurts, he doesn't react. The two of them struggle with it: Miles with a death grip, but flopping back and forth like Nolan's fish on the carpet, and Elias laughing, barely moving.
He swung atme? Atmyfucking head?
The longer I watch them, the angrier I get, until I just can't fucking take it anymore. I storm toward Miles and push him hard with both hands. "You fucking piece of shit asshole!"
He loses his grip, falling through the open door and back onto the balcony.
And then plummets over the ledge.
3
the dangers of hookup culture
Saige
"Holy shit!" Dax shouts. "Ripley just fucking murdered that guy!"
No,I think. No, there's no way this is happening. There's no way he's fucking dead.
My knees threaten to buckle beneath me as I slowly step out onto the balcony and peer over the railing.
Miles lies face-up in the grass, unmoving.
How is this happening? Howthe fuckis this happening? Less than twelve hours ago, I promised my mom I wouldn't flunk out or commit any serious crimes, and now I'm a murderer.
