She doesn’t look up from her scavenging, only mumbles some bullshit answer into the floor.
“Library…”
“And what about the other five days?” I say.
“What do you mean?” she asks, yanking her top over her head as she ducks into the bathroom to turn the shower on.
“You know what I mean. I haven’t seen you all week, Els. You missed class last night.”
From the bathroom, I hear a quiet, “shit,” muffled by the sound of running water.
“Have you even checked your phone?” I ask. “I texted you.”And I’m sure Tara did too.
“Uh…I’ve been kind of busy,” she mutters, sliding the shower curtain back. “Why? What’s up?”
I follow her into the bathroom and perch on the counter as I sift through my phone.
It doesn’t take long to find what I’m looking for. It’s still the last text I received.
I hold the phone out, pushing my hand into the shower just enough for Elsie to see, but not enough to risk it getting wet. There’s a startled gasp from the other side, and a moment later, the curtain slides back, revealing Elsie’s shocked face.
“Oh my gods!” she shouts. “Did you fucking kill him? I’ll kill him!”
“No,” I say lamely. “It’s…not him.”
I go with Elliot’s shitty lie, and Elsie’s brows lift in disbelief.
“Bitch,” she snaps, fisting the light pink shower curtain. “What do you mean it’s not him? I’m looking right at him.”
I told him this was stupid.
I snatch my phone back, unable to keep from laughing.
“Trust me. It’s not.”
Elsie’s lip curls, and she passes me a wary look before she ducks back into the shower.
I wait patiently for the few minutes it takes her to emerge, and when she shuffles out in her towel and fluffy red slippers, I claim a seat beside the pile of discarded skirts on her bed.
“Where are you going?” I ask as she fusses with her outfit.
She’s selected a tight, white crop top that she’s cut a V into the collar of, more room for the girls to breathe, she likes to say. The color makes her dark skin look richer as she pairs it with a simple red skirt that stops just beneath her butt. She picks out a pair of heels before answering me.
“Potions lab,” she says dryly, and my eyes roll so far back in my head I think I scratch my corneas.
“Bullshit.”
She eyes me in the mirror of her vanity as she settles to slap on a bit of lip gloss and mascara.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I said bullshit. I haven’t seen you. Kitty hasn’t seen you. You’re missing classes. And don’t tell me you’ve been in the library. You haven’t been to the library in weeks. I would know, becauseI’vebeen in the library. So just tell me what’s going on.”
She sucks in a deep breath.
“Iris, I can’t?—”
“Yes, you can! And you must!” I snap. “Or…I’m calling your mother.”
