He snapped his fingers. “That should work!”
From there, we moved quickly. Alex found the juice pouch, stabbed in its straw, and made Tag take a few sips before granting his wish to go outside. “Keep drinking,” I said while he helped Tag down from the table and out through the room’s large arched window. It wasn’t far above the ground; Admissions was on a small hillside.
“It should kick in within ten minutes,” Alex said once we were sitting next to him. “Although last time was a different story.”
Last time?I wondered and was about to ask, but suddenly there was something more pressing. A lump formed in my throat at the sight of the approaching Campo car. We weren’t in its crosshairs yet, but only because it had disappeared behind the auditorium.
Then it would turn the corner and its headlights would find us like an Olympic archer found the bull’s-eye.
Thick blood thudded through my ears. I barely heard Alex say we had to go, barely felt him shaking my shoulder. It wasn’t until he Alexis Rose-style booped my nose that his hoarse voice registered. “Lily, help me get Tag up!”
But while we successfully got Tag to his feet, it wasn’t enough. He stumbled when we tried to make a break for it. “My legs are slush,” he said, still stuck in his sluggish cadence. He sank back down in the grass. “I can’t move.”
“Then we’ll stay with you,” Alex and I both said.
“No.” Tag shuddered with chills. He’d entered another cold sweat. “You guys need to go—run.” His teeth chattered. “Don’t let them catch you.”
“Taggart, you’re having a hypoglycemic attack,” Alex argued. “If you seriously think I’m going to leave you here…”
“Alex,please,” Tag pleaded. “We can’t risk it.”
We can’t risk it.
My spinning stomach plummeted. Tag had said that to Alex to stop him from chancing a dance with Bunker at the observatory. He was thinking again about the strike in Alex’s file, and if he were to get caught again…
“Alex, beat it,” I told him. “I’ve got this.”
“What?” Alex gaped at me. “Lily, no.”
“Lily, yes,” I responded. “We’re not going to let you get kicked out of school. Get out of here before you blow it.” I hurled Tag’s Jester backpack at him. Campo didnotneed to get their hands on it.
Alex caught the bag but shook his head. “He’s my best friend. I can’t leave him.”
“Then don’t leave,” I snapped. “But at leasthide!”
“Yeah.” Tag shivered again as I gestured to the conferenceroom. We’d turned off the lights but hadn’t bothered to close the window. “Your coffee’s getting cold.”
“What coffee?” Alex asked blankly.
I stamped my foot. “Now!”
After one last look at his best friend, Alex took the backpacks and darted into the darkness. “You don’t know what you’re doing, Hops,” Tag whispered as I sat back down and wrapped him in my arms, tears pooling in my eyes. “You don’t know what’s going to happen…”
“No, I don’t,” I whispered back, watching the dented white Prius blink its headlights before stilting to a stop. My heart rattled in my rib cage. “But I’m ready for it.”
TWENTY
It went unsaid that I wouldn’t be whipping up omelets for breakfast and that we also wouldn’t be stopping by the Hub for pancakes. Instead, I sunk to an all-time low, pathetically unwrapping a blueberry Pop-Tart. “Mom…” I started.
“You need to wake up,” she said tightly. “Noyawningwhile we’re in there.”
I nodded, not about to argue. Leda Hopper looked like a force to be reckoned with this morning. Gone were her Lululemon leggings and worn flip-flops; instead, she’d dug Banana Republic’s finest out of her closet. Skinny black capris with a sleeveless white blouse and a cropped black jacket. Her high heels clicked on the kitchen floor, and she’d even done her hair, blond curls now poker-straight. I couldn’t ever remember her seeming so outwardlysharp, but then again, why would I? It wasn’t every day her daughter had a disciplinary hearing.
My Pop-Tart tasted liked cardboard. Ames had acted fast; it hadn’t even been five hours since Gabe and Mr. Harvey hadfound Tag and me together. “Well, well, well,” Gabe had called out, swaggering up the hill with his flashlight. “What do we have here?”
Both he and Harvey had stopped in their tracks when they realized who exactly they had there. “Lily.” Harvey sounded fazed for the first time in his career. “Lily Hopper.”
I’d burst into tears. “Please help,” I said. “Tag needs help. He’s having a hypoglycemic attack. I gave him juice but I’m not sure what else…”
