I push past them and walk into the school, stopping dead in my tracks when I see my bullies. Like they’ve been waiting for me. My mouth runs dry, and I see Nicole zeroing in on the patchy old foundation.
“Hey, Jihad!” Adrian yells, and a couple of people stop to listen.
I pretend I don’t hear him and skitter away to the hallway opposite them.
“We’re talking to you!” Mason calls as I half run, half jog out of reach.
I look over my shoulder to see Mason, Adrian, and the girls following.
I shouldn’t have come. They now know how far they can go.
I try to find a professor or any adult to take shelter with, but I have no idea where I’m running, my heart in my throat, and everything blurs around me. I can’t find anyone, and none of the students I’m passing say anything.
Is this how Mama felt when she was on the ground, looking for anyone to help her?
“Where are you going?” Nicole’s shrill voice comes, and she’s laughing.
I push the doors of the first room I see and find myself in the school’s theater. It’s massive, with over two hundred seats, andI almost trip, running down the stairs to hide. My school bag digs into my side painfully, and sweat drips down, washing away the foundation.
I swing myself behind the large curtains, balancing on a large platform and tucking my feet out of sight the second the doors open.
“Where’d she go?” Nicole asks.
My breaths are shallow and quick, and not enough oxygen is reaching my lungs. My heart is thundering in my ears, and I think they can hear it.
“She couldn’t have disappeared this fast,” Adrian says. “She’s either here or in the other two rooms.”
“Come on, you guys,” Jenny says. “Isn’t this a bit too much?”
“What’s too much?” Mason asks.
There’s an awkward silence as Jenny struggles to answer.
“We could get into trouble,” she finally says. “What if she goes to Dr. Mérieux?”
“Mérieux won’t do shit.” Mason laughs. “She went to him twice, and he did nothing.”
“He might with that fucking black eye she has,” Jenny argues. “Damn, Mason, we didn’t know you were going tomaimher!”
Mason lets out a scoff. “She’snotmaimed. What do you think, Alexis?”
I manage to peer through a sliver in the curtain and see them all on the top of the stairs. The emptiness of the theater and the impressive acoustics the school probably paid thousands for carry their voices as if they’re standing right beside me.
Alexis doesn’t answer at first, but then she says, “I just don’t want to get into trouble. You guys know my dad isn’t, like, super connected like yours are.”
Mason drapes an arm around her shoulder, tugging her closer to him. “You’ll be fine. And what would you be in trouble for? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Then he nods. “We got ten minutes untilfirst period, to find her so we can have some fun. I mean, the nerve on her to show up.” He laughs again.
“It’s like she has a death wish,” Hayley finally squeaks out, and her voice is a bit shaky. “I wouldn’t have come back.”
“Yeah, but that’s because you got brains, Hays,” Mason says. “Hey, Jenny, if it makes you feel any better, we’ll just ask her not to go to Mérieux.”
Adrian starts going down the stairs, and his face becomes clearer and clearer. I feel sick even though I didn’t eat anything for breakfast. He climbs up the podium, and I start looking for a weapon. Anything to defend myself because I’m realizing ten minutes is a long time, and they won’t be interrupted.
Just last Friday, I was in Coney Island.
Now I’m here.
Adrian is getting nearer, and I glance down at my nails. I think they’re sharp enough to shock him so I’d get a head start to get away.
