Page 169 of Vexatious Queen

Pulling out my phone, I wasn’t sure who to reach out to first, but chose Myles.

R: Hey, can you do me a favor? Grab a bunch of feel-good junk food from the cafeteria and three coffees.

M: For sure. Ivy’s room?

R: Yeah.

M: Be there as quick as I can.

R: THX LV U

M: Love you more, Snowflake.

Chantry knocked on the bathroom door.

“Ivy, it’s me, Chantry. Can you open up and let me in?”

“No! Go away,” Ivy yelled.

“Ivy, please. We are not leaving until you come out,” Chantry said. “Don’t make me bust it down because I will.”

My eyebrows raised. I’d never pictured Chantry hurting a fly, let alone destroying school property. Yet, I believed her.

I joined Chantry in her pleading.

“Ivy, please let us in. You don’t need to be strong for us. We only want to be here for you,” I said, pulling up a text to Sabastian.

R: Tell me the truth right now. Did you do this to Zigzag?

S: What the hell do you care? I didn’t realize you and Zigzag were so friendly.

R: Not the point. She won’t forgive you if you did this. Not liking him and wanting him out of Ivy’s life is no excuse.

Chantry knocked again. “Ivy, I’m not leaving. I mean it.”

There was a long pause from Sabastian, but finally the little dots popped up.

S: I wish I had. Happy now? It wasn’t me, so find someone else to blame.

When I saw him next, I was going to be the one to smack him. I wasn’t even sure if I believed him. Everything was always turning on its head. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any stranger, they took another left until you were chasing your tail.

Leaving Chantry to talk Ivy out of the bathroom, I turned around and froze. There on my bed, which I rarely used, was my notebook and hairbrush. Walking across the room, I picked them up and closed my eyes. Shit. Now, I remembered exactly what had happened and how I left them in here to grab later. This was another perfect example of how screwed up everything had become. Something as innocent as me forgetting my hairbrush and notebook in another room had turned into a complete conspiracy in my head. I fucking hated it when Nash was right.

Frustrated with myself I walked to the door and stepped out to wait for Myles. We were tangled in a web of lies, half-truths, and agendas that had become one giant Sherlock Holmes episode in my mind.

“Hey Snowflake,” Myles said, walking down the hall with his arms full.

“Wow.”

“Aye, ya said bring the goods.”

Rising on my toes, I kissed his cheek.

“I love you. Thank you,” I said, taking the pile from him.

“You make me heart smile, Snowflake.”

Sometimes Myles was just too much, but he was mine, and that made me smile.