“No, you didn’t.”
“But I—” I scramble for my phone, look at my message history. I must’ve not tapped the Send button properly, because Stacey’s right. My warning didn’t get delivered. God, can I feel any shittier? “Did you get caught?”
“Almost. Someone stopped Danny and talked to him outside the room, so I realized he was about to come in and I practically jumped out of his window.” She showed me her arms, scratched and bruised. “I don’t think he saw me. I ran and didn’t look back.”
“God, I’m so, so sorry.” I look down and wince. The cuts don’t look too bad, thankfully.
“’S fine. You owe me, though. Like a huge favor. Huge. The biggest.”
“Anything.”
“That’s unwise,” she says, and there’s a small smile tugging the corners of her lips. The sight of it lifts the weight off my chest, if only for a bit.
“Um, I feel like a huge asshole for asking, but did you manage to clean the computer?”
“I don’t know. I was at ninety percent when I heard Danny’s voice. We just gotta hope for the best.”
Hope for the best. It feels like all I’ve been doing ever since I moved to Draycott is hope for the best and get slammed in the face with the worst possible thing. But maybe this time will be different.
***
Mr. Werner’s substitute is nothing like him, by which I mean she’s not running a cheating ring. I know because Mandy looks absolutely ill when the sub tells us we’re going to have a pop quiz. I get a B minus, which is great considering how little time I’ve devoted to my studies, and is even better considering how many of my classmates flunked it. That’s right, dipshits, no more paying for As in English Lit. Now you actually gotta do the work like the rest of us peasants.
Honestly, I could probably survive the rest of the semester like this. Over time, I’ll stop thinking of Mr. Werner as much, and then my stomach will stop seizing as much, and I’ll get my appetite back and be 100 percent fine. Everything will be okay.
On the third morning, I join Sam and Grace for breakfast as usual.
Sam gives me a once-over as I put my tray down, and she and Grace exchange a look.
“What?” I say, sitting on the bench.
“You’re like, really skinny,” Sam says.
I sigh. I’ve got a banana and a bowl of granola, and I’m going to give eating a proper meal a good go this morning. My stomach’s even growling at the sight of the food. “I’ve had a lot of things on my mind lately.”
“Just as long as you’re okay,” Sam says. “Anyway, what’s going on with Beth?”
I can’t meet anyone’s eye. “I don’t know.”
“We went to her room last night,” Grace says. “She said she’s got beef with you.”
Did I detect a hint of accusation in Grace’s voice? My hackles rise. “Why don’t you ask her what the beef is?”
“Whoa, hey, chill,” Sam says. “We’re not taking sides here.”
“We just want you guys to stop being such brats,” Grace says. “Both of you.”
“It’s her fault,” I mumble, peeling my banana. My phone buzzes. It’s a message from Danny.
Can u come to my room? Need to show u something. It’s urgent.
Another buzz.
It’s about my uncle.
What little appetite I have shrivels up and dies. Another buzz.
Something’s wrong.
I stand up so fast, I end up knocking over my carton of milk.
“Everything okay?” Grace says, looking up from her fruit salad.
“I gotta go.” I grab my bag, sling it over my shoulder.
“What? You haven’t even touched your food!”
My stomach’s doing that thing again, wringing itself like a wet towel. Eating’s out of the question, but just to appease them, I take my banana and wave it at them before I rush out of the cafeteria. I sprint all the way to Mansfield, and though I’m practically flying, it takes forever to get there—why is this stupid campus so huge, what are these other buildings even for, nobody ever has classes at Burton or Johnson House, why is the dining hall so far from the dorms, why—
And then, quite suddenly, I see the L-shaped building of Mansfield, and now I wish there was even more distance to go, because I’m not ready for this. I don’t want to face Danny, I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what lies will fall out of my mouth, I don’t know what he knows and I don’t want to know.
I push through the front doors and walk down the hallway, my ragged breath loud in the closed silence. The place is deserted, probably because everyone else is having breakfast. I’m not used to this silence, not in the dorms. It’s unnatural, like the whole place is holding its breath and watching. When I finally knock on Danny’s door, it’s like a gunshot. I make myself jump.
He looks bad. Awful. Like he’s aged overnight. Pale, so pale, skin like paper. Like I’d tear it if I’m not careful, and I’m careful, I really am, but I’m shaking, because I know whatever he’s about to say is going to be the end of everything.
He closes the door behind me. I can’t stand it; I can’t bear this heavy silence, so complete, I can hear our heartbeats, both of them rapid, both broken, out of rhythm.
“Someone hacked into his computer.”
Boom. Just like that. My world spins. I have to sit down. I’m sitting down. When did I sit? Danny’s pacing. A wild animal, prowling, heat radiating off him. Scent of a predator. Caught the scent of blood? I shake my head, try to clear it. Do I ask whose computer? Play it dumb? So dumb. No. Sit here, gaping silently. A goldfish. I’m harmless, Danny, see?
“Yesterday morning, I turned on Uncle James’s computer to get our old pictures and stuff off it. But there was something weird going on with it. It kept freezing, and I kept getting these Error messages, so I ran a virus scan, and then the computer just sort of seized up and died. I thought I did something wrong, so I took it in to a computer repair shop in town, and guess what they found?”
I give a little shake of the head. My chest is a fist, clenching. I can hardly breathe.
“A keylogger.” Danny looks at me for the first time, and his gaze is a sword, stabbing all the way to the other side, through all the darkness and the tangle of lies. I hear the lies’ dying screech, and I have to look away. I can’t meet that feverish gaze. He’ll see the truth, wriggling like a worm on my face. “Someone hacked into his computer, Lia.”
“It’s probably the school looking into his cheating ring.” Amazing how fast that lie slipped out.
Danny looks unconvinced. “Really? But the school wants to shut that down, so why would they dig it up? I should turn it in to the cops. Yeah, I should—I don’t know why I haven’t, I should call them now—”
“You shouldn’t!”