“Is there a problem?” Rankin spun around, angrier than I’d ever seen him. A few students glanced nervously at each other, nudging each other in the elbow until Oleksa’s lab partner finally spoke up.
“We thought you’d cancel the final today. You know . . . because of what happened to Kylie over the weekend?” I hoped for his sake he hadn’t bet money on it.
Rankin’s harsh laugh shook the room. “Oh, you did? Frankly, I’m surprised you even know her name.” He razed every whisper with a stare. “If a single one of you can look me in the eye and tell me Kylie Rutherford was a friend— that you know anything about her except the color of her hair—you may be excused from my exam. The funeral is on Wednesday and I shall see you there.”
No one spoke. I felt a few sets of eyes turn in my direction. I didn’t look up from my desk.
“Precisely what I thought,” he snapped. “Turn your papers over. You may begin.”
I lost myself for the next hour in black-and-white Scantron bubbles and the scratch of lead against paper. TJ was first to put down his pencil and hobble to the front of the room. Anh and I didn’t look at each other when we finished at the same time. We turned our papers in facedown and walked out wordlessly.
Jeremy waited in the hall. For Anh, no doubt. He hadn’t been picking me up for school and it was the first time I’d seen him since the rave. I plastered on a neutral smile just in case and squashed the seed of suspicion Reece had planted before his arrest. Lonny had to be wrong. It was someone else’s Jeremy on that list. Not mine.
I crossed the hall toward him and called out his name, but he didn’t seem to notice. He reclined against the wall, one foot propped against it, head back as though he had all day to wait. Eager Jeremy, the one who would have followed me anywhere, was gone. This Jeremy didn’t even look up.
“I need to talk to you.”
He looked through me, straight to the chem lab door. Then his face came to life and he waved at Anh behind me. Jeremy pushed off the wall, moving around me as if I weren’t even there. He’d dropped me. But I wasn’t expendable. I threw myself in front of him, tripping him up enough to earn a dark look and taste of his bitterness when I grabbed his hand.
“There’s this crazy rumor going around. Someone said you’re buying drugs from Lonny Johnson.” I held tight, riding out the rush of disbelief, fear, and rage that mirrored the shifting expressions on his face.
He jerked away. “Would you rather I’d bought them from your boyfriend?”
My mouth fell open and I stared at him, dumbfounded.
“I don’t understand,” I uttered in complete denial. “You’re kidding, right?”
He kept walking, but I stood my ground, letting him crash into me, desperate to make him look at my face. I lowered my voice to a frantic whisper. “Lonny is dangerous. The drugs he sells are dangerous. Why are you doing this?” I reached for his hand, but he wouldn’t let me touch him. I saw his lip tremble a second before he clenched his teeth. What was he hiding from me? Why was he buying roofies? He couldn’t be the one responsible for these crimes. I knew Jeremy. Didn’t I? “I don’t get it, J. This isn’t you.”
He laughed through his teeth. “Yeah well, this isn’t you either! You put on one hell of a show Friday night.” His sneer felt like a mask. I hardly recognized him under all his disdain. “I guess it’s true what they say. You really can’t take the girl out of the trailer park. You’re more like your mother than you give yourself credit for.”
“Go to hell.” I shoved him hard enough to knock him back. When he righted himself, his arm was wound back. His gray eyes were hard and unapologetic. This wasn’t my Jeremy at all.
“Jeremy, stop.”
The small voice belonged to Anh. She stepped between us, turning her back to me to look at Jeremy. Did she know what he was involved in? Had he told her more than he told me? All this time I’d been trying to protect him by keeping my distance, but I’d only succeeded in pushing him away.
“It’s okay.” Jeremy smoothed his shirt where I’d pushed him. “Our conversation was over.”
He reached out to her. She hesitated before slipping her hand in his and letting him lead her away. She looked back at me over her shoulder, unspoken apologies on her perfect guilty face.
The bell rang and I was alone. Just like that, he’d let me go.
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