She slammed her fist against the door and eyed Mrs. Carter as she continued her walk-and-count, stopping every few seats to look up from her iPhone. Riley considered just going back to her seat. Shelby was right—Riley wasn’t a sleuth, and her last stab at reckless adventure had been learning to skateboard without wearing a helmet. She bit her lip, looking at the back of her vacated seat then eyeing the closed bathroom door. Maybe fate was telling her to forget about it…
Defeated, Riley dropped her hands to her sides and spun to return to her seat, her boring adventureless life, but the bus lurched, slamming her backward. She tried to regain her footing but was instantly flung forward. Riley saw the red OCCUPIED sign coming directly at her and tried to throw up her hands, to do something to block the thing from being permanently stamped onto her forehead, but her hands were twisted on the straps of her backpack.
She was going down face-first directly in front of a rental bus’s bathroom. If skipping out with JD didn’t get her killed, flopping down there would.
“Ge—” Riley didn’t get to finish her howl—or taste bus bathroom linoleum—because the door swung open and she fell right inside, right up against—
“JD!”
They were chest-to-chest, one of his arms wrapped around Riley, his palm at her lower back. His other hand was at his chin, index finger pressed against his upturned lips. “Shhh,” he coaxed, as he pulled the bathroom door shut.
Riley straightened quickly, heat going from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
JD was grinning a wicked, cocky grin, and Riley pressed her back up against the door, doing her best to put as much space between them as possible.
“I have to say I’m a little bit surprised to see you. But a little part of me”—he held his thumb and forefinger a quarter-inch apart—“knew you’d come.”
Riley scrunched up her forehead in her best as if expression and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She planted her feet to avoid another crash into JD’s surprisingly solid chest. “Maybe I just had to go to the bathroom, you pervert.”
JD jutted his chin toward Riley’s backpack. “With all that?”
Anger snaked up her spine. “It’s none of your—”
“Shut up,” JD whispered, head cocked.
“How dare–”
JD’s eyes flashed, and Riley snapped her mouth shut, hearing Mrs. Carter’s shuffling feet right outside the door. “Now remember our meet-up spots, everyone,” she was saying in her already-exhausted voice. “Go directly to the lettered tables to pick up your group.”
JD paused for a beat then grinned. Riley remembered that grin from detention. Even as they sat in the classroom in dead silence, JD was always snaking things from the teacher’s desk when her back was turned or hacking into some computer system under the guise of homework. His eyes would go innocent and wide when he was suspected—then he would flash that smirk at Riley when he was cleared. It was warm and familiar…and she kind of liked it.
“So am I really to believe that the goody-goody Riley Spencer is skipping out on the college tour?” He went palms up. “Oh, wait. I meant the goody-goody Riley Spencer was bringing her luggage to take a pee. That makes more sense”
A little ripple of annoyance roiled through her. Riley straightened her shirt and put a hand on her hip. “I’m not that goody-goody. I was in detention too, you know.”
“I know, Sleeping Beauty. So.” JD raised his eyebrows and jutted his chin toward the outside. “Riding the rails, Riley Spencer?”
Riley’s mind ticked. She thought about the birth certificate, about the fact that she had no plan whatsoever. She thought about Shelby and her “this isn’t who you are” speech. She shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s no big deal. I do it all the time.”
JD seemed vaguely interested. “Oh yeah? So who you going to go see? Got some boyfriend out here?”
“If you must know, I’m going to see my friend.”
“Your friend—?”
“Jane.” Riley just spit it out, surprising even herself.
JD nodded, impressed. “Be sure to tell your friend Jane that I said hi.”
“I will.” Riley turned and went for the door.
“Not yet,” JD said, looking far too comfortable sitting on the tiny sink. “Wait for the bus to clear. The driver will be last.”
They dropped into silence, JD pulling a curl-edged book from the inside of his jacket. He began reading.
Riley glanced at the fake wood paneling up the walls of the restroom. It was everywhere, from ceiling to floor. It made the space look small. Too small.
Her chest was tightening, her breath becoming strained. Her eyes shot from corner to corner, desperate for a way out.
Not now, not now, not now, she commanded herself.
But the walls weren’t listening. Panic started to rise in her chest, began to blot out the little bit of breath she was getting.
“What’s wrong?” JD whispered, actual concern in his gold-flecked eyes.
Riley shook her head, unable to answer, unable to get enough air into her lungs to make a sound. Her fingers and toes started to tingle; her eyes started to water. Every one of her joints felt weighted down. She couldn’t move. She was in a coffin, weighted air pinning her arms to her sides. She felt a tear roll over her cheek.