Sawyer pushed into the deserted hallway and, head down, beelined toward her locker. She looked up just in time to avoid a collision with Cooper.
“Oh, hey.” He flushed a blotchy red from exposed neck to forehead and then broke into an uncertain grin.
Sawyer looked from Cooper to her locker—less than three paces away—and back to Cooper again. “What are you doing out here?”
He waved a pink hall pass. “Bathroom break.”
Sawyer bit her lip and pointed over Cooper’s right shoulder. “The boys’ room is in corridor C.”
Cooper’s smile looked uncomfortable, forced. “I thought I’d take the long way. Trig is killing me.”
Sawyer cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “The very long way.”
“What are you doing out here in the middle of class? I mean, besides general interrogation.” Cooper’s voice was light, amused, but there was an edge to it that made Sawyer feel uncomfortable.
“Forgot something in my locker,” she said.
“Oh, your locker is in this corridor?”
Sawyer nodded, unease traveling the length of her spine. “All the junior lockers are.”
“Right. We were all kind of mixed up at my old school.” Cooper dangled the hall pass again. “Well, I should be getting back to class. Someone’s going to catch on that it doesn’t take this long to pee.”
Sawyer said nothing while Cooper hurried past her down the hall. He headed away from corridor C, away from the bank of math classrooms behind them. When she finally turned to her locker, Sawyer spun the lock, feeling a weird sense of calm and dread. If there is a note, Cooper is suspect number one, she told herself.
She immediately thought of their conversations, of the delicious heat that crept through her when his lips were on hers. She thought of the softness in his eyes and felt herself slump. “God, I’m freaking paranoid.”
Cooper would never do anything to hurt me. He—she paused in mid-thought, about to utter the word “loves.” He likes me, she corrected herself.
Even people who like—or love—you can hurt you, her conscience warned her. Sawyer ignored it.
“Prank,” she muttered out loud, as if trying to convince herself. “Stupid prank.”
But there was nothing amiss in her locker, and her sheet music, her track clothes, and her photos were exactly as she had left them. She slammed the metal door, her heart thumping in a way she could barely remember—normally.
She whistled the chorus of her new solo as she skipped back to class.
***
“So, I figure I’ll head home and change, and then drive over around five. Sound okay?” Chloe asked.
“Yeah, that sounds good. I say we do an all-night bad-movie chocolate fest. If I get through chem today, I’m totally going to need it.” Sawyer turned to head to her locker when Chloe laid a soft hand on her forearm.
“Hey, Sawyer”—she licked her lips—“I’m really glad you’re—you’re feeling better.”
Sawyer felt a lump grow in her throat, but this time, it didn’t have the sharp pang of despair that she was now so used to. Instead, she smiled—genuinely—and pulled her best friend into a hug. “Me too. And you too.”
Chloe pulled back, confusion flitting across her face. Sawyer cocked her head, gently brushing her fingertips over Chloe’s forehead, over the still-healing cut above her best friend’s eye.
“Oh, right.”
“Hey, Chloe, speaking of that. Did you—did you ever go to the police?”
Chloe shook her head. “I told you—my mom would kill me. Besides”—she wrinkled her nose—“Ryan was able to get the car towed without anyone being the wiser. His dad owns that garage out on Forest, you know.”
Sawyer nodded. “But someone attacked you, that’s pretty—”
Chloe put her hands on Sawyer’s shoulders and squeezed gently. “It’s over, Sawyer. No big deal.”
Sawyer wished she had an ounce of her best friend’s bravery. Maybe then she wouldn’t nearly jump out of her skin every fifteen minutes or scrutinize cute guys who were just trying to be nice to her.
“I worry about you, Chloe.”
Chloe began to annunciate. “No. Big. Deal. Car is fine.” She pointed to her forehead. “Noggin made of stone or some such other hard material.”
Sawyer laughed. “I guess. And hey, I guess with the car at Ryan’s dad’s, you two got to spend some extra time together, huh?”
Chloe’s eyes rolled to the ceiling and a sly smile formed on her lips. “A lady never tells…”
“Which is why you should be spilling everything.”
“Nothing to tell, S. Don’t you think I would have given you every sordid detail by now if there was?” She winked. “Best friends don’t keep secrets.”
Sawyer felt her smile falter, just for a second. “Yeah. You’re totally right.”
“All right, gotta run. See you later, sweet cheeks.” Chloe skipped through the double glass doors on her way to P.E. while Sawyer spun her locker combo and yanked out her chemistry book.
“You!”
Maggie’s voice cut through the din of students in the hall.
“What’s Maggie going on about now?” Sawyer murmured to herself.