Chloe appeared in the hallway halfway to Sawyer’s class and fell in step with her. She leaned in. “You look awful,” she whispered.
Sawyer swallowed heavily and licked her lips. “There was something in my locker.”
“Like a dead mouse?” Chloe shuddered.
“Ahem,” Mr. Rhodes said from inside his classroom. “As soon as Ms. Dodd is through with her conversation, we will begin our class.”
Sawyer looked from Mr. Rhodes to Chloe. “Gotta go.”
Chloe peeled off into her own class as Sawyer beelined through the open door and pulled it shut behind her, whispering apologies as she did.
“Nice of you to join us, Sawyer. Take your seat.”
“Sorry.” She ducked into her desk at the back of the room and pulled out her biology book, working to rein in her mind as it shot off in multiple directions. As the day wore on, Sawyer tried to put the note out of her mind, but each time the bell rang, her heart would start to punch against her ribs. She purposely avoided her locker—which was easy to do, since her speech class didn’t require a book and she was planning to buy her lunch anyway—but she couldn’t avoid it at the end of the day. She sat in her last class, doing her best to avoid the clock. But each time another minute ticked off, a hot coil of dread burned through her. When the bell finally rang, she took her time gathering her things.
Chloe poked her head through the doorway from the hall, glaring at Sawyer.
“Oh my God, Sawyer, the glaciers are melting,” she moaned. “Come on already!”
Sawyer slung her last book into her backpack and hitched it over her shoulder. She followed Chloe into the crowded hallway, and as they approached the junior hall, icy fingers of anxiety—or fear—pricked at Sawyer. She tried to shake it off, to remind herself of her well-constructed flower theory, but the note—and its message—hung heavily in the back of her mind.
“Hey, are you okay?” Chloe asked.
Sawyer shook her head, shrugged.
“Didn’t you say you got something?”
Sawyer sucked in a stomach-quivering breath, her eyes focused on her locker. Would there be another note? She fumbled with the lock and tugged it open, letting out a whoosh of air when she saw that her locker was just as she had left it: her neat stack of books, two tubes of Chapstick, a picture of her and Kevin—and no note.
“Earth to Sawyer?”
“Sorry, Chloe. I’m just—I’m just tired, I guess. I’m not sleeping very well.”
“I thought your doctor gave you some sleeping pills or something.”
Sawyer nodded, swapping the books in her locker for the ones in her backpack. “He did, but if I take one of those I’m dead to the world.”
“Sounds like heaven.”
Sawyer rolled her eyes. “Heaven with the teensiest bit of hallucinatory crazy tossed in.”
Chloe bounced on the balls of her feet. “Oh, IPO-paid hallucinogens? Sign me up!”
“And then I run like molasses the next morning.”
“You dropped something.” Chloe bent down and plucked the mint-green envelope from the linoleum. “What’s this?”
Sawyer swallowed. “It’s nothing.” She snatched the envelope back while Chloe cocked an eyebrow.
“Grabby.”
Sawyer bit her lip, then forced a nonchalant smile. “Call me later?”
“Will do.”
Sawyer felt like she was sleepwalking all through track practice—and Coach Carter told her the same. She was glad when he finally let the team leave after their timed trials.
“You okay, S?” Coach Carter asked as students trickled off the field.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, Coach, I was just—” Sawyer bit her bottom lip, suddenly certain that Coach Carter could see right through her, would know that she was lying. “Distracted.”
Coach nodded. “That’s not like you.” He broke into a friendly grin and trotted backward. “You’re going to bring it next time though, right?”
Sawyer smiled back, for once glad that Coach Carter cared about nothing more than her performance on the track.
“Sure,” she mumbled, forcing herself to smile.