“Seriously, though. Why aren’t you opening it?”
“I’m just not.”
“Do it,” Darcy demanded.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“Sloan.”
“Darcy.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” Darcy threw her hand on her hip.
“You’re being bossy.” Sloan’s posture matched Darcy’s.
“Eleven — thirteen — forty-four. That’s your combination, in case you’ve forgotten. Open it.”
“No.” How did she….
“You’re being secretive.”
“You’re being paranoid.”
“Children.” Ray walked up between them and put his hand on each of their shoulders. “You’re making a scene. Why are you arguing?”
“Sloan’s hiding something in her locker,” Darcy said, swatting Ray’s hand away.
“And what’s it any business of yours?” Ray asked with a polite smile on his face.
Darcy huffed and crossed her arms. “None.”
“Exactly. See you in Biology.” Darcy blessedly took the hint and went on her way.
Sloan took the opportunity to let out a shaky breath. It had been one bad morning. “Thank you. I didn’t think she was ever going to leave.”
“No problem.” He hesitated a second. “Everything okay?”
Ugh. “I wish people would stop asking me that. I’m fine.”
Ray held his hands up defensively. “Okay. Fine. I believe you. Just… Darcy’s right. It’s odd you won’t open your locker. Hiding some deep, dark secret?”
Yes… yes, I am. “You wanna see what’s inside? Here ya go.” Angrily, she spun the combination and opened the locker. She pointed inside, waiting for Ray to get the hint.
“It’s terrifying. Hoarders needs to be called.”
“Huh?” She looked then and saw… nothing. Books, her normal books were laying in piles like… well… normal. No roses. No note. No nothing. “I don’t understand,” she whispered.
“That makes two of us,” Ray said. “I don’t think Darcy would have cared about your messy locker.”
“They’re gone.” That couldn’t be right.
“The roses?”
“They were here yesterday afternoon. They were here, and now they’re gone. I don’t get it.”
“Wait,” Ray opened her locker wider. On the door were pictures of her, Ray, and Aaron all having fun. Some were of her and Mackenzie. Another was from her days with Boyd, but he’d been cut out. She’d been really cute in it, though, so she’d kept her part of it. ““You left them in here?”
She nodded.
“You’re sure you didn’t take them out?”
That was the least of her worries. She had no words. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Someone had put the roses back on her nightstand the day before. Someone had taken the flowers from her locker. Someone knew everything about her. Sloan wanted to throw up. She couldn’t go through something like this again.
Ray grabbed her by her shoulders to get her to focus. The hallway was nearly empty. The eight o’clock bell would be ringing soon. “You need to calm down, stop freaking out, and tell me exactly what’s going on.”
“I don’t know what’s going on. I told you last night.”
“No.” He shook his head and grasped her shoulders a little harder. “You’re not telling me something. What is it?”
Why not? Her stalker would only kill her mother if the police were involved. “At lunch. I’ll tell you at lunch.”
“You’ll tell me now.”
“We’ll be late for Biology,” she reminded him.
“Screw Biology.” Ray grabbed her hand and led her down the hallway and turned left. They went down a short hallway until they got to the gymnasium doors. Ray opened them and took her up the creaky old stairs that weren’t in use anymore and up to the balcony, which had been recently renovated. He sat her down in the middle seat of the back row. “Now. Talk.”
Her hand shook. Honestly, she’d rather be in Biology than talking to Ray right now. She didn’t want to do anything that her stalker could see. She didn’t want anything to happen to her mother. “We can’t be here. We need to get to class.”
“We’ve not missed any since December. The room won’t fall down if we aren’t there, Sloan Bridges — who is too moral for her own good.” He let out a nervous laugh.
“I wouldn’t say that.” She hung her head.
“I would.” Ray swept a piece of hair that had fallen out of her side ponytail behind her ear. “Is it Boyd? Talk to me. Please.”
Sloan took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay. But you have to promise you won’t go running off to the cops.”
That made him sit up straighter. “Why would I need to go to the cops? Has he threatened you?”
Did she really want to tell him? Yeah. She did. Did she really want to get him involved? No. Not really, but she didn’t feel like she had a choice. She couldn’t go through this alone. Maybe Ray could give her another perspective.