I meet Ryan off campus at the hole-in-the-wall known as Pete’s Canteen, the neighborhood’s idea of a diner that only serves five things: burgers, tuna melts, milk shakes, fries, and one sad garden salad. Still, now that Headmaster Higgins has loosened her stance enough to let students out within a two-mile radius, at least it gets us off school grounds and onto a quiet backstreet, away from prying spectators and cameras. I spot Ryan already in a booth, and I slide in across from him.
“Hi.”
“Hey.” He gives me a weak smile in return.
“So.” I drum my fingers on the table. “I think it’s safe to say we’ll never have a worse Halloween weekend than this.”
“Tell me about it.” He shifts in his seat. “This whole Nicole story has just blown my mind. I mean, can you believe it?”
“You know how I felt about her,” I say curtly.
“Yeah.” He hangs his head. “I just can’t help feeling…responsible somehow. You know—because I decided to give the drinks an extra kick. I only wanted to make the night more fun for all of us by getting us buzzed faster, but what if it’s my fault that she turned violent?” He looks at me desperately, as if I might have the power to wave away his guilt.
“Well, it was screwed up of you to get everyone so plastered. I’m not going to sugarcoat that, and if I hear about you pulling this crap ever again, I won’t hesitate to get you in trouble for it,” I warn him. “But. You’ll notice no one else killed anyone that night. So it can’t have been all you.”
Ryan lets out a long exhale.
“Don’t worry, I learned my lesson this time. And listen, there’s another reason I wanted to see you. I feel like I owe you an apology for, you know…always defending Nicole.”
“Thanks,” I tell him, trying not to roll my eyes. I knew this is why he wanted to see me.
“Not to be cheesy, but I hope we can be friends now. I feel like we can both help each other through this.” Ryan gives me a knowing glance, and I bite back a laugh. He doesn’t actually think now is an opportune time to hit on me, does he? Guys really are one-track-minded.
“Hey, I’m going to hit the men’s room, but feel free to get whatever you want. My treat.” He slides his wallet across the table toward me.
Okay, he’s definitely hitting on me. No one just hands a girl their wallet unless they want something. Wishful thinking, Ryan. But I will take a milk shake.
I’m walking up to the ordering window when I hear the strains of a vaguely familiar voice, talking furiously under her breath. It’s coming from the corner booth, the one half hidden by the fake Christmas tree that Pete seems to put up earlier and earlier each year.
“Are you kidding me with this?”
There’s something about that voice. I turn to look, and…it’s Brianne, of all people. She’s hunched over in her seat, alone in her booth, so riveted by her phone conversation that she doesn’t even see me.
“You can actually say that, after everything I’ve done for you?” She pulls at her dirty-blond hair, her face scrunching up in anguish. I take a slight step closer.
“No, you can’t. Not when I risked everything so we—”
A look of shock crosses her face, and she holds the phone in front of her. The person on the other end of the line must have hung up. She slams the phone down onto the table, and as I watch, a strange chill runs through me.
“Hey, did you order—”
I clap my hand over Ryan’s mouth to shut him up the second I hear him join me. I’ve never spared much—if any—thought for Nicole’s dull friend, but right now I can’t take my eyes off her as she throws a clump of dollar bills onto her table and storms out of the diner. That determined walk of hers reminds me of…something. I need to find out what she’s up to.
“Come on,” I tell him. “We’re following her.”
“What for?” Ryan looks at me like I’ve just sprouted two heads.
“I’ll explain later, just hurry up and be quiet.” I yank his arm, and with a shrug of his shoulders, he falls into step beside me.
Throwing open the diner doors, I spot Brianne several yards ahead, turning into the alley that leads back to school. We trail behind her, me pulling Ryan down with me to duck every time it looks like she might turn around—but I’m only being paranoid. She couldn’t be less aware of our presence, crying as she stalks through the alley. Every few moments she lets out a wail of fury, like some kind of wounded animal, and Ryan gives me an indignant look.
“Shouldn’t we go help her?” he hisses in my ear. “What the hell are we doing?”
I hold my finger up to silence him as Brianne comes to a halt in front of the Dumpster. She stares from the phone in her hand to the Dumpster before her—and then hurls the phone with all her might, before breaking into a run.
As soon as she’s disappeared from view, I turn to Ryan.
“You said you wanted to be friends, right? Well, now’s your chance. I need you to dumpster-dive and get me that phone.”