Yours Truly, Ramona

chapter thirty | the bad and the evil.

As if right on time, the bell sounds and I dial Luis' number, worried that something is wrong from the urgency of his text.

"Luis?" I ask, plugging my left ear to drown out the sounds of other students as I enter the crowded hallway.

I hear him say something to me, although the only thing I can hear is "Reece".

"What?"

"Reece is—"

I walk across the hall to the bathroom in hopes of being able to hear him better, and sure enough, his voice becomes clearer the moment the bathroom door shuts behind me.

"What's going on, Luis?"

There's a pause on the other end of the line as two girls enter the restroom and stop in front of the mirrors to fix their make-up.

"Reece is cutting herself."

I gasp quietly in shock as my mind draws a blank, unable to process the words that have just come out of his mouth. I'm hoping I heard him wrong. God, please tell me I heard him wrong.

"W—what?" I choke out, frozen against the dirty bathroom wall.

"I said, Reece is cutting herself."

Yeah, definitely didn't hear him wrong.

"Are you sure?"

"Nadia called me crying, and I don't think she'd lie about something like that," Luis explains. "So yeah, I'm sure."

Innocent, bubbly Reece is cutting herself. The sweet girl that I know has been corrupted by the same demons that I'm familiar with.

"Where is she right now?" I ask after a long pause.

"Umm... I'm guessing she's at her house. Why?"

I stand up straighter, immediately knowing what I need to do. "Don't worry about it."

I hang up the phone as quickly as I can without alarming Luis and exit the bathroom, hoping I can catch the bus to Nadia's house. By the time I get outside, the bus is just getting ready to pull away and I'm thankfully able to catch it just in time and secure myself a seat in the back.

The ride to Nadia's is short, hardly ten minutes, and after suffering through the disgust of watching a couple make out in front of me, I pull the stop string and rush off of the bus.

I keep my walk to her house brisk and hasty, and I'm too preoccupied with getting to Reece that I almost forget to breathe for a couple of minutes and end up needing to catch my breath.

Eventually approaching Nadia's brick house, I stroll up the driveway and settle my shaky composure on her front porch. I haven't even realized how badly I'm shaking, but when I take a moment to myself on Nadia's doorstep I realize that I've got a knot in my throat and a tremor in  my hands.

I take a deep breath and knock forcefully on her door. Nadia's mother answers, her eyes holding remnants of tears and her frown telling me everything I need to know.

"Hi, Mrs. Alvarez," I beam with the most polite smile I can muster. "Is Reece here?"

"Reece doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, Ramona."

"I know, but I—"

"No," she insists. "You can't talk to her right now."

I take a deep breath, trying to find a way around her strict, unwavering decision. I've never been very fond of Nadia's mother, if I'm being honest.

"Well, can I at least talk to Nadia?"

She looks back in her house for a moment before stepping aside to let me in.