My high heels sank into the sloppy earth as we trudged up the path to Lowell's. I squeezed Justin's elbow to keep from stumbling backward. Near the top, he changed course, scrambling up a short but steep hill using exposed tree roots for leverage. I tried to follow, but the toe of my shoe caught on the bottom of my dress. He reached down and pulled me up.
Under the hazy light of the moon, I took stock of myself. The hem of my dress was in shreds, and my left heel was missing. The pearl ring Nonna had given me on my thirteenth birthday was a clump of mud on my finger. At least I fit the theme for the Prom with the Dead.
Justin was on all fours, scrounging around a fallen tree. He pulled out a flashlight. The beam hit the top of a tombstone. It glistened in the mist. But when the ray of light lowered, I gasped.
Mr. Reid was slumped on the ground, tied to the gravestone with rope. His legs twisted beneath him in an unnatural way. His head lolled to the side, and a thin stream of drool dripped from his chin onto his red-and-white Kennedy High logo tie. A purple bruise, shaped like the state of Texas, spread out from under a blindfold.
My hands started to shake as I stared at him. How could the principal be here? Why was he here? He should be at the prom, breathing down the necks of kids smoking in the bathroom. No matter what he'd done to Justin, the man didn't deserve this.
I shrieked in fear. "Is he dead?"
Justin kicked him in the shin. Mr. Reid moaned like a foghorn.
"Relax, Ariana. He's got enough drugs in his system to keep him in la-la land for another four hours."
Mr. Reid gurgled, and then his chest went still. I held my breath until he sucked in air again. I wondered what Justin had given him.
A branch snapped behind me. I turned to find Zoe leaning against a tombstone, eyes on me. I stared at her purple satin bodice, the neckline a weave of white ribbon. Her chiffon skirt swept up at the hem. Lavender pumps, dotted with dirt. And Richie, beside her, decked out in a baby-blue tuxedo. He huddled on the ground, rocking slightly. About ten feet back, Nora, dressed in black, blended into the night.
"I didn't know he was going to be here," Zoe said, looking at me. "I didn't know."
Nora didn't say anything. I could tell from the look on her face that she hadn't known, either. Richie just stared at his feet and kept rocking.
Justin wriggled his fingers into a familiar pair of cotton gloves, the same ones he'd used to break into the school. Then he thrust his hand into Mr. Reid's suit pocket, pulled out the principal's iPhone, and tossed it over his shoulder without watching where it landed. "He won't be needing that tonight."
I watched as Zoe, her eyes on Justin's back, bent down to retrieve it. She slid it under the belt of her dress, unnoticed.
Justin turned around to face us, his expression eerily serene. "After my meeting with Reid yesterday, I didn't have a choice."
He sat down on a bed of moss. Like a game of Simon Says, we joined him, forming a half-moon circle around our school principal. My eyes shifted back to Mr. Reid's chest, rising and falling in spasms. I was afraid if I looked away, he'd die.
"He says that I'm behind a lot of things that have gone wrong at Kennedy High," Justin said. "All conjecture, of course, which isn't very fair."
It is fair, I thought to myself, because it's the truth. "He's going to know this was your idea, Justin," I said softly.
His laugh was hollow. "Now he's trying to expel me over something that happened before the League formed."
Richie tilted his head. "What was it?"
"Don't worry about it."
"But it's almost the end of the year!" Nora said. "Why doesn't he just let it go?"
Whatever Justin had done, I knew it was bad enough that Mr. Reid couldn't let him get away with it.
"You didn't tell me about any other plans," Richie murmured to himself.
"It was my problem," Justin said. "I didn't want to involve you."
Richie nodded, but looked perplexed.
"Did you make up the whole thing about Wanda?" I asked Justin.
"I had to get you up here somehow," he said. "You're part of the League, like it or not."
"I don't," I told him. "Not anymore."
"We've done too much together. If you tell anyone, we'll all get in trouble."
I swallowed hard. He was right, of course. He'd seen to it that the members of the League had participated in all the plans, that we were as guilty as him. "I won't tell, Justin. I could never ruin Nora, Richie, and Zoe's future." I looked at him pointedly and saw that the message wasn't lost.
Justin turned back to Richie. "Anyway, I'm sick of Reid hounding me. He'll never catch me, because I'm smarter than him. It's time to make that perfectly clear."
As I looked at Justin's calm, unruffled expression, I realized that what I'd once mistaken for confidence was nothing more than dressed-up arrogance.
"What do you want us to do?" Richie's voice was so quiet, I was surprised anyone heard it.
"We have to show him he can't mess with me," Justin sneered. "He thinks I'm guilty of everything bad that happens at the damn school!"
Because you are, I thought.
"If we take Reid home right now, he won't have to know about this," I said, looking to Nora, Richie, and Zoe for support. Their faces were unreadable.
Justin clenched his fist at his side. I pictured the flattened Coke can. The demolished MacBook. The torn report beside it. Mr. Reid was suffering because he'd interfered, and next it was going to be my turn. I shut my eyes and tensed, bracing myself. Instead, I felt the whisper of fingers against my cheek, light as butterfly wings.
"I care for you a lot, Ariana, you know that. We're all a team. I'm asking you to be there for me." He removed his hand, but the impression of his fingers stayed. My face felt dirty. I wanted to scrub away his touch.
"We're in this together," Justin said, addressing all of us now. "I'd never rat on any of you for what we did to Madame Detroit, or Dave Harper, or Tiffany Miller. We did those things for you. This time, it's my turn."
The cemetery was still. Even the crickets seemed tuned to Justin's words. Richie shivered, despite the mild spring night. When he rubbed his eyes, I stared at his hands, stained with dirt and blood.
"What happened to you?" I choked.
"I cut them on a board." Richie's voice was robotic. "I hit Reid with it so Justin could give him the drug."
"Reid was on his way to the prom," Justin said, smiling. "The Prom with the Dead, as it turns out."
My head was spinning. I wished I could just run away.
"What are we going to do with him?" I asked. "Just leave him here?"
"There are other options," Justin responded.
"What do you mean?" Nora asked.
"You're a smart girl," Justin said. "Figure it out."
Zoe, Richie, and Nora looked like they were at their best friend's funeral. Justin caught my eye and held it. The usual flutter in my heart was now a drumbeat of fear.
From behind his back, Justin brought out a rock and pitched it across the circle. It tumbled along the ground to Richie's feet.
"Oh my God," I said. "This is crazy. Haven't you done enough already?"
Justin ignored me. "Do it now, Richie, and he won't feel a thing."
I dug my nails into my palm. "No!"
Nora took a small step forward. "I know you're upset, Justin. For good reason. But maybe we can talk about this first."
How could she sound so calm? Zoe hooked her pinkie around mine and squeezed. I dropped my head on her shoulder.
Justin's eyes drifted to the rock. Addressing no one in particular, he said, "Reid told me he's been watching me and my friends. He's onto us. All of us."
I remembered when Justin said the League was for friendship and support. None of those factors had been a part of his formula, I now realized. "You planned to get Mr. Reid from the beginning, didn't you?"
"Shut up, Ariana. You don't know what you're talking about."
"He's been following you around. He never was after Richie, was he?"
Richie's head jerked up at his name. I reached for a hand. Anyone's. It was Nora's. "Let's get out of here," I said.
She shook me off. "You can't just walk away, Ariana. He needs us."
For a moment, I thought she was talking about the principal.
"Do it, Richie," Justin ordered. "Do it for me."
Richie picked up the rock, tracing the jagged edges with his thumb.
"I've always been there for you," Justin said. "I protected you."
"No, Richie!" I begged.
Nora patted Justin's arm. "Let's go for a walk and calm down. Reid's going to be out of it for hours. We don't have to do anything right now."
I understood Nora's thought process, but it wouldn't work. Justin wasn't going to change his mind because he had a few extra minutes to think about it. Who knew how long he'd been planning this.
Richie glanced at Justin, then at me. He flipped the rock in his hands, shifting his focus to Mr. Reid's dress shoes, which were crusted with mud.
"Friends for life," Justin told him.
There was that word again. Friends. On second thought, maybe the League had been about support and protection—as long as that meant taking the fall for Justin.
"Didn't you say that smart people don't get caught?" I asked. "Maybe that's because they're too smart to do the dirty work themselves."
"Shut up, Ariana!" he snapped.
Richie stared at his hands, refusing to look at me. I hoped I hadn't gone too far. The last thing I wanted was for him to jump to Justin's defense.
"Please, Richie, can't you see he's using you?" I asked.
Justin tuned us out, all except Richie. "They'll come to me first. Make me take a lie detector test. I have to be able to say I didn't do it so they'll leave me alone. So they'll leave all of us alone."
Richie mumbled to himself, shaking his head. The rock trembled in his hands. He scooted forward, kneeling before Mr. Reid as he raised it to his chin.
"Don't ruin your future, Richie," I told him.
"What future?" he asked solemnly.
I sighed with relief. At least he was listening to me. "Your restaurant ... and the love that's coming to you."
"Do it!" Justin demanded.
If I had to, I knew I could rush Richie. Knock him off balance. But I also knew that Justin would have me nailed to the ground in seconds, just like he'd done to Jenny.
Richie sent me an apologetic glance.
"Who's your friend here, buddy?" Justin said. "Is it Reid, who turned his back when those jocks jumped you?"
"Or is it Justin, who's asking you to go to prison for him?" I finished.
Justin ignored me. "Think about how he treated you, Richie. Come on, wake up, man!"
"Who knows if Mr. Reid ever said those things about you," I said to Richie. "Justin told you he overheard it, but what if it wasn't true? What if he made it all up?"
Everyone was standing now, except Richie, who knelt in front of Mr. Reid, the rock shaking in his hands.
Justin stepped toward me, but Zoe moved into his path, fists raised.
"Tough as you think you are, I can kick your ass, Zoe. Don't forget that."
When Justin turned his gaze back to Richie, Zoe pinched my waist. I looked down as she tapped the iPhone in her belt. 9-1-1 glowed on the screen.
I counted to ten, then raised my voice. "You were the one who brought Mr. Reid to Lowell's Cemetery, so you take care of him! We don't want anything to do with this."
I didn't dare say much else. They always recorded 911 calls, and I didn't want my voice recognized.
Justin squeezed Richie's arm. "Come on!"
I looked at Richie. He looked away. "Think," I whispered.
Richie lifted the rock over his head. "No!" I screamed, lunging toward him.
Clunk.
Richie threw the rock. It ricocheted off the fallen tree and rolled into a bush.
Mr. Reid whistled in his sleep. I collapsed to the ground, weak with relief. Richie darted into Zoe's arms.
"You're going to listen to them over me?" Justin thundered.
Zoe hugged Richie, holding on tight like she was afraid he'd slip through her fingers. Nora frowned. She hadn't moved an inch.
"Let's get out of here," Richie said. Zoe released him, and he held out a hand, helping me to my feet. He looked at Mr. Reid, then back to me. "We'll call someone, get him help."
"Come with us," I pleaded to Nora. I couldn't leave her behind, not with Justin. Not with Mr. Reid still in danger.
"You guys don't know the first thing about friendship." She moved to Justin's side.
Richie shrank an inch. I tightened my hold on his arm.
Justin rested his chin on his thumb and ran an index finger across his lip. I knew the look: he was adapting his "plan" to fit the current situation, but first, he had to figure out what to do with his defectors.
A siren hummed in the distance, increasing to a wail as it drew closer. Zoe, Richie, and I glanced at one another, then ran for the hill, toppling down the muddy slope. Justin and Nora took off in the other direction.
Wild blackberry thorns tore at my arms as I broke through in search of another path. Somehow we reached the main road, with only enough time to dive to the ground as two police cars tore past. I lifted my head from a carpet of wet leaves when Justin's motorcycle roared by from the opposite direction. Nora was in my seat, her cheek plastered to the back of Justin's jacket.
When all was clear, we took each other's hands and walked home in silence. It felt as if someone had died.
Thank God no one had.
A/N:
SO DID Y'ALL EXPECT THAT???
haha this chapter is one my faves
Justin be crazy af
thanks for reading <3
(( also, this book has only 5 chapters left so prepare yourselves :( ))