by Kai Juniper
"Not when you have someone else," Parker mutters.
Finn looks at Briggs. "Who is she?"
"No one. He's just making shit up. Back to what we were talking about. If the cops show up at any of our houses, we keep our mouths shut and call our lawyers. We tell them we weren't on the road that night and the guy's just confused. Ella will talk to her dad and tell him to change his story to match ours."
"Wait—what?" I turn to Briggs. "I don't want to tell him what happened."
"I didn't mean now. I meant later, if the cops show up."
"What if they show up when I'm not home and talk to my dad?" I ask.
Briggs pauses, rubbing his jaw. "You might have to come up with something now to keep your dad from saying anything."
"Like what?"
"Just come up with something," Parker says. "You're supposed to be smart. Aren't you valedictorian?"
I glance at Briggs, knots forming in my stomach. He hasn't mentioned the valedictorian thing in over a week. Has he given up trying to take it from me, or is he just distracted from the accident? I haven't changed my mind. I'm not letting him have it.
"Just think about it," Briggs says to me. "If you can't come up with something, we'll figure it out."
"In his room," Parker mumbles.
Finn didn't hear him. He's staring at his phone, smiling. "Erica just texted me. That girl has a dirty fucking mind."
"Speaking of texts," Briggs says. "Anyone get any more of those prank ones?"
"Why don't you just ask Ella when the next one's coming?" Parker says. "Since she's the one sending them."
"It wasn't me!" I say, getting angry. "Why don't you just admit you and Finn did it? Briggs and I know it was you two."
"You and Briggs?" Parker huffs. "So you two are accusing me and Finn. Why am I not surprised?"
"Did you do it or not?" Briggs says. "I'm not joking around here. This is serious. If someone else sent that text, we need to figure out who it was."
"You really think I did it?" Parker asks.
"I think you could be in on it."
"So you're saying Finn did it. We're back to that again."
"Wasn't me," Finn says, swiping through his phone. "You really think I'm smart enough to figure out to send a text from some five digit number? I don't even know what that is."
"It's what companies use to send text messages," Briggs says, "but I'm guessing someone could make up a fake company and get one."
"If you know so much about it, maybe you're the one who sent it," Parker says.
"If it was me, I wouldn't be bringing it up."
Parker's phone dings, then Finn's, then Briggs'. We all look at each other, then check our phones. There's nothing on mine, no new messages.
"What is it?" I ask, as the three of them stare at their phones.
"Another text from that number," Briggs says. "The guy's awake and talking," Briggs says, reading the text. "Get ready. Your perfect life is about to end."
"I got it too," Parker says, tossing his phone on the table.
"Same here." Finn looks at me. "What about you?"
"I didn't get it, but that doesn't mean anything."
"Yeah, I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Parker says, sarcastically. He gets up. "I'm leaving." He walks back to the house.
"Me too." Finn gets up and follows him.
Briggs doesn't try to stop them, his eyes still on his phone. "Who could it be? And how do they know the guy's awake and talking?"
"It was probably on the news. I'll check." I go to the local news website and search for any updates. "I don't see anything, but I'm sure that's how they found out, unless this person works at the hospital."
"Or knows the guy." Briggs turns to me. "What if someone else was with him that night, hiding in the woods? Like a friend, or maybe his girlfriend. They'd be with him at the hospital and they'd know he woke up. No, that doesn't make sense because the person would've identified him."
"The cops know who he is," I say. "Didn't I tell you that?"
"No. Who he is?"
"My dad wouldn't say, but he made it sound like the guy was a criminal. He said something about the guy deserving it, or maybe not that he deserved it, but you know what I mean. Like karma or whatever."
"And his girlfriend told him this?"
"Yeah. I don't know what else she said. He wouldn't tell me."
"Too bad your dad doesn't drink. Drunk people can tell you a lot."
"He drank a lot after my mom died. And then one day he just stopped and threw it all out and never had another drink." I check my phone for the time. "I need to go. I have to be at work at four."
I push my chair back and get up from the table.
"Where is it?" Briggs asks, standing up. "I could drop you off."
"I have to go home first and change."
He looks down at my shirt, an old t-shirt I brought to throw over my bikini. "If you ever want to buy some new clothes, I'd give you the money."
"I have money to buy clothes," I say, getting angry. "I just choose not to spend it that way."
"I wasn't putting down how you dress. I was just trying to be nice."
He sounds sincere, so maybe he was just trying to be nice. But when he said it, I immediately assumed he was making fun of my clothes, like he usually does. I'm not used to Briggs being nice to me.
"I wouldn't mind getting some new clothes." I look down at my faded shirt. "But I'll pay for them myself. Maybe Charlotte would go shopping with me." I look back at Briggs. "I think that's why I don't go. Because I don't have anyone to shop with me. When I go alone, I see girls with their moms and it just reminds me that mine is gone."
"I get that," Briggs says.
"Let's go." I head to the door. "I don't want to be late."
"Ella." He catches up to me at the door. "Sorry. I wasn't even thinking about that. What you said about your mom."
"Don't worry about it. It's not something someone would think about unless they'd been through it. I just wanted to explain."
We go through the house and out to the driveway to his car. He opens the door for me, then goes around to the other side.
"You ever need someone to go with you," he says, "I'd do it."
"Do what?"
"Go shopping with you."
"Yeah, right. Even if you were serious, we're not supposed to be seen together."
"I have a feeling the people I know don't shop at the places you shop."
I smile, imagining Aubrey shopping at a discount clothing store. "True. I wasn't thinking about that. I can't see you being at one of those stores either. I bet that t-shirt you're wearing cost fifty dollars."
He glances down at it. "Probably more like seventy-five. I can't remember."
"That's crazy to pay that much for a t-shirt."
"Not if you can afford it." He drives down the road to my house. "So when do you want to meet for the next assignment?"
"I thought you were getting a new partner."
"I'm not switching partners. My dad can fuck off. I'm sick of him getting involved in shit at school. I don't go to his office and start ordering him around."
"Does he do that a lot? Get involved with school stuff?"
"I don't want to talk about it." He glances at me. "It's been a halfway decent day and I don't want to ruin it by talking about my dad."
"Is that because of me?" I kid. "Is that what made it halfway decent?"
"Yeah, actually it is." He pulls into my driveway.
I feel the same way, but telling him that doesn't seem right. I'm still not used to us getting along, and I'm not sure I trust that it's real.
Chapter Nine
Ella
"I'll see you later." I get out of Briggs' Porsche. "I'll let you know if I hear anything."
He drives off, and as I'm walking to the house I notice my dad's truck is here. He's not supposed to be home.
I go inside and see my dad in the kitchen, getting a glass of water, still dressed in his grass-stained clot
hes. "What are you doing home?"
"They had a break-in at the Hamilton estate. All workers are to stay off the property until they do an investigation. I sent you a text. Didn't you see it?"
"No." I check my phone. "I don't have a text from you."
He gets his phone out. "Huh. Looks like I sent it to Susan instead. That's embarrassing."
"Why? What'd it say?"
"No work today. See you soon. Love you."
I laugh. "She's going to think you love her after one date."
He sighs. "That was meant for my daughter," he says as he texts her.
"Have you heard from her since you sent it?"
"No. And I probably won't after that text."
"She'll understand. People send texts to the wrong people all the time. You should invite her over tonight so I can assure her you're not some crazy guy who falls in love after one date."
"She's working."
"On the hit-and-run case?"
"I'm assuming that's what it is. As far as I know that's the only one she's been assigned to. She's determined to find out who did it so she's been putting in extra hours." He puts his glass in the sink and walks over to me. "So why was a boy dropping you off from school?"
"That was Briggs. We had to work on our assignment so I went to his house and he took me home."
"Why didn't you drive there?"
"The truck's low on gas. I should probably go fill it up."
"The Chadwick house is only a couple miles away. You're saying the truck couldn't make it that far?"
He doesn't believe me. That was a really bad lie. He could easily go check how much gas I have, which last I checked was half a tank.
"What's going on here?" My dad stands in front of me, folding his arms over his chest. "Are you seeing that boy?"
"Like dating him? No! I hate Briggs. You know that."
"Then why do I keep finding you two together? And why do you keep trying to hide it from me?"
"I'm not hiding it from you. You just saw him drop me off."
"Ella, you know I don't care if you date, but I don't like you lying about it. If you're going out with the Chadwick boy, just tell me."
"I'm not going out with him. He just dropped me off. Why are you getting upset about this?"
"I don't like you hiding things from me and I have a feeling that you are, and I think it has something to do with that boy."
"Okay, you want to know the truth?"
He waits for me to tell him.
"Briggs' girlfriend is crazy jealous. If he even looks at another girl, she goes psycho. I'm forced to work with Briggs for our assignment, but if his girlfriend finds out we're meeting outside of class, she'd ruin my life at school. She'd make up stories about me and turn everyone against me. Like I said, she's crazy."
"What's this have to do with him dropping you off today?"
"She saw me talking to Briggs at school and now she thinks something's going on with us, so she followed me home. I waited for her to go, then Briggs picked me up so I could leave my truck here in case she drove by again to check that I'm here."
His brows draw together. "Is this girl dangerous?"
"I don't know. Maybe. I try to stay away from her, just in case. Anyway, given how crazy she gets, Briggs doesn't want her to ever find out that I got a ride home from him that night when my truck broke down, so if anyone asks, I need you to tell them I wasn't with him that night, or his friends."
My dad cocks his head. "Why would anyone ask me about that?"
"I don't know, but if they did, I need you to say I wasn't with Briggs and his friends that night. Could you do that?"
"Ella, what's going on here? Did something happen that night?"
"No! Dad, I just don't want people knowing I was with them. I can't stand those guys. It'd ruin my reputation if anyone found out I agreed to go with them. Everyone at school knows I'd rather risk being stranded all night on a deserted road surrounded by wild animals than to get a ride with those jerks."
"Then why'd you do it?"
"So you wouldn't worry. I didn't have a signal out there. I couldn't call. And I knew you'd think I'm dead if I didn't come home."
"If you have that big of a problem with those boys, why didn't you try to switch partners for those assignments you're doing with Briggs so you weren't forced to meet with him outside of class?"
"I tried, but Ms. Higgins insisted we work together. She thinks we need to learn to get along."
"Maybe you do. You're going to encounter a lot of difficult people in your life and it's good to practice getting along with them. Have you been getting along with Briggs?"
"Surprisingly, yes, but probably because we both want a good grade for the class."
My dad's phone dings and he checks it. "It's Susan. She says she assumed my text was meant for you. I'm going to give her a quick call. Are we done here?"
"Yeah. I'll be in my room." I go in there but keep the door open a crack so I can hear him talking.
"Hey, Susan." He laughs. "Sorry, I didn't realize I'd sent it to you until Ella said she didn't get it. So how's it going at the hospital? Have you talked to him yet?"
I peek my head out the door and see my dad nodding.
"Did he say how old they were?" He nods again. "Well, at least you have something to go on now. And you know it's an SUV, so that should help narrow it down. I don't want to take up your time at work. I just wanted to apologize for the mix-up. Are we still on for this weekend?" He smiles. "Great! See you then."
He ends the call, still smiling. He really likes this woman. He hasn't smiled this much since before my mom died.
Leaving my room, I pass by my dad on my way to the kitchen. "Did you talk to Susan?" I open the cupboard, pretending to look for a snack.
"I did. She laughed about the mix-up. Good thing she didn't take it seriously." He walks to the kitchen table and looks through the stack of mail. "I'm taking her out Saturday night." He glances at me. "You okay with that?"
"Dad, you don't have to ask my permission. You can go out whenever you want."
"I just want to make sure I'm not taking this too fast. This is a big change for us. It's always been just you and me."
I walk over to him. "And now it's time for you to be with someone else. I'm happy you're dating."
He smiles. "I am too. I didn't think I was ready, but it was time."
I go back to the fridge and take out a soda. "Did she say anything about the case?"
"Yes, but I don't think I'm supposed to say anything." He flips through the mail.
"Dad, I'm not going to tell anyone. I'm just wondering what she found out. Did the guy remember anything?"
"He wasn't able to say much. He's still in bad shape. The accident injured his brain. He has a hard time staying alert and finding the right words. He's going to need a lot of rehab if he makes it." He rips up an envelope. "I wish we didn't get so much junk mail."
"So what did he say? The guy who got hit?"
"He thinks he remembers more than one person being there that night. He thinks they were all males, but he didn't know what age or what they looked like. I'm sure he was blinded by the headlights when they came at him on the road." He holds up an envelope. "This one's yours. Looks like an ad for something."
"You can toss it. If the guy couldn't see, how does he know they were men?"
"By their voices. He remembers hearing a man's voice, or several men."
"Is that all he remembers?"
"He might've said more, but that's all she told me. Oh, and he thinks it was an SUV, not a pickup, but they're going to look for both. The guy's so out of it, it's hard to know if you can believe anything he says." My dad brings the junk mail over to the trash. "I'm going to go clean up and then we can figure out dinner."
He goes in his room. I want to call Briggs and tell him what I found out, but decide to wait and tell him at school tomorrow.
The next morning, I text Briggs from the parking lot. Need to talk.
He do
esn't text back, so I get out of my truck and head to the building.
"Ella, wait up!"
I look back and see Charlotte coming towards me, her long black hair down around her shoulders instead of up in her usual messy bun.
"What's with the hair?" I ask.
"You don't like it?" she asks, smoothing it with her hand as we go in the school.
"It looks great. I'm just not used to you wearing it down like that."
She follows me to my locker. "I thought it might help me get a date for prom."
"You're going to prom?" I ask, surprised because she's not someone who likes school dances. They make her nervous, so she avoids them. I don't go to them either, but only because I can't stand my classmates and don't want to be around them any more than I have to.
"I feel like I should go or I'll regret it when I'm old. You should go too."
"With who?" I stop at my locker and put in the combination.
"You could go with Calvin."
I turn and look at her like she's lost her mind. "Calvin? The computer guy?"
She shrugs. "He's really smart, and he looks a lot better with his new haircut."
"Yeah, I'd rather just skip prom." I open my locker, doing a quick search for drugs because I still don't trust Finn and Parker. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they planted drugs in here again, especially Parker, since he's convinced I'm trying to turn Briggs against him and Finn. It's so ridiculous. We're all in this together. It wouldn't do us any good to take sides.
"Who do you think I should go with?" Charlotte asks.
"What about Oliver?"
"The nerdy skinny guy?"
"He's not that skinny. And he's not a nerd. He's smart. You like smart guys."
"Not ones that can't have a conversation. I don't think he's said more than a few words to me the whole time we've gone here."
"He's just shy. You should talk to him sometime."
"You're just saying that because I told you to go out with Calvin."
"No, I really think you two might like each other. And I'm sure he'd say yes if you asked him to prom."
"Only because nobody else would ask him."
I close my locker. "So who do you want to go with?"
She smiles. "If I had my choice, I'd say Briggs, but I know that's not happening. I heard he broke up with Aubrey, but I'm sure it won't last. Didn't they break up like three times last semester?"