Page 75 of Dare To Fall

“I know you’re awake.”

I stay quiet. If I don’t say anything, he might go away.

“Eli. I’m not leaving until you talk to me. What happened yesterday?”

I don’t want to think about yesterday. I don’t remember a lot of it, but the flashes of images I do have make me nauseous.

“Okay, if you don’t want to talk, then listen. One of the students said a video was sent around to the entire school.”

“Not the faculty.” I can’t help but correct him. My voice is rough, hoarse, like I’ve been shouting or screaming.

He sighs softly. “No, not the faculty. Just the students.”

“Did you watch it?”

“No. It was deleted before any of the staff could see it.”

I laugh. “Of course, it was.”

“Kellan says that—”

“I know what was on the video, you don’t have to rehash it.”

“Did you ever talk to anyone after the accident?”

“I didn’t have time. When do I need to leave?”

“Leave?”

I roll over and look at Counselor Clarke. “Warren said if there was another clash between me and—” My throat closes up. I can’t say her name. It hurts to even think it. “Well, he said if there was another clash, he was throwing me out.”

They shouldn’t throw her out. This wasn’t her fault.

“Under the circumstances, Principal Warren has decided that he’s going to put you under restrictions until Spring break.”

“Under the circumstances?”

“The way you reacted yesterday. You’ve had problems over the years, but never like that. After speaking with Principal Warren, he agrees that you have a lot of trauma from your past. Trauma that you’ve never faced or dealt with. Whoever posted that recording knew what it would cause. With the constant clashes between you and Ms. Gray, it set a pattern in your head. So whenever something negative happens to you … Eli, it was always going to send you in her direction.”

I laugh again, the sound brittle and harsh in the small room. “You have no fucking idea.”

“Actually, I do. Kellan told me everything.”

My eyes snap open. “He fucking did what?”

***

They release me from medical two days later. It’s Sunday, I think. Or maybe it’s Monday. I’m not entirely sure. I spent a lot of time sleeping and have lost track of the days. A guard walks with me across the school grounds to the dorm. I’m told it’s for protection. I’m pretty sure they don’t mean mine.

Security rounds have been increased around the campus during the day and in the evening.

Kellan has told Principal Warren almost everything but not absolutely everything like Counselor Clarke thinks. He shared that Arabella is being bullied by an unknown person and that antagonizing me is something she is being forced to do. He added that I am reacting in the hopes that whoever is behind it will see she is doing what they want and eventually leave her alone.

He didn’t tell them that Zoey also received texts demanding she fulfill instructions or that we think her refusal got her murdered.

They think it’s coming from someone outside of school. Someone who wants to take my family down, and is trying to use me and Arabella to do it. Their reasoning is because of the video footage of my mom and the funeral. Counselor Clarke thinks everything they’ve done was to build up to that video and send me into a rage. Their hope being I would hurt Arabella, which they could then use to extort money from my dad.

It’s an interesting theory.

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