Page 27 of In the Air Tonight

There’s no one I could talk to who would keep this information confidential, and since I couldn’t bear for everyone I know to hate me more than I already hate myself, I have to stay quiet.

Even if it kills me.

Neisy

THEN

Nothing in my life, even the hell of the past year, could’ve prepared me for what happens after we report the attack to the police. Before I have the chance to tell Kane what’s going on, my phone blows up with texts from numbers I don’t recognize, calling me everything from a whore to a liar and threatening harm to me and my family.

One of them encourages me to kill myself before someone else can do it for me.

My dad reports the threats to the police.

They bring Ryder in for questioning and release him when they realize this is a matter of his word against mine. He denies he attacked me and claims I’d been coming on to him for months, and that he’s far more concerned about his girlfriend’s declining health than he is about seeing other girls.

Facebook is on fire with how I lured him away from Louisa during her time of need, which makes me even more of a whore than I was before.

My mother’s closest cousins, who are friends with the Elliotts, text to tell her she and I are dead to them after this and how dare I make up such a lie about Ryder. Mom has been drunk for days since she got that text.

I feel oddly removed from it all, like I’m floating above the fray watching it happen to someone else. If there’s any good news, my dad has agreed that I can never go back to Hope High School after this. He said he’s working out a plan for me to return to my old school in Virginia for my senior year. Although even that might not be possible as I’m sure word of my troubles here will follow me wherever I go.

And then there’s the matter of the baby I’m carrying, which will prove I didn’t lie about what Ryder did to me once I get to the nine- or ten-week mark. I don’t want to think about what will be involved in getting DNA from a baby in utero.

Kane texts me overnight.Neisy… What the hell is happening?

Can you talk?

Yes.

I call him on Skype, which allows us to talk for free.

“Hey,” he says. “Are you all right?”

I love that that’s his first question.

“I’ve been better.”

“Neise… Why didn’t you tell me?”

He looks heartbroken.

Tears flood my eyes and spill down my cheeks. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

“I’m not anyone.”

“I thought you’d be mad.”

“What?Why?You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Maybe I did. Maybe I did tempt him and—”

“Neisy, no. Absolutely not. He did this to you. Are you… I mean, were you hurt?”

“For a while. But I’m better now. There’s something else I should tell you…” I feel like I’m going to hyperventilate. “I, um, I’m pregnant.”

“Oh, honey. Oh, no.”

“It’s actually a good thing. The baby’s DNA will help to prove I’m not lying about him attacking me.”

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