Page 210 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

What could possibly piss off someone like Briar? I mean, does he not have enough rooms in his massive house? Because he’s got to be super-wealthy to dare be so fucking arrogant. Maybe there aren’t enough horses in his car’s engine? Or is itbecause he’s finally realized he’s an asshole and no one will ever love him?

“We were at Briar’s birthday party…”

I look away reluctantly from Briar, fixing my attention back to Addy. From the tone of her voice, she doesn’t want to be having this conversation. She starts fidgeting with the straw wrapper, and I hand her back her can.

“What happened?”

“Everyone was drunk.” Her eyes dart up to mine. “A lot of them were doped up too.” Then she sighs and tugs at her straw. “I left at like one in the morning or something. Only Briar and his crew and a few of the cheerleaders were still around.”

Addy gets a faraway look in her eyes and nods. “Dylan gave me a lift home.”

“And Jess?”

“She stayed. I didn’t want her to, tried to talk her out of it, but she was so drunk she wouldn’t listen to me.”

Addy grows quiet, and it takes everything I have not to press her to continue. After a few seconds and another sip from her can, she goes on in a low, barely audible voice.

“She called me in tears just before noon the next day.”

My breath stalls as my gaze darts back to Briar. He’s not looking at his phone anymore—he’s looking straight at me. My skin flashes ice-cold, but as much as I know I have to look away, I can’t.

“Said something had happened. That I had to come get her.”

Even across the cafeteria, the weight of Briar’s gaze pins me to the spot. I lick my suddenly dry lips, and he tilts his head just a little to the side, as if fascinated by this. He smiles at me, and those words he spoke in our Psych class come back to me like the whisper of a nightmare.

Everyone bows to the prince.

“When I got to the house, she was on the sidewalk. Barely coherent. She insisted I drive her home, and that’s all I could get out of her.”

“So you don’t know what happened?” I ask, my ears starting to buzz the longer Briar stares at me. The guy to his left starts talking to him, but he doesn’t bother breaking eye contact with me.

“There were rumors, of course.” Addy reaches the end of her drink, and the rattle of her straw finally allows me to tear my eyes away from Briar.

“But I mean, you must have asked. Didn’t she say?” I lean a little closer. Addy’s eyes are too bright, as if she’s holding back tears. “Addy?” I lay a hand on her arm, and she flinches before jerking away from my touch. “What is it?”

“All we have are rumors,” she says woodenly, shaking her can as if wondering why it was empty.

When she looks at me, my stomach twists with dread. “Why?” I breathe. “Did she leave town or something?”

Addy shakes her head, her mouth a tight, trembling line. “Jess killed herself.”

I zone out during Environmental Sciences as I try to piece together Addy’s cryptic conversation.

There was a party.

Everyone got drunk.

Addy left.

The next day—but only at noon—her friend calls her to get her.

She’s hysterical.

That night, she commits suicide.

Round and round my thoughts go. Where they’ll stop, nobody knows.

When the bell rings signaling home time, I notice for the first time that the level of giggling and hushed whispers in the class has grown. I turn to look to the side, and feel something shift in my hair.

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