Page 116 of The Ruse

33

ELYSE

I helped Ava,Mack, and Brendon carry down the packed boxes to Brendon’s truck that was in the parking lot closest to the dorms. Then, while they all headed to the house to unload, I went back upstairs to pack up a few more things.

Most of the students had already cleared out of the dorms for winter break, so the common room was basically empty when I walked back through it.

I’d heard Asher tell someone that he was headed to his aunt and uncle’s house via bus tonight around six-thirty, so that meant he was probably in his room right now, packing his bag for the two-week vacation.

Part of me wanted to go up there to tell him what I hadn’t told him backstage this afternoon, that I wanted to be with him. That he was the guy I chose, and how I felt dumb for not realizing it sooner.

But I knew I needed to have my conversation with Nash first. So I just looked longingly at the staircase that led to Asher’s room before heading back up to my room.

I got to work taping together one of the moving boxes and started emptying the contents of my desk. I put my pens and notebooks in the box, as well as the extra tape dispenser that I kept at the back of the middle drawer—the backup for when Ava stole mine.

I opened the top side drawer and put all my washi tape and stickers in the box. Once that was empty, I moved to the drawer just below that. But when I tried to open it, it didn’t budge.

Had Ava borrowed my stapler again and just thrown it in there like she always did?

I looked through the small crack in it, and sure enough, my teal stapler had been haphazardly shoved in there and was blocking me from opening the drawer. I tried pushing on it with a ruler to get it loose. But it only moved a little way down. Why couldn’t Ava just keep track of her own stapler?

I pushed on it again, and when that still didn’t work, I started jiggling the door with hopes that it would make it come loose. When I heard things shift a little, I jiggled the drawer a little more and then yanked on it hard.

That seemed to do the trick, because not only did the drawer finally come out, but it cameallof the way out, landing on the floor.

Well, that’s one way to do it, I guess.

I brushed my hands off on my pants and bent down to pick the drawer back up. Then I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.

The drawer had a false back to it—a piece of wood that from a regular viewpoint would look like the back of the drawer. But there was actually about two inches of space between that thin piece of wood and the actual back of the drawer.

And sitting in the secret slot was a book.

I reached in and pulled the book out, realizing it was actually a journal with butterflies and flowers embossed in the leather.

Could this be?

My fingers trembled and my heart raced as I realized what this might be.

Whothe journal might belong to.

I unwrapped the leather strap around it and opened the front cover to see the first page.

And written in feminine handwriting was the name Bailee Vanderbilt, followed by a New York City address and phone number.

34

ASHER

“Asher, wait,”Elyse called out from behind me.

I was just on my way out of the common room to meet Owen who was my ride to the bus stop when Elyse’s voice came from the top of the stairs that led to the girls’ dorms. I turned to look up at her. She still wore the same white blouse and navy-blue plaid skirt she had on earlier, but there was something different about her. She seemed frantic.

Did something happen?

“What’s wrong?” I asked, dropping my duffle bag to the floor and rushing toward her.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” she said, sounding breathless. “It’s just…” She sighed and held out a purple leather journal that I’d never seen before. “I found this in my desk when I was cleaning it out, and I opened it up and read it and…I think you need to read this.”

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