Page 46 of Did You See Evie

“What do you mean?”

“We both know Evie isn’t like anyone else at her school. I tried to warn her about that before she accepted the scholarship, but she didn’t listen.”

I shake my head, confused. “The scholarship is a good thing. With her talent, she’ll get noticed by better teams. College recruits.”

“But she has to walk through those halls every day knowing she’s the poor girl,” her mother says. “Trust me, those girls don’t let her forget it.”

I’m about to ask her what she means when there’s another commotion from the living room. The voices get louder. Someone starts to yell.

Evie’s mother walks past me, entering the living room. “What’s going on here?”

“It’s outside,” one of the women says. “Someone is getting into it.”

Evie’s mother storms to the front porch and I follow her. The crowd outside has now dispersed. People are staggered around the front yard watching as a man gets into an arguing match with… Nadia.

“What’s going on?” I say, rushing to the car. She’s standing by the passenger side, standing her ground as the man shouts at her.

“This bitch is sitting in the car watching us,” the man says, looking at me. “And who are you?”

“Calm down,” the mother says. “She knows Evie from school.”

“I told you,” Nadia shouts back. “I’m waiting on my friend.”

“Josh, calm down,” Evie’s mother says, trying to pull him back toward the house.

Josh. So this is the boyfriend that’s been staying at the house. The man that made Evie feel so uncomfortable.

“This bitch isn’t from the school,” he says, pointing at Nadia. “I already told you not to come back here.”

Back here? From what I knew, this was the first time Nadia had been back to this part of town in years. What reason could she possibly have for coming to Evie’s house? I look at Nadia, but she quickly looks away. She takes a step closer to Josh. “You don’t know sh?—”

Crystal steps forward, waving her arms in front of her. “We didn’t want you in our lives before, Nadia,” she says. “We definitely don’t need you around now.”

She called her by her name. Crystal knows Nadia, but how? And why is she adamant that she stay away?

“I’m only trying to help,” Nadia says, her voice low. “Cass is my friend, and she asked me to be here.”

“This bitch doesn’t call the shots,” Josh says. “Next time we see you outside our house, there’s going to be trouble.”

I step in between Josh and Nadia, waving my hands. “Let’s just calm down, okay? Nadia is my friend. She’s here because I asked her to be. There’s no reason to get worked up.”

“Evie is missing and we don’t know who took her,” he says. “I’m suspicious of everyone. And this girl is bad news.”

“Coach Cass, I think it’s time you leave,” Evie’s mother says. She looks at Nadia. “Your friend, too.”

I grab Nadia’s elbow and wrestle her back toward the car. “Let’s go.”

The only thing that outweighs my confusion in this moment is my anger. Why wouldn’t Nadia tell me she had a connection to Evie’s family? It can’t be a coincidence if she’s been to the house before. She must have known exactly who Evie was since the moment she went missing, and she never said anything.

TWENTY-FOUR

I can’t get out of the neighborhood fast enough; my foot is almost flat against the floor. As I look in the rearview mirror, I can feel the stares and judgment from everyone back at the house branding me as I go.

“What the hell was that about?”

“I told you it was a bad idea going there,” Nadia says, her eyes glued to the rearview mirror, like she can’t fully accept what just happened.

“It was only a bad idea because you weren’t honest with me,” I say. “How do you know Josh?”

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