Page 14 of Did You See Evie

“Nadia, what are you caught up in?”

“Same things as always,” she says.

“But why? We’re adults. You can’t tell me you’re still stealing?”

“I am, and I bring in a lot more money now than I did during our dash and go days,” she says. “Not all of us had the luxury of a college scholarship. Some of us have to fall back on what we’ve always known.”

The animosity in her voice wounds me. There’s a bitterness there I never knew existed, or at least, I didn’t want to admit existed.

“Why are you getting me involved?”

“Because we need access to Manning Academy, and that’s hard to get. Your fancy school has the most expensive equipment of all. We could make a killing.”

“But why get me involved?” I ask again.

“I’m just leaning on an old friend. I didn’t even know you worked there, until I saw that article in the paper.”

The image drifts through my mind. The girls circled around me, celebrating. Our front-page photo.

“Did you set all this up? Did you run into me at the liquor store on purpose?”

“It was almost too good to be true. For weeks, we’ve been trying to think of a way to break into Manning Academy, and now I have the perfect connection. And thanks to the lock-in, the perfect time to make it happen.”

My hands ball into fists. “I hate to foil your plan, Nadia, but I’m not doing it. My stealing days are over.”

“I’m not asking you to steal anything. All you have to do is leave a door open,” she says. “We can handle the rest.”

“Nadia, I’m not doing that. I’ll report you before I help you.”

“And risk all those wealthy parents learning about your own criminal history?” Her eyebrow arches, a smirk spreading across her lips. She’s threatening me.

So much time has passed, I sometimes forget. Nadia and I had the dash and go down to a science, but we weren’t perfect. I have a handful of arrests on my juvenile record. The records are sealed, so they’ve never impacted me in my adult life, but Nadia knows, as well as I do, that a tarnished past wouldn’t fly with the parents at Manning Academy.

“I mean, your team is filled with future doctors and lawyers and judges. At least that’s what their parents think,” she says, leaning back in her seat. “If those same people hear about your past, you know they’ll throw you to the wolves.”

And she’s right. Even if some of them were understanding, even if people like Mr. Lake acknowledged those were my teenage years, a lifetime ago, some parents, like Melinda Terry and Lynette Nichols, would demand my resignation. And there would be people like Coach Reynolds waiting in the wings, ready to take my spot.

“I can’t believe you’re putting me in this position,” I say to her, my throat raw with emotion.

“I’m only asking you to help me in the same way I helped you,” she says, her expression darkening. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”

I clench my eyes shut. Unforgiving memories flash through my mind. I’ve tried to forget what Nadia and I did all those years ago, but I can’t. I never asked her to help me back then, but she did anyway, changing the entire course of my life in the process. What she’s asking me to do now is retribution.

“I don’t want to threaten you,” she says, plainly. “Everything would be easier if you’d agree to play along.”

“I don’t want to help you steal.”

“They’re computers, Cass. A heap of metal and buttons. It’s nothing to you, and a wad of cash to me.”

“I don’t want to be involved.”

“You won’t be,” she says, not even trying to mask the annoyance in her tone. “All you have to do is open a door.”

EIGHT

I’m sitting at my desk with the lights off, trying to exorcise the merciless migraine I’ve had since this morning. I got very little sleep last night.

Nadia’s request kept bouncing around my head, refusing to let me rest. Her demand, rather.

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