Page 41 of Giving In

Is there anything else I know about her? She’s friends with Luke and Chris. I know absolutely nothing about Luke. I guess I know Chris the most out of all of them. He’s like her brother...kind of.

I shake my head knowing this is not going to work and try Chris’s birthday. He would always invite me to his birthday parties when we were kids. Now he does it for old times’ sake, but I never show up. 0. roll. 9. roll. 1. roll. 5.

While this gives me a reminder that Chris’s birthday is on Friday, the lock doesn’t do anything. I let out a long huff. What was I thinking? I let my head fall and hit the locker in frustration. When I pull away, I look down at the lock again. I didn’t roll all the way to the five. I stopped at four by accident. In a last attempt, I push to the five and let out a crazy laugh when I hear the click.

That bitch is so sentimental.

I hurry to open her locker and start searching through her stuff.Oh my God,who is stupid enough to keep weed in their locker? If we get searched, she’s going to get kicked off the team and probably the school.

A thought suddenly crosses my mind. What if she didn’t actually bring the phone to school?

I lift her school shoes, and something falls out.The phone!

I grab it in a hurry and unlock it. There’s no password. I look through it very quickly. No pictures, no messages, no apps. Thishasto be the burner phone.

Just in case, I keep looking and find another phone. I try to unlock it but this one has a passcode. I can’t help but look through the locked screen. That curiosity will get me killed one day. I scroll through the texts and missed calls on the locked screen and –

Jesus Christ who has that many people texting them?!

There are three missed calls from Chris, texts from Jake, Luke, Rachel – she saved her name with a heart, how cute – and I don’t know how many texts and Instagram DMs from random people.

Chris:Rose. I’m going to kill you. Pick. Up. Your. Phone. Where are my car keys?!

Jake:Did you actually hit on Miss Randall? Keep your dick in your pants. Seriously. I’m paying for your shit now that she thinks she can hit on teenagers.

Ew what is wrong with her? Miss Randall is our career advisor.

Jake:I hope for your life you didn’t lose Chris’ keys.

Luke:Pick up your phone.

Luke:Chris is going to kill you.

Rachel ♥:I like that red bra. Wear it more often please. xoxo

Unknown:Stop ignoring me please. I miss you.

Unknown:Are you really back with Rachel? I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.

There are at least five or six different unknown numbers texting her about Rachel and missing her. Seriously, what does she put in their drinks?

I’m about to put the phone back when a new message pops up.

British knobhead:If you keep ignoring me, I’m going to have to go to the police about your brother. Don’t be stupid. x

A chuckle escapes my lips at the sight of Samuel’s nickname but when I read the text my heart drops in my chest. Going to the cops about her brother? What did Jake do? What did he do that’s bad enough to use as blackmail?

I hear voices outside and put everything back in a hurry before putting the lock back into place. I jog around to my locker and throw the burner phone in my bag. The door opens and I let out a relieved sigh.

I grab my own phone and text Emily to let her know I’ve got what we needed. The girls flood in and get changed but I sit down trying to calm my racing heart.

When I finally decide to get changed there is no one left on my side of the lockers. I didn’t hear Rose’s voice when everyone walked in, but she must have come in and left already. I walk around to check and see her bag still on the bench.Weird.

I check the time to see almost an hour has passed. I’ll just take a shower at home. I get up and put my uniform back on.

I hear the door open and close again. Rose must be back.

“Aah, just who we were looking for. The saint of our school,” a voice says behind me.