Page 66 of Losing the Rhythm

My skin prickled at the stares as I suppressed a shudder. It wasn’t one I was used to, not like that, and it made me queasy seeing it.

“I think your phone is buzzing,” Bryan said.

“Ignore it.” I didn’t even bother looking at it this time. No point if it was going to just be much of the same. My phone kept buzzing all the way to his locker.

“Okay, what’s really going on? You said it’s a prank call.” He looked irritated as he glared down at my pocket.

I grabbed it and looked down at the screen. Another unknown number.

Before I could pass on the call, Bryan took it from me.

“Hey!”

But he’d already answered it.

“What?” he snapped into the phone, putting it on speaker.

The giggling stopped instantly and complete silence took over.

“I’m only asking this one more time before I bring the cops into this. Who is this?”

They hung up.

“Seriously?” Bryan glared down at my phone. I grabbed it before he decided to break it. “What the hell is going on?”

“Exactly that. Since I got here, they’ve been calling me nonstop. All they do is giggle and hang up on me.”

“Turn it off.” Bryan reached for the phone, but I turned away, making sure to keep it out of his reach.

“What game are you playing?” Paxon asked, smiling at us.

“People are stupid,” Bryan said with a glower.

“Okay.” Poor Paxon had no idea what he was walking into.

“Some girls are playing silly pranks,” I answered Paxon while I dug through my bag and left what I didn’t need in Bryan’s locker. At this rate, I was going to have something in all their lockers and then I’d definitely never be able to find anything.

The morning was in the process of repeating itself, my phone still going off the moment I pulled into the parking lot.

Fortunately, I put it on silent so that it wasn’t as distracting.

Unfortunately, Bryan saw me doing it while we were in the cafeteria.

“Don’t they have better things to do?” Bryan managed to swipe my phone from me and looked at the screen. No doubt it was full of missed calls.

“Hey!” I reached for it, but he just turned so I couldn’t get it.

“What’s happening?” Toby asked, leaning and looking at the screen. “Whoa, Cadence, when did you get so popular?”

Bryan nudged Toby away from him. “Not that kind of popularity. They’ve upgraded from trashing her locker, to trashing her phone now. Unlock your phone.”

“No,” I said.

“Seriously. I’ll make it so the calls won’t come through.”

“And probably something else. Just leave it alone.”

“Damn it, Cadence. Unlock your phone!” Bryan’s voice came out louder and sharper, making me jump a little. I gaped at him in surprise.

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