Page 55 of Evil King

“What mess?” I asked. “One of you was talking about the guy who’d been in prison?”

“Yeah. He was up talking to Miss Abrams, and then he pushed her out a window!” another student squealed.

A guy with glasses slapped him. “Shut up! We don’t know that for sure.” He looked at me. “It’s just a rumor. We weren’t there.”

Someone else started to say something to me, but it was a distant noise. I turned around and bolted down the hallway, looking for Deon or, at the very least, Sicily. Despite the fact that the lingering students were murmuring to themselves about what I was doing, I didn’t stop. I was nearly about to scream out Deon’s name when I turned the hallway toward the administrative offices and saw Sicily and Annika standing outside the principal’s office. Annika was screaming at Sicily, who was slunk down to half his size, just taking the punishment.

“Sicily,” I called out, and both Sicily and Annika looked over. “What happened?”

“You!” Annika screeched, storming over to me. Sicily hopped up and tried to stop her, but when he grabbed her arm, she just yanked away from him. “Why did you have to involve us in yourbullshitbetween you and your boyfriend? You should have just dealt with it yourself!”

“What happened?” I asked desperately. “Where’s Deon? Is he okay?”

“You don’t get to be worried about him now,” Annika spat back. “It’s half your fault that he’s in there, and thisidiot!” She swatted Sicily on the arm. “Just get out of here!” she screamed at me.

Part of me wanted to press further, but it didn’t seem like I’d be getting anything else helpful out of them, so I turned around and walked away. A fear that Deon got in trouble or somehow snapped on Miss Abrams settled like a poisonous sludge in my stomach. I didn’t even go back to my locker. I took the books I had with me, and fortunately, my keys and phone were on me, so I left.

As much as I would have rather gone to Avery’s or Alistair’s house, the thought that I would be out of the house when news would inevitably travel about whatever had happened at school made me go home. My parents seemed unphased when I got there, so nothing had gotten that far just yet. I greeted my parents as normally as I could, considering how emotional the day had been, and then I rushed up to my room, closed the door, and immediately opened my computer to start a group call with Avery and Colette. Avery picked up immediately, and expectedly, Alistair was in the background. A few seconds later, Colette answered.

“Cherri, I’m glad you called. I was just about to do it,” Avery said when we were all on the phone. “Wehaveto talk about what happened, and we can’t do it with any of Nathan’s minions. Ali thinks he could be involved.”

“Involved with what?” I asked. “I don’t know what happened.”

“You at least know the broad strokes, I’m assuming. Can you believe Miss Abrams is dead?” Colette asked. “Cherri, I can’t even imagine how you must feel. Probably a little bitter-sweet, huh?”

My brain exploded in my head. “She’s dead?” I muttered. “How?”

“Well—” Colette started, but Alistair quickly cut her off.

“No, no, no. There are too many people too closely related to Cherri in this story for your gossip,” he said. “The truth is, Cherri, no one really knows what happened. A few people saw Deon go into Miss Abrams’s class, and it’s unclear what happened after that. All of sudden, she flipped shit, and then one of two things happened. Either she jumped, or he pushed her.”

“I heard he pushed her,” Colette cut in, “because she wouldn’t sleep with him.”

My stomach flipped over. “No. That doesn’t sound like Deon.”

“I heard the opposite,” Avery said. “I heard that Deon went in to get help with his schoolwork and she flipped out and jumped.”

That didn’t really sound like Deon either. “No one else was in there? No one knows? What about Sicily? Annika said it was half his fault that Deon was in trouble.”

“Wait, what?” Avery said. “Who’s Annika?”

“Sicily’s sister,” I replied, “and Deon’s current.”

Avery and Colette’s jaws dropped. “He’s seeing someone?” Colette asked.

Alistair waved his hands. “Not important. Cherri, what did she tell you?”

“She just screamed at me, mostly, that I don’t get to be worried about him because it’s half my fault he was in trouble. I wasn’t anywhere near there, though,” I said, and then the realization washed over me. “Oh my god. I told Sicily to bug the classroom.”

“Why?” Colette asked.

That time, it was Avery who shook her head. “Not important. Cherri, do you think Sicily dragged Deon in as a distraction?”

“That’s almost what it sounds like.” I raked my hands into my hair and clawed at my skull. “Oh my god. Because of me, he’s going to get in trouble! He could be expelled.”

“Worse than expelled,” Colette added.

“Colette!” both Avery and Alistair barked.

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