I speed-walk through the hallways of the big building, past all the students going about their day, and pretend I’m fine. I clutch my diary close to my chest, fiercely protective of the only thing my sister left me that gives even a hint of what might’ve happened to her.
Something involving those guys. Something they don’t want me to know.
I hope Dylan didn’t see his own face on the pages because if he did, I’m fairly sure they’ll be coming for this diary next.
I look behind me again to see if they’re still there, watching me. But when I peer through the tiny window in the emergency door, there’s nothing left to see.
They’re gone.
Vanished, as if they were never there, chasing me, scaring me until my heart almost jumped out of my chest.
I run into the nearest bathroom and lock myself inside a stall, breathing a few times to catch my bearings.
I feel queasy.
Nauseous.
I just stabbed a guy.
And not just any guy … Felix fucking Rivera.
One of the leaders of the Skull & Serpent Society, the most notorious frat house on campus, known for their devilish initiations and rules.
Will he come for me now?
Panic floods my veins, but I shake it off and flush the toilet.
I’m not going to let a bloody pen ruin what I came here to do.
He won’t report this.
After all, I could pin them for harassment.
But he surely won’t forget.
I swallow and gather my nerves before opening the stall.
Get your shit together, Pen.
It’s all a part of their game. They’re trying to intimidate you because you’re getting too close. Which means you’re on the right track.
I walk out and look at myself in the mirror, then check my hair. A few strands are definitely missing. The fucker actually ripped out some of my hair trying to hold me down.
A smirk forms on my face. Well, he didn’t fucking win, that’s for sure. And if I had to lose a few hairs to make a point, then so fucking be it.
I turn on the faucet and splash my face, but when I look up, someone’s staring back at me through the mirror.
I shriek before realizing it’s Kayla.
“Chill, it’s me,” she says.
“Oh my God,” I say, pressing my palm to my chest to calm down my heart.
“Sorry. My pen spilled all over my goddamn shirt.” She turns on the faucet next to me so she can tuck her shirt under it. “Middle of class, too.” When she looks up at me, she frowns. “Shit, what happened to you?”
“What?” I ask perplexed.
She points at my black lace top. “There’s blood.”
I look down and see the stain.
How did I not notice that in the mirror?
“Oh …”
Kayla glares at me.
“I had a nosebleed,” I lie, and I quickly grab a tissue and shove it up my nostril. “Happens to me sometimes.”
She looks over my shoulder. “Where’s your bag?”
I shrug. “Lost it.”
“What? How? You still had it when you said you needed to go to the toilet.”
Oh, that’s right. I told her and her friends I had to take an emergency toilet break to follow Dylan, but I completely forgot about it.
“Oh, I must’ve put it down somewhere outside while running to the toilet.” I laugh it off because I really have no answer to that.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Why do I get the feeling she’s not telling me everything she knows?
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lie.
“Because Crystal told me she saw you run out of the emergency exit,” she adds.
Oh fuck.
I shake it off. “It’s nothing.”
When I attempt to leave, she grabs my arm and says, “Wait. I just … want you to feel comfortable enough to tell me the truth. I want to be a friend.”
I nod, smiling. “Of course.”
She looks me dead in the eyes, her fingers still gripping my arm. “Was it those boys?”
My pupils dilate, and I jerk my arm away.
How does she know?
“I know you’ve been looking at them,” she says. “Are you involved with them? Is that why you transferred here? Because of those guys of the Skull & Serpent Society?”
I pull away and quickly open the bathroom door to get out. “It’s none of your business.”
“Please, Pen,” she says. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to scare you away.”
She follows me all the way outside the building, and I don’t know how to get rid of her without being mean to her face. She’s the first friend I’ve made since I came here, and I don’t want to ruin things. But I can’t tell her everything either. If I did, it would put her in jeopardy.
“They’re after you, aren’t they?”
Her words make me stop in my tracks midway across the campus.
I turn around on the gravel road and look at her. “Thank you for giving me a warm welcome. I really appreciate it. I just … can’t.”
I sigh and shake it off. I’m already involved now. But I won’t let her go down this dangerous hole with me.
Serpents are hiding there, waiting to swallow people whole.
Lying down on my bed, I sift through the pages one by one, gazing at all the things my sister wrote about her peers. About a girl she had a fight with, Sadie, a boy named Peter she despised because he bullied her, Nathan, and some of her other classmates too. Tiny snippets of all the things she did with them, parties, random outings, movies, games, even just studying. She laid it all out in this little diary like a collection of memories. A peek into the world she once belonged to.
A world I’ve now infiltrated.
The page turns, and two familiar faces pop up again.
Dylan and Alistair.
Both take up an entire page in her little diary.
Their names are circled, their devious grins unsettling. Haunting.
A piece of the page has been torn off that has Dylan’s last name on it.
And I know it was there before.
My heart begins to pulsate with fear.
What if Dylan ripped it out?
Fuck!
I slam the book shut for a second, groaning with anger. I should’ve paid more attention when I snatched it back from him, but I was in too much of a hurry to get away after stabbing Felix.
Grumbling, I open the diary again. Even though a part is missing, these pages still hold the secret to my sister’s untimely death, and I can’t turn away from it, even when I’m pissed off a part of it got stolen.
The page next to Dylan and Alistair is what captures me the most. Felix Rivera. His picture stands out among all others, larger than the ones of all her friends. It takes up almost an entire page. And his face is circled, adorned with hearts and skulls and snakes. But the text beneath it is what strikes the most fear into my heart.
Don’t stop.
Don’t look back.
Don’t fall.
Run.
303.
The words and numbers are repeated over and over again like a mantra splurged onto the pages, ink splotches everywhere. A mantra she kept saying to herself. But why?
And why does it remind me of the day she jumped?
The image of her falling to her death off the cliff as I rush to grab her hand suddenly overtakes my mind, and I push back the diary and lean up, swallowing back the bile.
These words …
Someone’s responsible for her death. I just know someone pushed her to do it.
I just have to figure out who and why.
Suddenly, the door opens, and Kayla walks in without saying a word, casually throwing her bag onto her bed. I swiftly grab the diary and hold it close to my heart, worried she might see what’s inside.
She sits behind her mirror and starts rubbing the makeup off her face with cotton pads. The black skin underneath is pristine and flawless, unlike mine.
She reminds me of my sister.
Friendly. Sincere. Gorgeous in every way.
And it stings in my heart that I don’t know how to engage with that anymore.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “About today.”
She glances at me through the mirror.
“I didn’t mean to be an asshole.”
“No one does,” she replies, smiling. “Sometimes we just are.”
I nod and look away, feeling like I just can’t connect with people anymore. Not since …
“Hey.” Her voice makes me look up. “It’s okay.” She approaches me and sits down beside me on my bed. “You’re going through something, aren’t you?”
Oh God.
The waterworks begin, but I still push most of the tears back, allowing only a single one to roll down my cheek. Kayla doesn’t have to see this, and my sister definitely deserves more than just some tears.
“Oh no,” she murmurs as she pulls me close so I can lean on her shoulder. “Cry if you need to.”
“I’ve already cried enough tears,” I say, feeling the rage coil and twist its way into my heart.
“If you wanna talk about it, I’m here,” she replies. “I’ll be here waiting until you’re ready.”
I lean up and look at her. “Why are you so nice to me?”
She shrugs. “Everyone deserves kindness. Tell you what, how about we go get some takeout?” She puts her arm around me and shakes me a little. “Get your mind off things.”
My stomach growls just in time, making us both laugh. “I’d love that.” I put the diary underneath my pillow.
“C’mon,” she says with a smile while she hooks her arm through mine. “I know the perfect place around the corner.”
