Page 15 of Did You See Evie

She wasn’t just trying to pull me into her criminal enterprise, she was threatening me with my own past, daring to wreck the life I’ve worked so hard to obtain, a life built on secrets that only she knows about.

The people at Manning Academy don’t know how rough my upbringing was. No one does. Not even Connor. They’ve all been given the PC story, the part that sounds inspiring.

Broke girl from the wrong side of the tracks picks up a talent for basketball and it changes her life. It’s the reel you’d expect to see on SportsCenter, time and time again.

The truth of it is grittier than that, and Nadia knows it.

My earliest memory is being woken up in the middle of the night by a stranger, a Department of Children’s Services worker. She pulled me from my bed, hurrying me into the back seat of a police car, trying to shield me from the sight of my mother. She’d overdosed on the floor two days ago, and I’d been alone in the house all that time. I was three.

From that point on, I lived with my father. He was in his early twenties at the time and had no idea how he was supposed to go about raising the daughter he’d simply funded up until that point. But he tried. I’ll always give him that. After my mother’s death, Dad worked around the clock to support me, which meant he wasn’t always there to shield me from the realities of the world.

My neighborhood wasn’t like the pristine surroundings of Manning Academy, where everyone goes home to houses with manicured lawns and eats a warm meal. Most nights, I ate a canned dinner of spaghetti and meatballs alone while Dad worked the night shift. I got myself dressed in the morning, waited by the stop sign outside my house as early as five thirty for the city school bus to arrive.

That’s where I first met Nadia. We were in third grade. Some older boys on the bus were messing with her, making inappropriate jokes that we were both too young to understand, but I could tell she was uncomfortable. Against the rules, I stood while the bus was still moving, much to the irritation of the bus driver, and sat beside her. It caused a big enough stir that the boys left her alone, and Nadia and I sat together ever after.

We became inseparable outside of school, too. Turned out, she lived in government-funded housing a few blocks down with her mother and three older brothers, all of whom were too busy with their own lives to look after a young Nadia.

From third grade on, it was just the two of us.

My phone buzzes, Nadia’s name on the screen.This Friday?

I put the phone on my desk, refusing to reply.

I don’t want to be roped into one of Nadia’s schemes. It’s a life I left behind a long time ago, and I’d imagined she had, too. At least, I hoped she had.

Nadia popped into my mind over the years, but I never reached out, despite the easy accessibility of modern technology and social media. Part of me always feared her life would never improve, that she’d continue living in the same squalor I left her in when I moved away with a sports scholarship.

When I saw her that day in the liquor store, my body had filled with hope. She was beautiful and vibrant. I thought, like me, she’d found a way out. Little did I know, she’s still roped into the same mischief we made as teens; she just has a better way of hiding it. Her circumstances might have changed but her means of getting what she wants hasn’t. She’s still a cheat and a crook, and now she wants me to join her. Just like the old days.

“Cass? You in there?” Kelly stands in the doorway, poking her head in before flicking the switch on the wall.

The light that fills the room only makes my head ache harder, like there’s something pricking the back of my eyes. “Yeah, I’m here.”

Kyle walks in behind her, carrying a metal Thermos. My office is usually where we meet for lunch. “Aren’t you eating?”

“Not right now,” I say, wincing.

“Are you okay?” Kelly asks, sitting across from me.

“Migraine,” I say. “I’m trying to make it go away before my next class.”

“We can go to my room instead,” Kyle says to Kelly before looking back at me. “I hear the lock-in is on the books. Any parents offering to volunteer?”

“No, no parents,” I’m quick to say. “It will be more fun for the girls, and us, if they’re not involved.”

“What about school staff?” Kelly asks. “I’m happy to step in, if you need an extra set of hands.”

I pause before answering. Normally, I’d rejoice at the chance to have more buffers. Joanna and I are used to managing the girls for games and practices by ourselves, even for long bus rides. An overnight could use another chaperone for safe measure.

But then I remember Nadia’s request. She and her team—whoever they are—are planning to burglarize the school. The fewer adults onsite, the better.

“I think the two of us will be just fine,” I say.

Kyle flicks the lights back off before leaving. Kelly follows him, then stops. “Are you sure everything is okay? It seems like something is bothering you besides a headache.”

“Just that, I’m afraid.”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you. Guess who I ran into at the mall last week?”

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