Page 173 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
“Two,” Liv called out.
“Two.”
Jedd glowered.
“Four,” Liv shouted, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“Oh, he’s making that sign with his thumb and finger—the punch circle!” Liv screeched with glee. “Punch him!”
“I’m not punching him, Liv!” I snorted. The guy was huge; he could flatten me.
Jedd’s eyes widened, and he spun, turning to face where Liv was standing, his hands falling limp at his sides.
“No fucking way,” he breathed. “This is insane. How is this possible?”
“I stopped trying to work that out a day into this chaos,” Dove told him, and I laughed softly beside her.
Jedd slumped back down into his chair, bracing his elbows on his knees as his hands covered half his face. He regarded Dove and me with more open eyes this time, the suspicion slowly dissipating, and a small sigh of relief escaped me.
“Maybe she did make it to the door,” Jedd told us, removing his hands from his face. “But she certainly didn’t make it out. When—when I finally found her… she was lying on top of Bri, with two gunshot wounds in her back and leg.”
Liv’s entire body stiffened, and I watched her hand tighten on the back of Jedd’s chair as she took in his words, her gaze fixed on him, unblinking.
Jedd shook his head and rubbed his face. “She—she died saving Bri’s life.”
DOVE
Tip #28: Sometimes silence is the bravest contribution in the room.
It was almost like a tennis match, my eyes darting from Jedd to Liv to Ellis and then back to Jedd as his words registered among us all. Liv blinked at him, her expression blank, and I wondered if she had even heard what he said—or if she had, whether she was simply stunned by it.
“What do you mean?” I asked, the words falling out sharp and demanding, shattering the silence that had settled.
“I mean, it wasn’t instant death,” Jedd murmured, his eyes haunted. “She was in a coma for a time, but she was never going to wake up again. Her mom—her mom had a hard time letting go.”
Liv’s lower lip trembled.
“So how did she go from running away to dying for Bri?” Dove asked
Jedd rubbed his chin, eyes haunted as he stared at the floor. “I mean, I wasn’t there for it. In the moment. I was…I found a hiding spot. The owner of the club, Nia, she yanked me into aback room, a storage-cupboard type of thing. It was a door in the wall I had never noticed before. She pulled in whoever she could, shut it, and then told us to be quiet.”
Liv’s eyes widened at his words and she got to her feet, pacing, running her hands through her hair.
“We were crammed in there, me and like eight other people. Kyle was there.” Jedd’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “We could hear the gunfire. The screaming. It felt like hours, being locked in there.” His voice faltered. “Then the cops finally took him out and we could leave, and I—I ran straight to the dance floor. It was where I had last seen Liv while Kyle and I were getting drinks.”
Jedd’s face crumpled as he gripped his knees. “I saw Ryan on the stage. He was… he didn’t make it.”
Liv crouched suddenly, her head between her knees as she held it in her hands, no sound leaving her.
“There was so much blood everywhere,” Jedd whimpered, a sob breaking from his throat as he covered his mouth. “Kyle found Ryan, and I—I’ll never get that sound out of my mind. The noise he made when he—when he realized.” Jedd’s eyes met ours, and Ellis gripped my hand, her lip trembling as tears spilled from her eyes. “Then I found Liv and Bri, toward the end of the dance floor.”
Liv hardly moved, just rocked low on her heels as she crouched, as if trying to keep herself from throwing up—even if she couldn’t.
“Liv was lying across Bri,” Jedd went on, sucking back a sob. He sniffed loudly, wiping his eyes aggressively and clearing his throat. “Bri was alive… but Liv… Liv was gone. She told me—Bri told me—when she saw me, when I pulled Liv’s hair out of Bri’s face, the first thing she said was,‘She took a bullet for me. Jedd, Liv’s gone. Liv’s gone. Liv’s gone.’”
Liv dropped onto her ass, leaning her back against the side of Jedd’s chair, her head falling back as she stared up at the ceiling. Ellis cried softly beside me, her face in her hands. I squeezed her leg gently and cleared my throat, trying to hold my own emotions together.
“Bri said there was this moment when the crowd shifted, people panicking, and it parted just enough that she locked eyes with the shooter. She screamed. She couldn’t find Liv, so she just screamed Liv’s name. He aimed at her, and Liv…” Jedd broke off, his chest heaving, and when he found his voice again, it was cracked. “Bri said it was like a superhero moment. Liv just appeared out of nowhere and threw herself in front of Bri, pulling her into a hug, her back to the shooter.”
