Page 48 of Riot Rules
God, she isn’t going to quit. “What doyouthink?” I shove a forkful of salad into my mouth.
“Bigger.Sooooomuch bigger.” She laughs.
Okay, so Iama little giddy about what happened last night. I do want to talk about it. I just don’t even know where to begin. “I can neither confirm nor deny…” I tease, trailing off.
“Whoa! What’s with the shit-eating grin?” Mara sets her lunch down on the table beside Presley, spitting gum into a napkin. She looks at us expectantly, waiting for the gossip, but my smile has all dried up. I can’t tell Mara about Dash. Not yet. Not until I know what the hell is going on…
“I showed her this cute dog video on TikTok,” Presley says. She comes out with it so easily—the lie must have been balanced there on the tip of her tongue, ready and waiting. I widen my eyes, a little surprised at how convincing she was.
Presley takes a bite of her corndog, and Mara’s nose wrinkles. “Thousands of dollars in tuition every month.Tensof thousands of dollars, and they’re still serving us corn dogs in the dining hall. What the fuck, guys?”
“Ilike them,” Pres says around her mouthful of food. “They’re delicious. You like corn dogs, too, don’t you Carrie?Youdon’t mind a good corn dog every once in a while.”
Lord help me, I am going to kill her. If Pres isn’t careful, Mara’s going to hear the inuendo in her voice and know something’s up. IfI’mnot careful, Mara’s going to take one look at me and see that I’m different. It has to be visible. It feels like there’s a neon sign hovering over my head, blinking on and off,‘Non-Virgin! Non-Virgin!’
Mara’s not the most perceptive person I’ve ever encountered, though. She’s too distracted by her own bullshit to notice anyone else’s. “Listen to this. And I don’t want you guys to freak out or anything, but…” She leans in, whispering. “I was with Fitz this morning when he found out about the vandalism.”
“What do you mean, you werewithhim?” Pres asks. “He was at home when they told him. Damiana said she was down by the office, getting some Aleve for her period cramps. She said she could hear him yelling on the other end of phone in Principal Harcourt’s office.”
“Oh, he yelled alright. He was furious. I’ve never seen anyone that angry before.”
“Wait. So, you were…at his place?”
Mara rolls her eyes. “Yes. He snuck me out last night and I stayed over. His apartment is beautiful. The man has excellent taste.”
It’s true, then. This is her way of telling us that she’s been screwing Fitz. I’ve had my suspicions. Having Mara confirm it is another thing altogether.
Presley just looks at me, the top bitten off her corn dog, which now hangs loosely in her hand. “Excuse me. I suddenly need to go throw up.” She gets up from the table and walks across the dining hall, dumping the corn dog into the trash before pushing the door open and disappearing through it.
Mara steals one of the fries Presley left behind. “What’s up withher?”
“Nothing. I think it’s just been a bit of a weird day, that’s all.”
22
CARRIE
Springstorms in New Hampshire are common. Tonight, the horizon is molten lead—dark, seething grey, shot through with cracks of blistering white, brilliant gold and angry crimson where the setting sun breaks through the storm clouds.
Is he even coming?
The question rattles around inside my skull as I hike the steep path that leads to the observatory. The rain comes down in sheets, slapping me in the face every time I dare look up. If Alderman knew I was braving this kind of weather to climb up the side of a cliff in the pitch black to see a boy, he’d have my bags packed and I’d be on my way back to Seattle in no time. Admittedly, thisissome pretty stupid behavior. The ground is made up of loose scree and hunks of mud. I’m also not the most agile seventeen-year-old. I might slip and go hurtling down the slope any second now, and I don’t even know if the bastard is coming. That’d be a great way to die, wouldn’t it? Snap my neck like a dumbass over a guy who might decide that he never wants to see me again now? Fuck.
It’s humid as hell and way too hot. Beneath the thin waterproof jacket I grabbed from my room before I left the academy, I’m only wearing a loose, silky shirt. My jeans are drenched. My shoes are soaked. My socks…urgh, I don’t even want to talk about my socks.
I slog my way up the last fifty feet of the path, being extra careful and watching where I put my feet. I’ve turned the beam of my flashlight down to its dimmest setting so I won’t be seen climbing the hill, but the weak light is bright enough to point out any obvious tripping hazards.
When I reach the door to the observatory, I take the handle, its brass weight solid against my palm, and…it’s locked. And I forgot my goddamn key. “You havegotto be kidding me.”
I’ve come all of this way for nothing. In the driving rain, with thunder rolling overhead. The damn door’s locked, and Dash isn’t even here, and—
The door cracks open. Light lances out into the night, cutting through the dark and the rain, and then there’s Dash, dressed solely in black, so devastatingly handsome, and so verydry. His mouth quirks into a half-smile. “Took you long enough.”
I rush past him, acutely aware of how terrible I look in this godawful rainjacket. I can’t even get the jacket’s zipper down—
Strong hands rest over mine, stilling me. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Were you chased up the hill by a bear or something? Steady, love. Let me help.”
I look up at him, dreading the amusement that I know will be there on his face. And there it is. He’s not as smug as he could be, though, which is a small win. Instead of unfastening the zipper, Dash slowly lowers my hood, wiping a bead of rainwater from the tip of my nose. “You look…”
