Mag-log inChapter Sixty-Five - The Bad Guy IIThen he turns and walks out of the room.They let me out through the main concourse.Reyes walks beside me, one hand not quite on my elbow, the other holding a clipboard. “We’ll need you at the station tomorrow with a parent. Nothing formal. Just a statement.”“I understand.”“Your mother’s been called.”“Of course she has.”The concourse is a slow river of people moving toward the exits. Students in navy and gold, students in black and silver, parents clutching coats, a few reporters holding phones at chest level. Everyone is talking in low, fast voices. The second I step out of the corridor, a bubble of silence ripples outward around me like a stone dropped in water.They know. Of course they know. Phones come up like a field of black flowers.I keep my chin high and walk.I pass Ricky with an ice pack on his eyebrow. I pass two girls from my squad who turn to each other and whisper. I pass Maddox, sitting on a bench with a towel pressed to his ch
Chapter Sixty-Four- The Bad GuyMaddox's fist connects with a sound I'm going to hear in my sleep for weeks.It isn't loud. That's the strange part. It's a flat, dull crack, like a heavy book dropped on a tile floor, and it carries across the ice because for one whole second every other sound in the building has stopped. Zane's head snaps sideways. He doesn't have his helmet on. There is nothing between Maddox's knuckles and his jaw.He stands there with his face turned toward the visitor bench, lips slightly parted, like he's listening to something very far away.Then blood slides out of the corner of his mouth and drips onto the ice.One drop. Then another. Bright red on white, so bright it looks fake."Oh my god," Kenzie breathes beside me. Her fingers have wrapped around my sleeve and I haven't felt her do it.Zane turns his head back. He doesn't touch his mouth. He looks at Maddox the way you'd look at a stain you've decided to deal with later, and then he hits him.Once. A short
Chapter Sixty-Three - Broken SticksWe hear it before we see it.A crash first, like someone dropped a drum kit down a flight of stairs. Then a roar from the far end of the arena that has nothing to do with hockey.Kenzie's head snaps toward the sound. "That's our side.""Come on."We run. My sneakers slap the concrete and her skates click behind me, and we burst out of the service tunnel into noise so loud it feels like walking into a wall. The third period is supposed to be starting. Nobody is on the ice. The resurfacer sits abandoned near the blue line with its engine still rumbling, and the entire West Rivers bench has spilled out onto the rubber mat in front of the penalty box.They're all holding something.Teddy Okafor, their goalie, stands at the front with his chest pads hanging off one arm. The foam has been slit open from collar to hem, and stuffing droops out of the cut like guts. Beside him, a defenseman named Luca holds two halves of a hockey stick, one in each fist, sta
Chapter Sixty- Two Half time II"The text told me to stay away from Zane. It didn't tell me to stay away from the school. It didn't tell me to quit cheer or move to another city. It told me to stay away from him specifically." I take another step. "Then a picture arrives, and nobody posts it. If you want to ruin someone's life, you post the picture. You don't sit on it.""I'm not a detective, Ava, I can't help you with your theories.""I'm not done." I count it on my fingers. "Someone who cares about him. Someone who didn't want it blowing back on him. Someone who'd rather quietly scare me off than watch his reputation take a hit.""That could be anyone.""It's not anyone. It's you."She laughs. It's a bright, brittle sound that bounces off the cinderblock. "Wow. You really think you're the main character, don't you? Some random person takes a picture of you and it's automatically my fault?""Show me your phone.""No.""If it isn't you, there's nothing on it.""There's nothing on it t
Chapter Sixty-One - HalftimeThe scoreboard above center ice says WEST 2, EAST 2, and there is one minute and twelve seconds left in the second period.I know the exact number because I haven't stopped looking at that clock for ten minutes. It's easier than looking at the ice. It's a lot easier than looking at my own squad."Pom-poms up," Coach Ellery calls from the end of the line. "Smile like you mean it, ladies. It's a tie game, not a funeral.""Feels like a funeral," Jade mutters."Smile, Jade."Jade smiles. It is the worst smile I have ever seen on a human face. She's standing three girls down from me with her shoulders angled the other way, which is how every girl in this line has been standing since Wednesday. Like I'm a draft from an open window. Like if they turn their bodies just right, they won't feel me.Coach put me on the left end tonight. She didn't explain. She pointed, I went, and Priya slid into the center spot where I've stood since sophomore year like it had her na
He doesn't come into the bathroom.SuprisingHe texts me when he's outside, and when I push through the side doors with my bag clutched to my chest, Zane is leaning against his car in the faculty lot like he owns the building.Every window on that side of the school has a face in it."You can't be here," I say, walking straight up to him."Obviously I can. I'm here.""Zane, this is literally East Rivers. They have a security guard named Doug.""Doug waved at me.""Doug waved at you?""Nice guy. Asked if I was lost." He opens the passenger door and holds out his hand for my bag. "Get in.""I have second period.""Do you really."I look back at the building. Three girls from my squad are standing in the second floor window, arms crossed, not even pretending to hide. One of them is Priya. She lifts her phone and angles it at us.I get in the car.I make it exactly four minutes before the school calls. Not my phone. His. He glances at the screen, hands it to me without a word, and I hear







