Chapter Four

"Miss Hartwell.”

Nothing.

“Miss Hartwell.”

Still nothing.

“Lena!”

I opened my eyes.

Coach Miller was peering down at me curiously.

I fell asleep. In the middle of class. Impossible.

In my defence, I had been awake until three. Cross-referencing Martin’s therapy notes with books on autism I downloaded for free.

I built a 175-page, colour-coded weekly curriculum for the older brother, Jace, who needed serious help in six different subjects.

I still got an A.

I knew because Coach Miller, who also doubled as the science teacher, was setting the test paper on my desk right then. Ninety eight percent in a red circle.

I sat up quickly, hearing someone snicker behind me.

“Best in the class, as usual,” he said, mostly for me. “I’m really proud of you, Lena.”

Then he studied my face worriedly. “Come to my office after school today so we can talk, alright? You don’t look so good.”

Just as opened my mouth to say yes to him, my phone buzzed with a message. It was from mom.

I looked down, and my stomach dropped without warning. It was a picture of the funeral poster. Dad’s smiling photo was in the middle, surrounded by white flowers.

Celebration of Life. Beloved husband and father. Funeral Date: Saturday.

Soon they would put him in the ground, and he would never come back again.

It was all just too much for my heart to handle at once.

I pressed my trembling lips together and stared hard at the whiteboard, trying so, so hard not to break down all over again.

But I couldn’t stop the tears; one slipped down my left cheek before I could catch it. I wiped it off quickly and kept my eyes forward, hoping nobody noticed.

But I could feel someone watching me, their gaze burning the back of my neck. Despite my better judgment, I looked back to figure out who it was.

Jace Dawson sat right behind me, looking directly at me with the most intense expression I’d ever seen.

I looked away quickly.

Why today? He never cared enough to attend classes before. Of all the days he could have chosen to show up, why this one?

And why was he looking at me like that?

Maybe the threat of getting kicked off the team had gotten to him, so he’d started to take school more seriously.

I told myself that was probably it, and tried to forget about it.

Soon, the closing bell rang, and I was on my feet before the sound finished, notebook under my arm, moving for the door.

The hallway was loud and chaotic; everyone was flowing toward the gym for the pep rally before the big game that afternoon.

I kept to the wall, head down, phone still in my hand because I hadn’t been able to close Dad’s face off the screen yet.

I didn’t know when I bumped directly into someone.

A hand caught my wrist before I could stumble.

I looked up in a daze to find Allison, with her small army of cronies behind her, wearing a surprised, disgusted expression.

“You again, Lena?! Looks like you still haven’t learned your lesson, huh?! Watch where you’re going!”

“Sorry.” I tried to step around her, but her grip didn’t loosen.

“Hold on. What’s the rush?” Her eyes dropped to my phone with my father’s face still on the screen.

One second was all it took for her to snatch it right out of my hand.

“Give it back,” I pleaded, reaching out for it.

“Shut up, I’m not gonna eat your dumb phone, I’m just looking.”

She tilted the screen toward her army. “Look at this, girls. Celebration of Life.” Her sweet, evil voice piped up, “That’s such a nice way to say dead, isn’t it?”

“Give me my phone, Alison.”

“In a second.” Her cold blue gaze held mine, and every trace of a smile disappeared, leaving only hate and suspicion.

“ That reminds me… I heard something funny today. A little birdie told me something about you and Jace.” She made a disgusted face. “That you’re tutoring him. At his house. Is that true?”

“It’s probably just a rumour, Ally. There’s no way Jace would ever let something like that,” Tracy gestured at me, “anywhere near him, talk less of his home.”

“Please... I just…”

“It’d better be just a rumour,” She smiled that evil smile again. “Because if not, then that means you’re actually going to hang around him all day, pretending to teach him stuff while actually trying to steal him away from me? Is that right?”

She folded her arms, “He’s such a sweetheart, my Jace, so of course he’ll take pity on you and give your poor little insignificant family money.”

Seriously? Jace Dawson, a sweetheart? That Jace?

She glanced at the photo of my dad on the screen again. “Let me guess, you tried using your dead dad as an excuse to—”

“Don’t.” It came out sharper than I expected. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

Alison blinked.

So did I, honestly, because I surprised myself too.

A ripple went through her crew. Tracy looked at Alison. Alison looked at me. Like I’d done something so shocking, like the mouse had talked back to the cat.

“What did you just say to me?” She asked, her voice going quiet and dangerous.

I wanted to run and hide and find cover. I was so afraid that it took all the strength I had not to fall to my knees, but I forced the words out anyway. And for the first time in my life, I defended myself.

“You can say whatever you want about me. I’ll take it like I've always done. But don't you talk about my dad. Don’t you dare.”

The hallway had gone still.

Out of nowhere, Allison’s hand smacked across my face. “You bitch!”

I gasped with shock, stumbling to the dirty floor. White light clouded my vision, and I could hear a ringing in my ears.

I lay there with my palm pressed to my throbbing, painful cheek, watching in horror as Allison stretched her hand as far back as she could, preparing to throw my phone on the ground and smash it.

“Want to say something else?” she hissed. “Go ahead. See what happens!”

My cheek was on fire. My eyes were stinging. Every sensible part of me was screaming to apologize, to beg, and to do whatever it took to end this the way I always ended it.

But I straightened up instead. Slowly, with my legs unsteady, my hand still pressed to my face.

But up.

Alison actually looked thrown for a second, her supporters' mouths fell open in disbelief as they watched me.

“That’s my phone,” I said, my voice shaking. “And I’d like it back. Please.”

Whatever she was about to say next got swallowed by the noise flooding the hallway. Jocks in their football jerseys, loud and unbothered, headed from the pep rally.

Jace at the front, as usual.

He stopped to take in the scene. The raised phone, me standing against the wall with my hand on my face, the crowd gathered around us.

He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose, obviously he didn’t have time for this.

“Go ahead, I'll catch up later.” he said to his teammates. Then they were gone, and it was just us.

Alison’s voice immediately got softer, her fingers twirling her hair. “Hi, baby. I was just about to teach this rude little girl a lesson. Want to help?”

I looked at Jace. I’d already tried to ask his help before, and I still remembered how horribly that went, but at this point, I had no other choice.

“Can you help me get my phone back from Alison? Please.” I asked softly, stretching out my hand to receive it.

He looked back at Alison, then at the phone and then, to my surprise, he actually took it from her.

I was already sighing with relief when all of a sudden, he slid it into his pocket. And then he smirked, an evil glint in his eyes as he watched me.

No.

“Actually,” he said calmly, “if you want it back so bad, you know what to do. Call off the tutoring lessons. Tell your mom you changed your mind, and find another job.”

I sighed, shaking my head slowly, and I laughed a small, tired laugh.

I was so done with all of this.

“You know what, Jace, do whatever you want with it.”

I picked up my bag from the floor.

“My dad is being buried on Saturday,” I said. “And I have to go tell my teacher, who is also the only person in this school who’s ever been decent to me, that I won’t be as available anymore because I’m too busy trying to keep my family from losing our house. This petty high school crap? It’s not worth it.”

I looked at him one last time.

“Keep it. Smash it. I don’t care. I’ll figure it out.” My voice only wavered once. “I’ll see you at your house tonight.”

I walked away before either of them could respond.