She opens her eyes, looking right at me. “Yesterday, outside the building when you came running after me. You said her name.” Her voice wobbles. “You were talking about your alarm and then you said her name. Then you paused and said you were sorry, like you were guilty.”
“No, no, no.” I shake my head, stepping toward her. “I was sorry for not showing up on time. For letting you down. And when I said her name, it was because I know she has something to do with my alarms not going off.” I rack my brain, trying to think of a logical explanation. “She must have snuck into my room during the fire drill to mess with them and steal my hoodie.”
“Then how was she outside so fast with the rest of us?” she asks. Apparently she’d noticed Adrianna outside the night of the fire drill too.
“I don’t know,” I choke out helplessly.
I can see it in her eyes, somewhere deep, deep down she wants to believe me, but there’s too much evidence stacked against me. The negative voices of everyone else are too loud, influencing her judgment about me.
She tips her head back, trying to keep her tears at bay.
I grab her arms again, begging her to look at me. “Finch, I swear I would never do that to you. I would never be that cruel. You have to know that.”
She looks at me with such vulnerability, such confusion that it completely breaks my heart, shattering it into a million pieces.
The door to the lab creaks open and Professor Cooper sticks her head in. “Olivia?” she asks, concern in her tone as she looks at the both of us—at her prized TA crying in the middle of the lab. She steps inside, looking at me skeptically. “Is everything all right?”
Olivia sniffles, quickly swiping at her tears with the sleeve of her sweater. “Yeah, Professor Cooper. Everything’s fine,” she says, her voice rough as she hugs the papers in her arms tightly to her chest.
Professor Cooper doesn’t take her narrowed eyes off of me. “Has everyone finished taking the exam?”
“Yes,” Olivia replies, shrugging out of my hold and skirting around me.
Professor Cooper holds the door open for her, shooting me one last disapproving and warning glance before slipping out of the room with Olivia.
As soon as the door closes with a softclick, I lose it. Beyond frustrated, feeling utterly hopeless, I kick the nearest stool, sending it toppling with a loud bang.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and I grab it, glancing at the incoming call from Brennen. I hit the Ignore button and shove my phone back into my pocket, not in the mood or mental state to talk to anyone right now.
Heart pounding, I race back to my room and immediately rifle through my hamper. I tear each piece of clothing out one by one, not finding my black hoodie, which should be in there.
“Fuck,” I spit, kicking the plastic hamper.
My phone keeps buzzing in my pocket, pissing me off further. I grab it and throw it at the wall out of blind anger.
Taking a seat on the edge of my bed, I try to even out my breathing and calm my nerves, but I make the mistake of glancing at my alarm clock, which is still dead, taunting me and absolutely sending me over the edge.
I pick up the dead clock and throw it as hard as I can at the back of the door with a scream.
Restless, breathing heavy, I snatch my keys and pick up my phone from the floor, ignoring the large crack in the screen. I hop on my bike and race five minutes down the road to an all-too-familiar apartment complex.
My tires squeal when I slam on the brakes, fishtailing a bit as I haphazardly pull into the nearest parking spot. I jump off my bike and march up to Adrianna’s door, pounding my fist against the wood.
Nothing.
I pound again persistently until the door flies open, revealing an annoyed and tired-looking Adrianna.
Once her eyes land on me, some of the annoyance disappears, replaced by amusement.
“Hey, Bronx,” she says with smugness in her voice, leaning against the door frame in her pajamas. “Long time no chitchat.”
“How the fuck did you get my hoodie?” I practically growl.
“Whatever do you mean?” she ask, feigning innocence.
I clench my jaw, not in the fucking mood to play games with her. “You pulled the fire alarm and snuck into my room, didn’t you?” I accuse her.
“No,” she says simply, eerily calm and nonchalant.
