Chapter 8
Anna
I'd just slid into my usual desk in geometry class when Mackenzie turned around to ask, "Hey, did you hear?"
Mackenzie was blonde, bubbly, and very well dressed. She thought she was my best friend. She wasn't. I had no friends, not really.
Friends knew each other's secrets, but mine were buried so deep, I wouldn't be digging them up for anyone, especially Mackenzie who loved nothing more than juicy gossip.
From the gleam in her eyes, the nugget she'd be sharingnowwas extra-juicy.
In reply to her question, I shook my head. "No. What?"
She leaned closer and said in a hushed voice, "The police were here,just now."
I frowned. "Here? You mean at the school?"
"Oh yeah." She smiled. "And guess what."
"What?"
"You know John Archer?"
Oh, God.I felt myself swallow. "Uh, who?"
"John Archer," she repeated. "You know, the hottie with the attitude?" She licked her lips. "Not that I wouldn't mind a taste of him, if you know what I mean."
Ididknow. Mackenzie had "tasted" half of the football team, along with the mascot – or rather, the guy who wore the costume. Buthewasn't the guy I was thinking of now.
"Uh, yeah," I stammered. "John – what about him?"
"Well…" She laughed. "Just now, he was literally dragged out of calculus."
I was staring now.Calculus?Funny, I didn't realize that John took advanced math. But this wasn't the thing that made my heart sink to my toes. It was the thought of him in trouble.
Yeah, I knew he could be an ass, but last night, he'd actually been pretty nice. He'd done me a favor. And other than some teasing, he'd been surprisingly decent about it, too.
Even now, I had his hoodie in the trunk of my car. After school, I was planning to return it, along with an apology for being so rude last night.
But now, he'd been arrested?
My thoughts were churning so hard that it took me a moment to ask the obvious question. "Arrested for what?"
"I don’t know." Mackenzie's eyes were gleaming. "But it must've been good, because it's like they had the whole S.W.A.T team here or something."
Ireallydidn't like the sound of that. "Do you think it's drugs?"
She gave a pretty little shrug. "Maybe."
Desperately, I tried to think.Drugs and calculus?They didn't mix.Did they?
In truth, I wouldn't know – and not because I wasn't taking calculus. Rather, it was because drugs weren't part of my life.
Oh sure, some of my classmates dabbled in this and that, but not me, not ever. In a house like mine, I had to keep my wits fully intact, and getting stoned wouldn’t help, especially when my stepdad was in one of his moods.
And now, Mackenzie was saying, "Wanna know whatIthink?"
"What?"
