That sent panic through me. He wasn’t the only one. An hour later, I followed in Mason’s trail, except I went to Manny’s. When Heather’s dad told me it was her night off, I tried their house then. While Mason was seeing his best friend, so was I. I spent most of the night on her couch. We watched movies, and she filled me in on the latest rumors about Nate’s car accident. There were two competing theories: The first was that the Broudou brothers cut the wrong brakes; they meant to cut Mason’s. The second was that Kate had cut the brakes to hurt Nate, so it would hurt Mason.

There were a few others, but they were ridiculous. Nate’s parents owed money to the mob. Nate just wanted attention. Nate was the one that actually caused the accident, and the cops were covering for him.

The first two sent chills down my spine. I stopped asking about any more theories, and we went back to the movie. I thought about asking if she received any more texts from Kate or her friends, but I didn’t. A part of me didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to worry about losing my one female friend.

It was late when I returned to the hotel. Slipping inside the suite, I wasn’t surprised to find it empty. Logan texted that Ethan was throwing a party to celebrate that Nate was alive. Mason texted an hour after Logan saying that he was leaving the hospital and was going to the party. He asked if I wanted to go, but I declined. There’d been too much drama for me, so I enjoyed the solitude of the room that night.

My drama free night carried on to the next morning.

Helen had checked into her own room, but she was on a different floor.

When I learned that, my relief was powerful. My knees almost buckled, but I caught the table and plopped down on a chair. I landed harder than normal, but I didn’t care. I ignored the smirk Logan gave me and then he gave me even better news. They were going to spend the day with their mother. Neither of them asked if I wanted to go along. They both knew I’d rather hang out with Kate and her princess bullies.

It wasn’t long after that when I went for my run, but instead of running from the hotel, I drove to my old neighborhood. There was a trail from a nearby park that connected to the trail that went behind Quickie’s. The scenery was too beautiful to miss. Even before I parked, I was already itching to fly up the hills behind the gas station. Maybe it was the anticipation of pushing myself up those hills, but my run went faster than normal. It was invigorating and when I ran back, two hours later, I considered going for another hour, but I didn’t. I needed my energy to start on my homework. However, when I drove past my old house, I stopped the car. I don’t know why. I wasn’t nostalgic about the home. There were a lot of bad memories in it, but I sat in the car and stared at it. Maybe I was more tired from the run than I realized. Maybe I wanted to avoid doing homework. Or maybe I missed the slight semblance of normalcy that the house used to give me, but whatever it was, I stayed for an hour. I didn’t move from the car. I just stared at the house. No one was home, but when I saw a car that I thought was my dad’s, I started my engine and drove away.

I didn’t tell Mason about my run. I didn’t know why. There wasn’t anything significant about it, but I realized that I didn’t want to tell him about my old house. When they came home and he got in bed with me, I asked about their day with their mother. As he filled me in, I kept wondering if that car had been David’s. Maybe he’d been home. Maybe he saw me there.

“Sam?”

“Mmm?”

Mason grinned, tipping my head up to meet his eyes. “What’s wrong? You spaced there for a second.”

“Oh.” I shrugged, dipping my head back down. “Nothing.”

I could feel his gaze on me and knew his wheels were spinning. “I talked to my mom. She won’t come up here. She knows you’re staying here and agreed it would be for the best if she stayed away. Is that what’s bothering you?”

“Oh.” Had that been my dad in that car? Why was I even thinking about him? “That’s fine. I’m tired. That’s all.”

Mason knew I lied to him, but he didn’t push. I was thankful.

I was thankful for my social outcast status the next day at school as well. It was peaceful, but when I went to gym class, I should’ve been prepared. I wasn’t. Kate had warned me on the first day, but she spent the rest of the week focusing all her threats on Heather. It was only a matter of time before she turned her attention back to me.

It happened when I was done showering. All of my clothes were gone. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where they were.

“Um …”

The locker room emptied as soon as I stepped from the shower. It made sense now, but there was a girl behind me. She wore a baggy sweatshirt and a baggy pair of jeans. Her sneakers might’ve been white at one point, but they were frayed on the soles and almost black now. She brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear, but it popped back out instantly. It was frizzy, and I knew it would’ve been beautiful if she would put some hair gel into it. Her eyes held my interest. There was no sympathy or warmth. She jerked her hand over her shoulder and said in a flat tone, “If you need clothes, I might have some for you.”

“You wouldn’t get in trouble for helping me out?”

She lifted one shoulder, but the blank face remained. “I don’t really care. It’s not like they’d know who helped you. They aren’t my clothes.”

“You keep the lost and found in your locker?”

“No.” I caught a glimmer of a grin as she went to her locker. When she handed me a boy’s jersey, the name on the back made me pause—Kade. “Uh …?”

“Told you.” She pulled out a pair of jeans that looked like they’d been on the bottom of her locker for years. They were wrinkly and smelled musky. Then she handed me a swimsuit, which looked new. That was comforting. “The shirt and jeans belonged to a friend of mine. No one’s seen them in years since she transferred two years ago, but the suit’s mine. It’s clean; I was going to go swimming after school, but I can borrow one of my friend’s.”

They’d do in a pinch. “Did they at least leave my shoes?”

“Yeah.” She pointed to my locker. My shoes had been stored underneath a bench. “I don’t think they knew which ones were yours.” Twenty other pairs of shoes were beside them, lined up and down the row of lockers.