Bryce didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. I saw that he had. He probably participated.

“Why?”

Bryce shrugged and finished eating his food.

Sometimes my two best friends pissed me off. Sometimes they did things and wouldn’t tell me. And sometimes I knew I should love them for it. Then and there, I knew it was a battle that I wouldn’t win so I dropped it and finished my orange juice. I left the rest of my food. I’d lost my appetite that rarely reared its head.

When we were done, most of the ‘good’ students had left to return to school.

Corrigan and some others remained, content to skip, sit, and chat.

Bryce and I stopped by Corrigan’s table as we passed to leave.

“Hey, uh…” Corrigan cleared his throat. “You were right, man. I’m sorry.”

I was happy again.

Bryce gave him a stiff nod in response and both visibly relaxed after that.

“So…” Corrigan started, shifting between me and Bryce. “What are you guys doing now?”

“I need to go home,” I told him.

“Hey, man,” Corrigan threw in. “You wanna head to my place for the afternoon?”

Bryce nodded and we left as if there’d been no rift between the two.

The sophomore girls were disappointed, but I flicked them off behind my back. I felt perversely satisfied now.

I heard Corrigan bark out a laugh just as the door closed behind me.

Bryce dropped me off at home and I showered, changed, and looked around for

damages. Officer Patterson had left a message on my machine that they’d searched the house and cross-referenced their list of damaged property with mine. She had the full report for me to look over, if I felt it was warranted. She also had a few follow-up questions, but those could be handled at a later date. All in all, I was given the okay to clean-up.

I first started by ordering a different alarm system. When they got there, I went downstairs until they were done. After I’d gotten instructions for setting the alarm, I showered again and laid down in bed, but only after I grabbed my dad’s Colt.45. I slid it inside a shelf in my nightstand. With my bedroom door locked, I curled under the blankets and fell asleep, hoping I wouldn’t wake to another AnnaBelle reincarnation.

When I woke up, I realized that I’d slept for seven hours.

Violated security was more exhausting than I realized.

And then I heard what had woken me up in the first place, someone was ringing the doorbell.

For a girl who lived alone, it was pretty hard to get some alone time.

With a face-stretching yawn, I made my way downstairs and checked the window first. It was Mena and she looked frantic. When she lifted to poke the doorbell again, I threw open the door and gasped, “Please no more.”

Mena flushed. “Sorry. I knew you were here, but probably asleep since you didn’t answer right away.”

“Or I was hoping to ignore you, but you annoyed me to death,” I deadpanned and Mena followed me inside.

I grabbed an ice tea and hopped onto one of the counters. Mena sat on a stool as I dangled my feet over the counter’s edge.

“Uh…so are you still going to that party?”

“What party?”

Self-conscious, Mena clarified, “That party that you were supposed to invite me to…remember?”

Harris’ party. Friday night. Corrigan had asked me to bring her.

“I guess so,” I sighed. I’d forgotten about it.

“Um….,” She bit her lip, unsure of what to do or say. I was used to the expression so it was pretty easy to pinpoint. Leisha looked at me that way a lot. The only two who didn’t were Bryce and Corrigan.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” I made my decision.

“It’s, like, ten already.”

I’d slept longer than I had realized. I almost slept the entire day.

“Fine. I gotta get ready.”

As I put my glass away, Mena stayed in place and glanced around the room.

“You can come with me.” I indicated upstairs.

“Oh.” She sent me foolish smile. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

I waved her off.

“So you weren’t in school today,” Mena murmured, conversationally.

“No.”

As we passed the library’s door, Mena gasped, “Oh my god. What happened?”

“That’s kind of personal, don’t you think?” I teased, but when she flushed in embarrassment again, I relented, “I spent a day destroying my papa’s things. I’m not all that happy with my parents right now. Plus, my house was broken into last night.”

Instead of the usual ‘what?!,’ Mena was quiet.

“Don’t worry. I don’t think they’re trolling the neighborhood. The cops said that they singled my house for a reason.” I drawled, “Let me tell you, not real settling to the stomach.”

Mena relaxed a little, but fiddled with her hands.

I was beginning to agree with Bryce. She was weird.

In my bedroom, Mena eyed the bed warily and perched on the littlest amount of bed possible.

I burst out laughing as I pulled out a translucent chiffon wrap. “The sheets are clean. Trust me. I’ve had a maid in here since the last time Bryce spent the night. She comes in once every two weeks.”

“Oh.” She didn’t look reassured.

I showered quick and pulled on a pair of khakis jeans that hugged my hips. I wore a pale pink chiffon top that crossed between my br**sts. I left the bra behind, but that was alright. Even though the top didn’t look like it, my br**sts were firmly supported in place and tucked from escaping.

As I did my hair, I murmured, “So where were you? You missed some days of school too…right?”

“Uh…yeah.” She fidgeted with her hands some more and finally sat on them.

With a flush in her cheeks, she said brightly, “I wasn’t feeling that well.”

“You looked fine when we saw you at the coffee place.”

“I know, but Denton was right. I was a little nauseous that day. The coffee didn’t help.”

I noticed the glitter that shimmered off of her curls.

“You look nice,” I said honestly.

Startled, Mena looked up and I saw a flicker of guilt flash in her eyes. It was quickly gone and replaced with appreciation.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.