“Whatever it is, you know I’m here for you. Always.”
River jerks from my grasp, dragging a fist across her cheek. “You’re kidding right now.”
I wasn’t. But her reaction spurs my next sentence. “I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. I never should have gone there, especially because it wasn’t true, and you’re the last person I should lash out at.”
Her eyes run over my nearly naked body. She didn’t hear a word I said just now. “Huff, did you get bigger?”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“I could swear your…your muscles grew.”
Now she’s just playing. “Ha. Funny.”
“I’m not joking. I thought you were ripped before, but damn! Your abs!”
Feeling awkward, I grab my shirt from the foot of my bed and slide it on. “No. I’m exactly the same as before.”
She comes inside and shuts the door. “Like hell.”
I don’t want to tell her just yet that I spent part of the day with Lyle and found out I almost died in a pond filled with experimental MJP by-products, so I change the subject. “You were going to tell me why you’re upset.”
“Yeah. I overheard Keni talking to some of the other girls in the house. She’s telling everyone that you and I killed Blake. Poisoned him.”
Huh?
“She said she’s going to talk to Blake’s brother. We’ll go to prison.”
This can’t be happening. “We had nothing to do with it,” I say.
“I know, but-but why did you say all that stuff right after he died?” She lowers her voice. “You told me you killed him just by thinking it.”
“Which is ridiculous, of course. You can’t kill someone with your thoughts,” I scoff.
“I can’t, but you? You went into that water and turned into Mr. Olympia.” Her voice goes lower. “You ran so fast that night, I thought we were flying.”
“River, you can stop now. I know it was all in my head, and you were just playing along because I was in shock. You probably read it in one of your books; contradicting me would make my delusions worse. But I’m okay now. I know I’m the same Huff with the same body I’ve always had.”
River’s cute little face contorts. “Okay, please tell me you’re joking right now.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re telling me you don’t see,” she sweeps her hand over my body, “all that.”
“Nope.” And, honestly, I don’t get why she’s continuing to yank my chain. Does she think I’m still at risk for a massive meltdown?
“Huff, I know you. I totally get why you might be in denial of whatever’s happened, but I’m telling you—”
“No. I’m telling you I was thrown in a pool of Muscle Juice Potion—or whatever their factory flushes into that nasty green pond. It probably has some sort of weird psychotropic drugs and steroids or whatever. It was messing with my head, making me see things.”
“Well, I never touched that water, and I know what I saw,” she argues. “You went in, and when you came out, you didn’t crawl. You flew like a rocket.” She reaches into her bag and pulls out a piece of red fabric, offering it to me.
“What’s that?”
“I came here because I wanted you to know I’m on your side. I’m here for you, Huff. And I get why you tried to push me away. You’re afraid. But I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe in you.”
“Thanks, but—”
She holds up a hand to shut me up. “Things are getting serious, so we have to stick together. Keni is after us. I don’t know why. I don’t understand what we did. But I need you to stop putting your head in the sand. You are a good guy. The best. Whatever happened to you was fate.” She sets the red bundle on the foot of my bed. “I’ll call you tomorrow so we can figure out how to handle this Keni thing.” She leaves, shutting the door behind her.
I pick up the fabric and hold it out in front of me. A red cape unfolds. “Funny, Riv. Very funny.”
I walk over to the mirror stuck behind the door and put it on to humor myself, but my mind must be playing tricks. I do look bigger. I even see muscles on my shoulders.
“This can’t be real. It can’t.”
I think I need to see my parents. They’ll tell me, point-blank, if I’ve lost my shit or this is really happening.
CHAPTER TWENTY
For the rest of the week, I make up my mind not to think of what will now be referred to as “the situation,” and instead, I will focus on my classes. The situation is obviously the fact that Keni is evil and plans to tell the sheriff we killed his brother.
Why would she do that? There’s no evidence to support it. The sheriff won’t believe her. No one will. I hope?
I’ll have to talk to Kyle about what he thinks when I fly home Friday night. I bought a ticket with my emergency credit card. “Use it anytime to come home, for any reason,” Mom said.
Well, I’ve got a reason. What do you think of my guns, Mom? No, I’m not ready for the outcome, but it’s my only option. Until I look Mom and Dad in the eyes and ask them if I’m really different, I won’t know for sure if I’ve lost my mind. They’re the only people I can trust with this.
Tuesday I attend my first prelaw course, Legal Analysis, and it’s in one of these lecture halls with stadium seating. My heart is racing. It’s exciting knowing this is my first day of a new journey—a journey I never imagined I’d take because I could never imagine myself standing in front of a jury or a room full of people. Now, I see it. I see myself in a suit, making eye contact with everyone, and laying out the facts. I see myself putting bad people behind bars.
The professor comes in and takes roll call. I’m sitting way up in the nosebleed section because I want the full experience. I want to drink the moment in and get the full view.
Only problem is that people start turning around and looking at me. First it’s only two girls in the front row. Then another girl. And a guy. Before I know it, everyone’s checking me out.
My face flushes red. I immediately think it has to do with Keni. Maybe she posted something online about me, telling the world I’m a killer.
But then the girl next to me leans in and says, “Hey, what’s your name?”
“Why?”
She flashes a flirty grin and does a hair toss. “Party this weekend. My place. Wanna come?”
“Errr…yeah, but I’ll be out of town. Maybe next time?”
She winks. “I’ll give you my number in case your plans change.”
The professor finally gets to the Fs and calls my name. “Hudson Ferris?”
“Here.” I raise my hand, and words fail to fully describe what happens next. Eyes lock on my face; everyone is silent. And smiling. It’s creepy as hell. Even the professor stares with a stoned-out zombie-like expression.
“Why is everyone staring?” I say.
Like it never happened, the students turn around, and class goes on. Meanwhile, I’m sweating bullets. Before the other night, I was invisible to the world except when people went out of their way to be incredibly mean. Now, I’m being good-attentioned to death.