“I do, but I wanted to talk to you before you ran away again.”
My face had to be as red as the Queen of Hearts playing card in my wallet. I vowed to make Chase freaking Merriman suffer for this. If it was the last thing I did, I would pay him back.
“I’m not running,” I said through gritted teeth.
“It’s just an expression. I have something for you.”
He held up his closed fist and unfurled his fingers to reveal an origami heart. I reached for the neatly folded paper, but he snatched his hand away like a five-year-old. “You have to say please.”
“Please,” I crooned with mock sweetness. My curiosity was piqued.
His self-satisfied smirk irritated the ever-loving crap out of me, but he handed over the heart. Chase’s origami game was strong and the symmetrical heart impressed me with its crisp edges. He leaned close, his lips almost brushing my ear as he whispered, “Have a nice day, sweetheart.” Brushing past me, he left the room without another word.
Once he’d gone, I opened the heart, careful not to crumple the clean, sweeping lines so it could be refolded. It was our last Lit exam. Well, it was Chase’s graded copy, the one Carson handed back before the end of class. He got a 95 percent and had set the curve. I knew my paltry 92 percent wasn’t going to cut it this round, but the blood in my veins still heated that Chase was pouring salt in my wound. Just below his score, he’d written a note to me.
Maybe next time...
Chase
My own words from the first time we met at the coffee shop had come back to bite me.
I relished the satisfying rips of the paper as I shredded it into confetti and tossed the pieces into the trash. A snicker from the far corner of the room reminded me I wasn’t alone.
I turned to find a grinning Carson looking at me with amusement from his desk.
“A little competition might be good for you two,” he said.
“Good for me, you mean. When I beat him.”
I turned on my heels and marched out of the classroom.
Game on, Merriman.
* * *
I found Gideon waiting at the bottom of the stairs that led to the third floor.
“Do you want to go for coffee?” he asked.
“Excuse me? I think I might be dreaming.” Coffee was never on the menu if I was even ten seconds late to meet Gideon. His punctuality was a greater enemy than the Queen of Hearts.
“Whatever,” he shot back. His face was a lazy mask of boredom, but I knew him too well to buy the act.
“Aren’t you worried about being late?”
“We’ll be quick.” He turned on his heels to head toward my car. “I just need to get out of here for a minute.”
Before I could dig any deeper, the very person I’d been looking for appeared across the hallway outside the stairwell. Shauna was kitty-corner from our position with her back pressed against the wall.
Shauna shared our off-hour, but I had yet to catch her by herself. She was usually encircled by at least three other girls, all laughing like they hadn’t a care in the world. Despite her well-crafted image, I couldn’t seem to see anything but her eerie calm when she rescued me. That seemed like the real Shauna, not the giggles and girlfriends. She held an important role in the Red Court. She was the Queen of Hearts’s right hand. She was the embodiment of what the Red Court was all about.
I snagged the edge of Gideon’s shirt and pulled him backward behind the corner and out of sight.
“What the—”
“Shh. Shauna is right there.”
True to my word, I’d filled Gideon in on the details from my failed reconnaissance mission before Homecoming. He’d been stunned by my close call and morbidly curious about Shauna’s role in the Red Court. Much to my annoyance, he insisted on “helping” me follow Shauna around.
Staying hidden as much as possible, I peered at Shauna where she stood studying her nails, the picture of ennui. The sound of someone coming from down the hall caught her attention, and her head snapped up. The person approached out of her line of sight and stopped around the corner from Shauna.
After a beat, Shauna snapped, “What were you thinking?”
A petite dark-haired girl I didn’t recognize trembled with her arms wrapped around her middle.
“I’m sorry. I freaked out.” The voice was unfamiliar, but the contrite tone was unmistakable. She’d pulled her fire alarm.
“You know the rules. You call, I come.”
I looked back to Gideon and found his eyes wide with understanding. Another member of the Red Court was talking to Shauna. Neither girl had eyes on the other. To anyone passing by, it didn’t appear as though they were having a conversation.
“I know. It’s just that I think he knows, and I was told to call you if someone knows.”
“Calling me isn’t the problem. Panicking for no reason is the problem. You don’t call me all hysterical because your boyfriend might suspect something. You find out more and handle it.”
Even though I wasn’t on the receiving end of Shauna’s wrath, my face burned at the acid in her words.
“Don’t you dare cry, Gretchen.”
“I’m s-s-sorry.” Gretchen gave a great sniffle and took a deep breath. “What are you going to do?”
“What’s his name?”
“Sam McCormick. You’re not going to do anything to him, are you?”
Shauna rolled her eyes. “We’ll keep an eye on him. In the meantime, you are on probation. No jobs, no meeting your partner.”
“But I have to meet her. I got the photo of—”
“Stop right there. Do not tell me. I can’t believe you made it through initiation as careless as you are.”
Gretchen scrunched up her face, obviously fighting tears. I didn’t think I handled my encounter with Shauna as gracefully as I could have, but at least I didn’t cry.
“Sorry. Could you leave this in her locker, then?” Gretchen placed an envelope on the ground.
“Stop apologizing already and pull yourself together. It’s going to be fine.”
Shauna had already lost interest and was focused on her phone. Gretchen shuffled away like a scolded puppy. I’d learned my lesson about judging books by their covers with Haley, but this sad, quiet girl seemed to lack the qualities that Haley once told me about. More than anything, she didn’t seem to have an ounce of confidence in herself. What on earth was she doing in the Red Court?
Just as Gretchen ducked out of sight, Gideon’s phone started blaring. Shauna’s head lifted and I ducked back around the corner to shove Gideon roughly up the stairs.