Page 134 of The Broken Note

“Cadence,” Sol’s footsteps patter behind me, “I’ll take care of everything.”

His hand closes around my arm.

I brush him off and whirl around, my chest heaving. “Why should I believe you when you’ve done nothing until this point?”

“That’s not true.” He reaches out to me again, but stops short when I glare at him. Hesitantly, he slips both his hands into his pockets. “After I found out Serena was arrested, I went straight to Principal Harris. He told me to screw off.” Sol’s eyes narrow to slits. “According to him, it didn’t matter which one of us got kicked out.”

I scoff.

Sol licks his lips and keeps staring at the ground.

“Did Dutch know since the beginning?”

His head whips up. Sol stares at me for a long moment, as if he’s trying to figure me out. “Does it matter?”

“What?”

“Does it matter to you if Dutch knew? I thought you hated him.”

“I do hate him.”

His eyes search my face. His jaw works for a minute, as if he’s trying his best to believe me.

I can’t take the tautness in the air between us and grind out, “But we’re not talking about Dutch. We’re talking about you, Sol. It was your decision to set the fire. It was your decision to hide it.”

“Don’t worry.” His voice is flat now. He glances past me. “I started this. I’m going to finish it.”

“No,I’mgoing to finish this.” I stalk past him.

“Cadence—” Sol grabs my arm to stop me.

“Let me go.”

He drops my hand immediately, but his shoulders are tense. “You think barging into Principal Harris’s office and demanding things is going to work? I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I already confronted them and they didn’t give a damn.”

Maybe he failed, but I won’t. Sol didn’t have the footage that I do. If Harris insists on letting Serena take the fall for the fire after seeing what I have, he’s insane.

“Don’t try and stop me, Sol. That’s my final warning.” I stalk to the door again.

“I really hate when Dutch is right,” Sol mumbles. A moment later, I hear white noise and then the hiss of a recording.

“I’m telling you. I’m the one who set the fire in the music room!”

“Sol, let me be frank. It didn’t matter which one of you withdrew from Redwood. Just be glad you’re still here and get back to class.”

I freeze, right in front of the yellow and black tape.

“You recorded him?” I whisper, turning around.

“Learned that lesson the hard way.” He juts his chin down. “When you face a snake, always keep your recorder on.”

My nostrils flare.

My mind trips through what I just heard.

It doesn’t matter who got kicked out?The callousness Principal Harris showed toward Serena is disgusting. I always knew I didn’t mean anything to these people. But at least Dutch, Paris and Christa were honest about their disdain for me. Even Miller flashed his true colors pretty quickly.

But people like Harris? I thought he was a harmless puppet for the real overlords of Redwood.