Page 139 of The Darkest Note

“You mean…”

“I mean you’re not leaving Redwood.”

My entire body caves in on a sigh. “Well, do I have to do anything or attend a meeting to explain why my grades are suddenly low?”

“No.” She pauses. “But I do have one question.”

“What is it?”

“Do you like dramatic entrances?”

CHAPTERTHIRTY-ONE

DUTCH

“Careful, man.” I grab Sol’s arm as he shuffles out of the car.

He laughs sheepishly and wrenches his arm away. “Damn, I’m not an invalid. I can walk.”

That’s hard to believe since just a few days ago, he was on death’s door.

When I got to the hospital that night, Sol refused to see any of us. His mom was bawling her eyes out and Zane had barely managed to calm her down.

All three of us left the hospital ready to do whatever it took to make things right.

There was no other alternative.

Cadence Cooper had to go.

For all the effort I put in before this, getting Cadence out of Redwood was, surprisingly, easy.

Maybe a little too easy.

Once we snuck into the system and changed Cadence’s grades, Christa made the call to her dad. He sent the order right away and Principal Harris delivered the verdict.

No fuss.

No drama.

Or so I heard.

I haven’t been to Redwood in a few days. The first two, I was sick at home, fighting off a flu that came out of nowhere. After that, my brothers and I went to the hospital, banging on Sol’s door until he stopped being an idiot and agreed to see us.

He’s been cleared to go to school for half day, but he still has to go to the psych hospital for a check in regularly.

“It’s been a while, Redwood,” Sol says to the main building. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Been a while for us too,” Finn comments. He arches an eyebrow at me. “Almost felt like some of us were avoiding this place.”

I ignore my brother’s dig at me.

So what if I didn’t want to see Cadence off? I’m pretty sure she would have punched me in the mouth if she ran into me and then I’d be in pain and she’d be in handcuffs.

I’m not going to apologize for what I did to kick her out. Life isn’t a walk in the freaking park. Sometimes, hard choices have to be made.

Cadence didn’t belong at Redwood Prep in the first place. Plus, she had her chance to accept the money and go somewhere else willingly.

She didn’t.