Page 58 of Find Me

“You could have yelled out for help,” he suggested.

Really?

Mr. Morgan released a heavy sigh. “With the policy in place, I don’t have a choice…but I’m willing to make a deal with you,” he said, and I waited for him to continue. “It’s been reported to the office that your locker was vandalized yesterday and just this morning your name was graffitied in every boys’ bathroom. Both incidents were reported by someone other than you. I could only assume you were afraid to come forward. Which is why I had planned on calling you into my office tomorrow morning.” Mr. Morgan paused. “If you explain what’s been going on, I’ll lessen your punishment to lunch detention tomorrow.”

“Why?” I was skeptical.

“Because I think you’re being bullied, Miss Pierce, and believe it or not my number one priority is to protect my students. Not just punish them.”

I sat back in my chair and chewed on my bottom lip. “If I tell you, what will happen?”

“That depends on what you tell us, but having all this documented could protect you and could help us prevent things from escalating.”

I didn’t want things to get worse, that was for sure. “I have an idea of who vandalized my locker, but I don’t have any proof, and as for the boys’ bathrooms, I wasn’t even aware of that. So I don’t know what I can tell you that will help me.”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s been going on and let me be the judge of that?” he said.

Fine.I began with my very first interaction with Cassy.

* * *

“You did the right thing,” Keelan said from the passenger’s seat of Knox’s red 1970 Camaro SS. It was the old car they all had been working on when I had seen them for the first time. The twins had told me their dad and Knox had shared a passion for fixing up old cars. Knox’s Camaro had been the last car he and their dad had been working on before his fatal car crash. It was a beautiful car with its buttery black leather interior, hot rod red paint, and white racing stripes.

Knox, Keelan, and I were driving to the twins’ swim meet. Keelan had texted me and asked if I wanted to ride with them. With Knox driving and Keelan next to him up front, I sat in the back staring out the window. We were driving in a new area of town for me and I wanted to see what was around. The first topic of conversation was what had happened in the gym today. The twins had blabbed.

“I didn’t really have a choice. It was either tell the principal what’s been going on or get suspended,” I grumbled.

“Morgan is a good principal. He could have just suspended you, not caring to get to the root of the issue like a lot of principals,” Knox said while staring at me through the rearview mirror. He had a point. All Mr. Morgan had done was document everything I had said. Like I’d told him, there wasn’t any proof Cassy had been behind the vandalization of my locker or the boys’ bathrooms, which I’d promptly asked Colt and Creed about on the drive home from school. Apparently, “Shiloh Pierce is an easy fuck but a lousy lay” had been written on the walls in all the boys’ bathrooms. They hadn’t wanted to tell me about it because they didn’t want me to see me hurt. As much as it warmed my heart that they were looking out for me, I still wished they had told me.

“Are we going out to eat tonight or do one of you have something planned?” Keelan asked.

“Let’s go out,” Knox and I said at the same time and we locked eyes in the rearview mirror again.

“Where do you want to go to eat, Shi? We could go to a restaurant or if you want something quick, we could hit a drive-through,” Keelan suggested.

“I would love to go to a restaurant. I, ah…don’t eat fast food,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Really?” Keelan asked.

“It’s against my religion,” I said, sounding serious.

They both went quiet before Keelan turned in his seat to look at me. “What religion is that?”

I did my best to hold back my smile. “The one I just made up.”

Knox chuckled and Keelan shook his head while smiling before turning to sit properly in his seat.

I went back to staring out at the window. “Fast food is nothing but fat, too much salt, grease, and thousands of calories.”

“That’s what makes it good and you’re the last person who should worry about their calorie intake,” Keelan said.

I sighed. “I’m a food snob, okay?”

That had them both laughing. “Now that, I believe,” Knox said and Keelan nodded in agreement.

20

I was wearingmy Team Stone top with high-waisted shorts and my hair was in a loose braid pulled to the side. No pigtails or full-on cheerleader outfit tonight. The guys had decided to cut me some slack and compromised. I had to at least wear the Team Stone top.