Page 46 of Riot House

What is this feather saying? Beyond,Remember me? I exist,I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that Wren was on the fourth floor of the girl’s wing and he was standing right outside my door.

“Hey, are you almost ready?” Carina stands in the hallway behind me. She’s got a cheeky grin on her face, because things have been heating up between her and her Andy Samberg lookalike and we’re due to meet him in front of The Vista theatre in an hour to catch an evening movie—some sci-fi flick about robots taking over the world. I slowly hide the feather behind my back.

“Uh, y’know what? I think I’m getting a migraine. I’m not sure sitting in front of a brightly lit screen is the best thing for me right now.”

She pouts. “Oh no!” Her eyes are bright, though. She invited me to see the film before Andre asked her out on a date, so she asked me embarrassedly if it would be okay if he came along. I told her I didn’t mind if she went with him alone, but she’d railed against that suggestion, wouldn’t even consider it, and I didn’t want to be an asshole and flat-out refuse to go. This is a convenient out—no one in their right mind wants to wind up as a third wheel in a movie theater—and Carina looks secretly pleased. In her shoes, I’m sure I would be, too.

“You’re sure you’re not just saying that to give me some alone time with the boy?” she asks.

The boy. She says it affectionately, with a giddy glimmer in her eyes; she’s attempting to hide her excitement about this date, but that really isn’t working out for her.

“Yes, I’m sure. When I get a migraine, I need to curl up in bed and sleep. It’s the only way to get through it. I’ll probably throw up everywhere if I come. You should swing by my room when you get back, though. Tell me how it all went.”

Carina bites her bottom lip, grinning like an imp. “But what if I don’t come back?”

“Carina! You’re gonna sleep with him?”

She shrieks like a five-year-old, ducking out of my reach as I try to slap her arm. “I don’t know. Maybe? I filled out the absence sheet just in case. Does that make me a slut?”

“No! Not at all. If you think he’s a good guy, and he’s treating you right, and you think you’re ready, then why the hell not?”

My friend smiles from ear to ear, though a little calmer now. “Yeah. I mean, he’s really sweet. I have to instigate every piece of contact between us ‘cause he’s trying to be a gentleman. Honestly, I kinda want him to just throw me up against a wall and fuck me already.”

“Carina!”

She laughs. Her expression changes when she sees what I’m holding in my ha—

Ahh,shit.

I’ve forgotten all about the feather. I’ve been absently twirling it around in my fingers, pressing the blunt end of the hollow shaft into the pad of my thumb while I’ve been talking to her.

“That’s pretty,” Carina says, taking it from me. She holds it up to the light. “Wow, that really is beautiful. Where did you get it?”

“Oh, it was out on the lawn. I found it on the grass.” It’s amazing how easily I lie to her. I don’t like doing it, but I’d be a fool to tell her the truth. She’d freak the fuck out if she knew Wren had been up here. She’d cancel her date and spend the rest of the night trying to talk me into reporting Wren for sneaking up onto the girls’ floor. This incursion is the least of his many sins, but Carina will seize it with both hands if she thinks it’ll be enough to get him expelled from the academy.

“I’ve never seen a feather like that before. It’s perfect,” she says, offering it back to me.

I take it from her. “Yeah, it is.”

“You should keep it. Do something pretty with it. I know how to make it into a hair clip. I can show you if you like?”

“That’d be cool.”

She claps, pulling in a deep breath. “Okay. I’m gonna get out of here. Wish me luck! I might have stories to tell when I get back.”

I wait for her to disappear down the hallway and turn the corner before I take out my cellphone and begin to type out a message.

ME: It’s beautiful, but I’m not keeping it.

Three dots appear, almost immediately.

WREN: Liar.

ME: You’ve got to stop.

WREN: Why say something you don’t mean?

ME: What the hell are you talking about?