Page 46 of The Trip

Beth lifted her palm in the air as she flashed me a warning look. “Palmer, stop. It’s fine.”

I could read her eyes.Don’t make this worse.

“Thanks, Courtney.” Beth turned the bookmark over in her hand as Emma and Gigi looked on in stunned silence.

I glared at Courtney, wanting to wipe the look of smug satisfaction off her face.

“What?” she asked.

Her feigned innocence sent a bolt of rage up my spine. I stepped toward her. “What the hell—”

Beth squeezed my arm. “Palmer, stop. It’s fine.”

“Oh, wait.” Courtney pulled her phone from her pocket as if nothing had happened. “Let’s get a photo while we still look fresh.” She lifted her phone in the air. When none of us moved, she looked around. “Come on, guys. Get in closer.”

Emma and Gigi exchanged a look before huddling next to her. Beth followed suit and motioned for me to do the same. “Come on, Palmer.”

I took a deep breath, then squeezed in beside Beth.

“Beth,” Courtney said. “Hold up your bookmark.”

She had to have felt bad for being given a piece of paper instead of a shirt, but Beth obviously didn’t want to draw attention to Courtney’s slight about her weight, and I didn’t want to make Beth feel any worse than she already did.

“Smile!”

I forced a smile as Courtney’s phone clicked. She lowered the device to check the photo. Seeming to approve of it, Courtney returned the phone to her pocket.

“I’ll lead,” she said.

I followed behind Emma, with Beth at my heels, as we moved up the trail toward the sound of rushing water. I fixed my gaze on Emma’s short blond curls sticking out from her ponytail, dread weighing me down more than my pack. I was going to have to tell her the truth.

If I said nothing, Bryson and Jake would still get expelled—and lose their football scholarships—based on Courtney’s statement. They wouldn’t even be able to attend graduation.

I couldn’t let that happen. Dread welled in my chest, remembering the photo Courtney took of me with the dish soap. But I couldn’t let that stop me from telling the truth. Even if it meant facing consequences for something I hadn’t done.

I swallowed, knowing I was just as much to blame as Courtney was. I could’ve warned Emma before she stepped out of the shower. Instead, I stayed quiet, crouching behind the lockers while her ankle bone snapped. Then I lied about it.

Courtney would be livid—my statement would prove she was a liar too. But deep down, she had to know it was the right thing to do.

But Emma . . .

I watched her step over a log covered with mushrooms lying across the trail, recalling her face back in March, flushed with rage, when she shoved Jake onto the cafeteria table. She would never forgive me.

“Isn’t this amazing?” Courtney asked from the front of our line. “I feel like we’re the only ones out here.”

I pictured Beth’s minivan, the lone vehicle in the remote parking lot.Because we are.

Through a break in the trees, I caught a glimpse of the river’s white, fast-flowing water. My mind flashed to the teenage girl who drowned while inner tubing in the Sol Duc last summer after getting pinned beneath a logjam. It was the reason my mom almost didn’t let me come.

I dug my phone out of my pocket, realizing I’d never sent the text that we’d made it. My heart sank when I checked my phone. Two words were displayed in bold letters across my home screen.

No Service

Chapter Eighteen

Present: Day Five at Sea

“Are you sure you checked everywhere?” Gigi asks through the darkness.