Page 118 of Devils' Day Party
And then there's Erina and the sex tape.
Calix suspected her, and I'm pretty damn sure he's right.
So what do I do about it? This day, or any other, really.
“Karma Sartain, you fascinate me,” Barron whispers, tugging the mask back down. “Well done.” His lips curve into a smile. “Go then. Spend your day with Raz. Maybe tomorrow I'll stop by your place and you can go on a little drive with me?”
“I can't decide if that's creepy or charming,” I tell him, smiling because I know that no matter how I work future days out, that Barron is just a sketchbook away. Once he knows that I know his secret, he doesn't try to fight it. He's the easiest of the three boys, that's for sure.
“Consider it both,” he tells me, pausing as Calix moves up beside us, clearly pissed at being left out of the conversation.
“Before you say anything you might regret, just remember that I love you, too.”
Calix's dark eyes widen, and his attention flicks immediately to Barron, judging, calculating.
“All three of us, huh? You're a very interesting young woman, Karma.” Barron laughs and leans back against the lockers, sliding a can of spray paint and a stencil from either pocket on his blazer. He turns around, presses the stencil to the gray metal locker, and then sprays it with black paint.
When he pulls the stencil away, there's a devil's face left behind, in the shape of a mask. The very same shape, in fact, that he's wearing now.
“Walk,” he tells me, and I listen, because I'm not about getting caught and dealing with trouble from the administration today. Calix does the same, his jaw tight, nostrils flared. “All three of us, Lix. What do you have to say about that?”
“This is the most idiotic Devils' Day trick I've ever heard of. You really are a disappointment, Karma.”
My own mouth flattens into a thin line, but he did call me Karma, so there's hope there.
“Don't, Calix. Just don't. That spitefulness, it doesn't fucking suit you.” We stop walking and I glance back, toward the front entrance. “I have to go before the bell rings, but look, if you—”
I pause as Erina appears in the doorway of the makeshift shop, her eyes lighting on me and Calix.
She starts straight toward us as I glance back at him. Barron is still smirking, shaking his head, and chuckling. He's murmuring things under his breath, but I ignore him. We both know the jig is up; he clearly remembers the past timelines more than anyone else.
“If you want to talk later, at the party or something, let's do that. Because I'm done fighting with you, Calix Knight. It's tearing me apart.” I put my hands on his shoulders and lift up to my toes to kiss his cheek. His grits his teeth, but he doesn't stop me.
Erina, on the other hand, grabs my hair as soon as she gets a hold of it.
“Stop telling him lies!” she shouts as I spin around, tearing my hair from her grip. “Don't you dare,” she hisses, eyes wild with fear. It's very clear now that she not only has the video, but that she doesn't want Calix to know that she does.
I mean, if he did, it would ruin her chances of ever getting with him. She must know that.
“Telling me lies about what?” Calix snaps, turning his ireful attention on Erina. “Stop acting insane, Erina. I'm tired of it. First, you stalk my brothers' emails and now this?”
My brothers' emails … My lips part in surprise as I recall the conversation I heard from outside the train car. Calix and Raz were talking about a girl they hated in a much different way than they do me, about her harassing Calix's family. I kinda thought that might be Pearl, after what Calix told me. But no. No, it was clearly Erina.
“Calix, listen to me,” Erina says, taking a step back from me as I hold my hand to my hair, my breath coming in violent pants. She must sense that I'm about to haul off and beat her ass. “Karma has a video of the two of you, from last year's Devils' Day party.:
“What?!” I shriek, loud enough that several students pause and glance our way.
“Hey Karma, hurry the hell up.” It's Raz, stepping into the hall near the front entrance and calling out to me. But he has no idea what's going on right now.
“You have a video?” Calix asks me, narrowing his eyes.
“She was going to post it tonight, to try and get you to, I don't know, acknowledge her or something,” Erina continues as I feel all the blood in my body rush to my head. I can barely hear past the sloshing sound of it, my pulse thundering like crazy.
“That doesn't sound very like the Karma Sartain we know,” Barron suggests, but I don't get to see his or Calix's reaction because my fist is lifting up and moving seemingly of its own accord.
