Page 57 of Hidden

Juno looks at me for a moment, waiting to see if she can tell if I’m lying or not. She links arms with me, and we make our way to Grounds to meet up with the girls and then go to practice.

But in the back of my mind, I’m wondering if he really means it. Will he come to my room and touch me if I ask him?

Do I want him in my room touching me?

***

I knew this was going to be the conversation this morning. I’m surprised it’s taken them this long. The pool party has been talked about for the last twenty minutes now.

"The white one," Juno says for the third time. She really wants us to all wear the same color bikini. Her reasoning for it is the college needs to know we are a team. My reply to that was, I think everyone knows we're a team they see us every day together.

"You always say the white one," Maya says.

"Because it's always the best one, and we’ll all look amazing in it.” Juno fights with us all. I don’t really care what I wear, I plan on spending most of my time in the pool.

"You said that about the green dress and then you spent the whole night pulling it down," Maya says, which makes me laugh. That was annoying. I was just happy it wasn’t me.

"That was a structural issue, not a style issue. Completely different." Juno turns to me. "Sadie, white bikini or blue one."

"White," I say, without looking up from my coffee.

I can’t be bothered with the argument. Does it really matter what we wear, as long as we have fun? My eyes move to the bracelet around my wrist. I smile wondering if he’s here now. Is he watching me?

"Thank you," Juno says, and I look up at her as I glance around Grounds.

"I'm wearing the black one," Bree says, and before Juno can moan at her that it’s the wrong one, Cara speaks.

"Obviously.”

"What does ‘obviously’ mean?" Bree snaps at her.

"It means it suits you. You have the whole black wardrobe vibe.” Cara points to her now in full black head to toe.

Bree looks at her clothes, laughs and says, "Fair point."

"Do we know who else is going? Because if it's just us and Mason's people that's one energy, but if it's a full party that's different." Maya looks around to see if the Crawford brothers are here, and they’re not. It was the first thing I did when I arrived. I was hoping Miles was in here.

"Mason said bring anyone," I say. "So probably a full party."

"Full party means I need the coverup," Maya tells us, and we all tell her to shut up.

"You look incredible in everything," Juno tells her.

"I know. But…” She stops when my phone starts ringing and I look at it.

The number on the screen makes something tighten in my chest. I push back from the table, telling the girls I have to take this call. "Two minutes."

I rush outside and answer it quickly.

"Hey."

"Hey." Dan's voice is lower than usual, and I already know something is wrong. "You got a minute?"

"Yeah." I move further from the door, looking around to make sure no one is around. "What's going on?"

There’s a pause, and I shift my weight from foot to foot. This is not good.

"I had a rough few days," he says. "I wanted to tell you before you heard it from somewhere else."