102

Piper

A Heist To Get Your Crap Back

At two o'clock in the afternoon, I was stretched out on my bed, facing the wall with the turtle stuffed animal nestled in my arms. The one Adam had gotten me from the rodeo. Crying had passed a couple of hours ago. I just wanted to lay down and not worry about anything at all and not think about Adam or Adam kissing me at the party or Adam asking me to spend the night or Adam, Adam, Adam .

I could do all of that with the turtle he got me at the rodeo.

Squeezing it again, I stared at the wall.

A knock echoed against the floor. "Kiddo?"

"Hey, dad," I mumbled, not turning away from the wall.

The door creaked open and my dad took a couple of steps inside. "You have visitors."

For a moment, my heart stopped in my chest. Did Adam come? Was he downstairs? But—wait—my dad said visitors, as in plural. Plural? Who was coming to visit me in Oklahoma? I didn't have any friends from high school or KYU, Thomas made sure of that.

I shifted back to look at the door when it shoved open and three of the last people I expected to see walked in.

"Kassie?" I asked, confused. "Zariah? June?"

While June stayed by the doorway with a wave, Zariah sat down on my chair in the corner and Kassie hoisted herself up on the bed and laid down by my feet with her arms at the back of her head.

"So, this is Piper's room." June nodded slowly. "Yeah, I could've guessed."

Zariah clicked her tongue. "When did the ocean theme stuff start? Were you like a river kid and eased into it or was this something from birth?"

I blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Here on a mission, a true expedition. A heist. We're dragging you out of here and going to that KYU player's house," Zariah confirmed. "You're getting your shit back. All of it. Even if we have to put on some masks and break in to do it, girl."

"Like we ain't done that before." Kassie chuckled.

"You guys broke in somewhere?" I asked before pushing up on my elbows, resting the stuffed turtle in my lap. "Wait—I don't understand. We're going to Thomas's place? Guys, I don't feel—I've been…sick and…I…"

Kassie leaned up and gave me a knowing look.

My eyes widened. "You know?"

"Know what?" June asked.

"What do we know?" Zariah pushed. "Are we knowing something? Somebody tell me something right now or I'm screaming ."

Another knock echoed on the door. My mom pushed in without another word and held out a plate of cookies. "Girls, did we want some?"

"Oh my god, thank you." June eagerly took the plate. "Ever since I dropped Xavier…these smell so good. Oomf. Cookies ."

All three of them called a quick thank you to my mom but my mom just kept her face towards me, pushing her glasses up. I knew what that look was. It was the same look she had when I excelled in programming classes after my mom pushed me to the coding summer camp.

She was happy I had friends to travel to see me. It couldn't be more embarrassing.

"Thank you, mom," I told her, nodding at the door. "Love you."

"It's just so lovely to see—"

"Love you."

The door closed again and I put my head in my hands. "I don't know if I've got the inner strength to do this. I'm sorry for making you drive out here."

"Inner strength?" Zariah demanded. "Who needs that?"

"We have pepper spray," Kassie suggested and passed it over to me. "Does this count as inner strength? It's in-the-can strength. Good against football players."

"What they're trying to say—and failing—is that you need to do this, Piper," June told me and strolled over to offer me the plate of cookies. "We took a four-hour drive to get here. And listened to cartoon music the whole time."

Kassie frowned. "You lost the coin toss to pick music."

"We're here for you, Piper," June assured me. "Let us be here for you."

I ran my hand along the side of the turtle shell and tugged on the little fabric on the side. It was incredibly sweet that the three of them showed up. I couldn't thank them enough for doing it. But I had a sneaking suspicion that they hadn't gotten the idea themselves. Especially since I'd never told any of them about the stuff I'd left behind at Thomas's place.

Adam put this together .

Tears pricked at the edges of my eyes. I hurried to brush them away. He was just trying to take care of me in that weird way he did and that hurt more than anything else. Was this the olive branch to us being friends again?

I didn't know if I could be friends with him again.

"Either you get up now…or we carry you," Kassie warned.

I sighed and pushed myself up.

If I was going to mope around my parent's place for a few more days, I did want my stuff back. And this was the only chance before finals and before summer that I'd get it.

I shoved the pepper spray in my pocket. My voice was small. "Okay."

The ride to Thomas's house was full of the girls talking about their finals and me, quiet in the backseat. They were trying to include me at every turn but my stomach was in knots and I was pretty close to throwing up. Not to mention, the last time I even saw Thomas, Adam broke his nose.

The very last thing I heard, Thomas had a temporary suspension because of his text messages to me. But I'd been out of the loop. Either way, this wouldn't be fun. No doubt, Thomas wasn't going to be happy to see me.

"Don't throw up," I whispered to myself. "Whatever you do, don't throw up."