Chapter 6

Luce runs toward me as I walk into the school building.

“What do you mean ‘George is back’?” she asks, holding up her phone so I can see the screen.

“You’re showing me the message I sent you. I already know what it says.”

“Don’t be smart, Marley, I’m freaking out here. There were two of them in there. Arthur could’ve walked out of that room and found us upstairs.”

“George,” I say.

“What? How do you know that?”

“I doubt Arthur was the one watching an old movie. Not that it matters which one of them was upstairs with us.” But I’m pretty sure now that the noise came from the guest room where George stays.

She pulls me closer, eyeing people passing by as if this is a secret, but most of them weren’t there when Rhett gave us the dare. No one’s going to say anything, that’s not how it’s done.

We’re sworn to secrecy. Each of us will be doing something we could get into a lot of trouble for. Mutual destruction is what will keep us all quiet.

“What if he finds my pin badge?”

“At the bottom of the vent in Arthur’s room?” I ask. “It’s not like anyone would know it’s yours.”

Her eyes widen. “Marley, there are tons of photos of me wearing that!”

“There are tons of photos of me wearing mine too. If it’ll stop you stressing, I won’t wear mine anymore. Okay?”

“I don’t want you to get into trouble either.”

“You’re overthinking this. What’s going on with you?”

She blows out a long breath and leans back against the wall. “I’m the first person in my family to go to college. I can’t do anything to get my acceptance withdrawn, you know that. This means everything to my parents and grandparents.”

“Nothing is going to stop you from going to college. Arthur isn’t even going to realize anything is missing. We’ll return the watch when we know he and George are out, and no one will ever find the badge. Breathe.”

It’s not like this is something I can afford to screw up either. Everyone in my family has gone to college. They’re all doctors, X-ray techs, nurses, and dentists. My two older cousins are in med school. I understand her panic.

She takes a deep breath, and I can feel the tension ebbing from her shoulders.

“Maybe we can buy a new badge,” I say, trying to be helpful when I know that’s kind of a long shot. We both bought the same one handmade from a stall at the spring fair. There were only two of them. I don’t remember the lady’s name, and I don’t think she’s the sort of person to have social media accounts.

“Maybe,” she replies, coming to the same conclusion as me. I don’t think it’s a big deal, though. No one’s going to look in a freaking vent. Whoever buys the property next is just going to rip it down, if it hasn’t crumbled to the ground before that.

Luce and I have most of the same classes, so I’m able to keep an eye on her throughout the day. We don’t see Jesse and Atlas until lunch, but she’s back to normal by then anyway.

I pick up a tray and get in line.

“Can you see anything yet?” I ask, wondering if Ruthie’s completed her dare and dyed the mac and cheese.

Luce opens her mouth but it’s at that moment that someone screams in the line. I look over and see Martha, Ruthie’s second-in-command, lying on the floor, gripping her stomach.

I roll my eyes at Luce, spotting Rhett across the room, smirking.

This is the distraction.

The two cafeteria staff run out from behind the counter. I watch Ruthie slip through the door, a bottle of food coloring badly hidden in her fist.

Seniors stand in front of the counter, blocking the way as Ruthie dumps the whole bottle into the deep tray of mac and cheese. She stirs it, laughing silently as the cheese sauce turns a slimy green-blue.

Martha sits up, rubbing her belly. “I’m fine. That cramp just came out of nowhere.”

“I want you to go to the nurse,” one of the staff says.

She shakes her head, glancing up just as Ruthie joins us back out in the cafeteria. “I’m fine. They’re bad sometimes. I’m sorry I scared you.”

With a miraculous recovery, she gets to her feet and begins to walk toward the exit. “I’m fine, really, going to grab my water bottle. I’m sure I have Tylenol in my bag.”

She turns and runs, no longer holding her stomach that hurt so much five seconds ago.

I watch as the staff return to the kitchen and one of them bursts out laughing when they discover the discolored mac and cheese. The other one scowls.

“All right, all right, very funny,” she says, shaking her head as the cafeteria erupts.

Luce nudges me, laughing along with everyone else.

“To be fair, it doesn’t look that bad,” I say.

“I’m getting some.”

The happier of the two takes the tray away. “Sorry, no mac and cheese now. We can’t serve something that’s been tampered with.” A chorus of protests erupts in the line. “Don’t fret, the salad is really good today,” she adds with a wink.

Rhett walks over, stopping by Luce and me. “You couldn’t have dared her to dye the lettuce instead?” I say.

He laughs. “Next time.”

“Next time you need to give her something better than that. Our dare was a felony,” I remind him.

Actually, I’m not sure that tampering with food isn’t, but it wasn’t poison and no one’s going to eat it. My point is her dare was crap.

“I agree with Marley,” Luce says.

“Of course you do,” he mutters. “I’m not taking requests, but thanks for the feedback.”

“You were taking requests last night.”

The line moves but the three of us don’t, no one wanting to be the first to back down.

Rhett smirks. His signature expression.

“Hey, can you guys move?” Tony says behind us.

Rhett’s head snaps in Tony’s direction and Tony cowers back, looking away, his shoulders hunched to make himself small, cheeks blazing.

“Don’t be an asshole,” I say. “Come on, Luce, I’m hungry.”

He walks away before we can move, always needing to be the one in charge.

“I hate that guy,” she says.

“Ditto.”

I grab a chicken wrap and a bottle of water and sit with Luce. Atlas and Jesse find us a few minutes later. I look up when a few phones beep around the room. I take mine out of my pocket. It’s the senior dare group.

next up is Tony. Jacks will be waiting for you outside the science block. Principal’s car needs a lift.

“Tony’s dare,” Luce says.

I shake my head. Poor Tony. After snapping at Rhett in the line, Rhett is trying to teach him a lesson. He’s such a bully.

“What happened?” Jesse asks.

“Tony had the audacity to tell Rhett to hurry up. What a crime,” I reply. “When do you think we can get that watch back? Shotgun not asking Rhett for it!”

“You can’t shotgun that,” Jesse says.

“I just did.”

“I vote Atlas asks him,” Luce says with a devilish smile.

“We all know it needs to be Marley,” he replies, narrowing his eyes. “Your shotgun is invalid. We need to return that watch.”

Luce nods. “We return that, and he’ll never have to report a break-in. The badge will never be found, and I’ll go to college.”

She’s being super dramatic, but it’s not like I have a choice. We need to return the watch and not just to save our asses.

“Fine.”

“Anyone else still finding it weird that he wanted a watch?” Luce asks.

“Definitely feels like there was an ulterior motive,” I say.

“But what?” she asks.

I shrug. “Yeah, that I don’t know…yet.”

Atlas groans. “Don’t get involved, babe.”

“Aren’t you curious? Maybe if we can dig up some dirt on him, we can get him to leave us alone. Think about it, that watch was really old, and his family has a history with Arthur’s.”

“Might be worth something,” Jesse says. “Maybe Rhett’s grandad gave it to Arthur when they were friends.”

I nod, gently whacking Jesse’s arm. “Right, that makes sense.”

Luce watches me skeptically, but she nods, hoping that I’m onto something and we can fix the watch issue and stay out of the rest of the pranks.

My phone dings again. Another message in the dare group.

leave me out of this

“Uh-oh,” Jesse says.

I look across the cafeteria at Tony. He shoves his phone in his pocket and stands up, leaving the room.

“What do you think Rhett’s going to do?” Luce asks.

“I think we’re about to find out,” I reply, watching Rhett whisper to one of his friends and hold his phone to his ear.

Jesse scoffs. “I really hope only bad things happen for that guy.”

I grab my tray, finished eating, and leave the cafeteria.

For the rest of the day, I’m on edge. Tony doesn’t seem fazed, and I admire that in him. After Henrietta, the rest of us are too scared to push back.

But Luce is breaking down over that badge. We need to put a stop to our prank involvement.

The final bell rings and I shove my pen and notebook in my bag.

Atlas and his team are staying late to play football today, and Luce is going to her grandparents’ house, so I start to walk home.

I get to the bridge when Rhett’s car flies past me. His rear lights flash as he brakes hard.

Great.

I keep walking and he winds down the passenger window. “Need a ride?”

“No thanks,” I reply, not stopping.

The car crawls forward. “Get in.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“What do you think I’m going to do? Murder you and bury you in the woods?”

I scoff. “Wouldn’t shock me. What are you doing with Tony?”

“I’m not going to kill him.”

I keep moving and so does he. It certainly looks like he’s about to kidnap me. “What do you have planned? I know there will be something. You should just leave him out of it. He doesn’t want to play.”

“He was at the creek. He’s in. Those are the rules.”

“You made the rules, you can change them.” I fold my arms over my chest, fists tight as I try to refrain from punching his car. I’d do it if it wouldn’t hurt. There are no redeeming qualities about Rhett Wilder.

“Why do you care so much about Tony?”

“Because I’m not an asshole!”

“He knew what he was getting into.”

“Did he? Do any of us?” I stop and glare at him. He hits the brakes again. “We have no clue what hateful action you’re going to take if we don’t do these ridiculous dares. Do you have any idea what we risked breaking into Arthur’s? If we’d been caught, it could have affected college!”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“No, I’m not! God, you’re so sheltered by your parents’ money. You never used to be like that.”

Heat explodes in my cheeks. I wasn’t supposed to say that. After he ditched me I didn’t ever want to show him that I cared or that he’d hurt me so deeply.

“Still think about us splashing in the creek, do you?”

More than I want to.

I ignore him. “Where’s the watch and what are you doing to Tony?”

He tilts his head to the side. It takes him a second to reply, as if he’s not sure whether to tell the truth or a lie. “The watch is safe.”

“Why do you want it?”

“Because it was a dare.”

“I call BS. I need it back.”

He laughs. “You won’t get much for it.”

“Not to sell it, you idiot! I need to return it.”

Rhett’s nose scrunches up like he cannot comprehend why you can’t keep someone else’s stuff. “No.”

“What’s does that watch mean to you?”

“Nothing. It’s junk.”

I hold out my hand, palm facing the overcast sky. Of course it’s about to pour on me. “Then hand it over.”

“Not going to happen.”

“Rhett, I need to take it back.”

“He’ll never know, stop stressing.”

This is getting me nowhere. He loves an argument, and I’m only feeding into that.

I sigh. “Looks like it might rain. That ride a genuine offer?”

“Yeah,” he replies, his tone full of suspicion.

Before he has a chance to question me, I open the door and get in. I shove my bag between my feet and turn to him, having absolutely no clue what to say but knowing I need to find a way to get that watch.

“What do you see in Ruthie?”

“Jealous?”

Okay, that I can work with. It feels a tad too manipulative to use it, but I’m desperate here…and it’s not like he’s a good person.

“Answer the question,” I say.

He shrugs. “She’s all right.”

“Are we talking about the same person?”

That makes him laugh. He looks over and grins, and for a second, we could be in middle school again.

But we’re not. Focus.

“Will you tell me what your plans are for Tony? Oh, I have a better question. Why do you need to blackmail people into doing the dares? What’s wrong with normal senior pranks?”

“That was more than one question.”

“I want to know why.”

“It would be boring if everyone backed out of dares that went beyond Saran Wrap on toilet seats.”

I turn my nose up. “That’s gross. Don’t do that.”

He laughs again and slows down as we approach my street. “I know the fire was bad, Marley, I’m not going to dare anyone to burn down a building.”

“Billy wasn’t dared to do that either.”

“The fire spread because Billy was dumb. It’s entirely possible to light a small, controlled fire.”

I roll my eyes and grab the handle of my bag as my house comes into view, desperate to get away from him. “Please don’t do anything to Tony.”

“Marley, chill. Nothing bad is going to happen to him.”

“Is that because you think he’ll agree to the dare before you can take things too far?”

He stops outside my house. “See you tomorrow.”

“Rhett!”

“Calm down, no one’s going to die. Yet.”