“No, we don’t. I already know all I need to know about you.”
“From Nora?” He stepped toward me. “She’s lying to you.”
She’s lying to you. That was what the note on the floor of Ethan’s car had said. “The note wasn’t for Ethan. It was for me.”
“Of course it was for you. I have nothing to say to your boyfriend after he beat the crap out of me.” His hand rose to his nose, which was still healing from Ethan’s punch.
The door opened, and before Dylan could get back to the stall, Beth walked in. “Whoa, dude, I think you got the wrong bathroom.”
Dylan glared at me like this was my fault.
“Do you know him?” Beth asked.
“No. He scared me. I wasn’t expecting to walk into the girls’ bathroom and find a guy in here. Let alone a guy that doesn’t even go to school here.”
“Who are you?” Beth asked Dylan. “Did you break in here?” She turned to me. “Another break-in. That’s two in less than a week.”
Dylan stared at me. If he was waiting for me to defend him, it wasn’t happening.
“Stay there,” Beth said. “And don’t try anything.” She opened the door and yelled down the hall, “There’s a strange guy in the girls’ bathroom!”
Two teachers rushed into the bathroom. I recognized them from cafeteria duty, but I didn’t know their names.
“Right there.” Beth pointed, as if they couldn’t figure out which one of us was the intruder on their own.
They asked Dylan a bunch of questions, and he stood there shaking his head at me. Blaming me. One of the teachers radioed the main office, and a moment later, the school cop came bursting into the bathroom.
“You ladies, go back to the cafeteria,” he said.
Beth grabbed my arm and led me out of the bathroom. Ethan was waiting at the cafeteria door.
“What’s going on? I heard Beth yell, and then the cop ran in there.”
Beth patted my arm like I was a dog. “Some guy was in the girls’ bathroom. He scared Sam.”
“Some guy?” By the tone of Ethan’s voice I could tell he knew it was Dylan.
I nodded.
The bathroom door opened, and the school police officer led Dylan out in handcuffs. The kids in the cafeteria went wild, hooting and cheering.
Dylan stared at me. As he passed by he said, “Nothing is what you think.” He didn’t sound angry. More like hurt.
Ethan rubbed my shoulders as I stared at Dylan’s back getting farther and farther down the hall. I couldn’t help wondering if I had things all wrong. Was there a reason I’d memorized his number before I gave Ethan the note? Was there a reason I hadn’t told Ethan about all Dylan’s attempts to talk to me, all his notes?
Had I made a mistake?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ETHAN and I made plans to meet up in the girls’ bathroom again during next period. He suggested we meet in one of the stairwells, but since most of the hall monitors that period were men, I figured the girls’ bathroom was safer. Besides, who would think another guy would risk getting caught there so soon after Dylan was taken away in handcuffs?
I waited in the bathroom, checking the hall for any teachers or other students. All clear. Ethan did a walk-by at first, but then he doubled back and slipped into the bathroom. We walked to the last stall again and locked ourselves in.
“Stealthy maneuver back there,” I whispered with a hint of a mocking tone.
“I wanted to be extra careful. Now, tell me what happened. What did that creep say to you? And why would he corner you in a bathroom?”
“Probably for the same reason we’re talking in the bathroom right now. He wanted privacy.” That was the wrong thing to say. Ethan’s face turned red. “Not like that!” I smacked his arm. “He wants to talk to me.”
“Why? How do you even know this guy?” Ethan was so worked up he couldn’t keep his hands still. He knocked the toilet-paper dispenser right off the wall. It fell with a loud crash.
“Hurry! Get in the next stall over and stand on the toilet so no one sees you.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No.” I pushed him under the stall and into the next one as a voice called, “Who’s in here?”
I stepped out of the stall, trying to look embarrassed. “Um, I am.” I bit my lip and pointed to the toilet-paper dispenser on the floor. “It fell off the wall when I went to get some toilet paper. I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.”
The woman was a science teacher. Not mine, but I recognized her. She nodded. “I’ll call a custodian to fix it. For now, use another stall.”
“I will.”
“What class are you in? I’ll let your teacher know you’ll be another minute because there was a mishap in the bathroom.”
I could only imagine what the other students would think the mishap was, but I nodded and gave her the room number. I had to get her out of here before she noticed Ethan. His stall door was locked, but since you couldn’t see any feet under the door, that was suspicious.
She nodded toward the next stall. Ethan’s stall.
“Um, that one is jammed shut or something.” I walked past it to the next one.
“Hmm, I’ll let the custodian know about that, too.”
I smiled and disappeared into the open stall. I waited for her to leave before I came out.
“It’s safe,” I whispered to Ethan.
He came out, looking nervous. “That was close.”
“Yeah, too close. You need to get out of here. I’ll check the hallway.” I peeked my head out and saw the teacher turn down the next hallway, toward my class. “Now.” I waved Ethan on.
“We have to talk about this guy, Sam.”
“Later.” That would give me time to figure out what I was going to tell Ethan.
“Later,” he repeated, giving me a look to let me know he wasn’t going to forget about this.
I sighed and walked back to class. I wasn’t sure what to tell Ethan. I didn’t have Dylan figured out. What if he was telling the truth? But Nora had said he was evil. He’d gone bad from using too much black magic or something like that. I couldn’t trust him. It was too risky. That’s what she’d said.
I glanced around, making sure no one was watching. We were taking a test on trigonometry. I wasn’t going to pass no matter how hard I tried, so I took out my phone and texted Nora under my desk.
Dylan was here.
I squeezed the phone tightly in my hands, hoping to dull the buzzing when her reply came. The second it shook, I opened the text to shut it up.
How? What did he say to you?
Trapped me in the bathroom. He knows what we’re doing.
Two seconds later, Go to the nurse’s office.
Why? He didn’t hurt me. I’m fine.
Just go!
It didn’t make sense. Did Nora think Dylan had done something to me? Was it possible he’d used a spell on me? Some dark magic that could make me sick?
I shoved my phone in my bag and raised my hand. “Mr. Malinowsky?”
He looked up from his desk. “Yes, Sam.”
“May I go see the nurse? I’m not feeling well.”
“Are you finished with your test?” He gestured toward my paper with his pen.
I stared at the half-blank page. It didn’t matter if I filled in the answers or not. They wouldn’t be right anyway.
“Yes.”
He waved me forward. I took my bag and my test paper. I kept my head down as I handed him the test.
“Sam, you barely answered any questions.”
“I know. I didn’t have enough time to get caught up on the chapter this weekend.” Okay, so I was playing the new girl card.
“If you needed more time, you should have told me before you took the exam.”