In My Skin

CH 36 || Spy Stuff

Suz and I huddled inside an empty classroom. Bright sunlight flitted through the big window front, but the sunny weather did little to improve my sour mood. Yet another letter had been slipped beneath my door this morning. Another letter to add to my lovely collection.

Suz unfolded the wrinkled paper and read over the messy lines. "How many has it been now?" she asked, her sharp, delicate brows drawn together. Her pen tapped against the blank paper lying in front of her.

"I don't know. Six or seven."

Her eyes lifted. "Plus the package."

My scalp prickled at the memory, and I pulled a face. "Yeah."

"Okay, we'll do this methodically. Who has a grudge against you?"

"Where do I start..." My nails ran over my head until the crawling sensation finally died down. "Well, I think we can rule Chris out."

"Agreed," Suzy said, adding in a snide tone, "He doesn't have the brains or guts for this. So, who else? Jess?"

"Really? You think Jess would do something like that?"

"Well, she attacked you before, didn't she?"

"But that was...." I tried to visualize Jess sneaking around and leaving letters at my doorstep like some freaky Christmas elf. The image seemed off. "I don't know, Jess? Really?"

"She could have gotten the address out of Chris," Suz argued. "I bet he wouldn't even have noticed. Too bad she knows we're friends by now, or I could have spied on her again."

"I suppose that's true."

Suz noted down her name. "Where did you lose your ID? If we know who might have found it, we can narrow down our suspect list."

"Well, I think it was on Halloween, but I'm not one-hundred percent sure."

"That would mean... Rose, Drew, and Pete, right?"

"I don't think it was Drew. Remember how easily he got intimidated by you? And why would Rose do something like this? Unless Jess put her up to it. She was the one who warned me about the moving door that day though. And Pete seemed nice aside from his extensive use of perfume."

Suz's jaw tightened. "I still can't believe you ran into some weirdo. I should have stayed with you that day."

"Nothing happened, Suz. I'm fine."

"That's not the point. I can't leave you alone. Remember what happened on vacation?"

"You sound like Killian," I grumbled.

"Speaking of, where is Killian? I haven't seen him lately."

I shrugged, trying to appear casual. "I don't know. We've been texting a bit, but I haven't seen him much."

Suz raised an eyebrow. "Have you been avoiding him again?"

I let my hair fall forward, shielding my face. "A little bit," I admitted, and twirled a few strands around my finger. I inspected the long gashes my nails had left on the back of my hands from scratching last night, then looked up at Suz. "My skin's been acting up. It's already weird enough. I don't want him to see me like this."

Her expression softened. "Tay, you don't have to hide from him because you don't look your best. If he doesn't like you for who you are, he's an idiot."

I sighed, fidgeting with my hair again. "I know, it's just, I don't want to fuck it up again. It's hard not to feel like a burden when my body feels like a ticking time bomb. I don't want to constantly worry about what he thinks."