What Lies Beneath

Fifteen

My lunch sat uneaten at my side; I didn't have an appetite to stomach any of it. While the dark corners of the school staircase swallowed me as I leaned back, glaring at my phone. A text message from Patty shouldn't have shook my core. Yet here I was, anxiously waiting for her to show up with a conversation she'd claimed we needed to have, just as she promised in her text.

Something about this was different from all the other times Patty had reached out to me. Her text reeked of seriousness. Could this have been about what happened at the library yesterday? No, we'd already talked about that. From our suspicions about Michael, to the mystery man we had yet to look into—Rahim Kumar. There was nothing else for us to speak on.

I clutched my phone tighter in my hands, reading Patty's message for the third time.

We need to talk. Wait for me during lunch.

It was so sudden—so out of the blue—I didn't know what to expect. I took a deep breath and listened for footsteps. There were none. Not yet, at least. The longer she took, the harder it felt to breathe. She was still on hall monitoring duty so it wasn't like I expected her to teleport to me. But still.

As if she could hear my thoughts, a familiar patch of red hair marched up the stairs. When Patty saw me, she sped up her pace until she was joining me at the top of the stairs.

"Tyler! I'm glad you saw my message. I didn't think I'd catch you in time," she said, smiling.

"Yeah, is everything okay?" I stood from the stairs, dusting my pants off.

"Let's take a walk, shall we?" She didn't answer my question.

"A walk? Right here should be fine, shouldn't it?" I asked, my voice wavering.

She looked around, then shrugged. "I suppose you're right."

"Why the cryptic text? Did you think of something to do with Emerald's case?"

"Sort of," she dragged her words out, her eyes shifting, "but this is more about you."

"Oh. Okay." She hadn't even said anything bad and my heart was racing. Get a hold of yourself, my thoughts were loud and clear. Did I listen though? Well, I tried. But no matter how hard I did, no results came from it.

"Loftman, I've been doing a lot of thinking overnight. I didn't want to bring it up at first because I didn't think it mattered. But I realized this isn't the first time."

"What do you mean?"

"That you've done or said something weird," she said.

I kept quiet, and pressed my back to the wall, an attempt to appear nonchalant. It didn't work as much as I'd have liked. Truthfully, I wanted to fiddle with my hands. I knew that wouldn't have been a good look though. She'd have understood that I was nervous. And if I appeared nervous, that'd have given my stance away. No way in hell I wanted that.

"I feel like there's something you're not telling me. And I'm not sure how much longer I can help you if you're not honest with me. Tyler, what do you know that I don't?" As soon as those words left her mouth, my breath hitched in my throat. She continued, "I don't mean something you found out from your brother either. Surely, he wouldn't tell you everything."

I sucked my teeth under my breath, trying my best to wrack my brain for an excuse. "Why would I be hiding something?"

"The computers"—she started, being sure to look me directly in the eyes—"sure, you explained yourself. But your reason didn't make sense. When I asked you about Emerald's handles, you hesitated. Then all of a sudden, you had all the answers. I don't get you.