Take Me Tomorrow

Chapter 18: Perfectly Still. Calm. Deadly.

I held my silver necklace to stop my hands from shaking. Phelps' men had slowly left the school, but the students lingered, waiting for parents to pick them up. I could've walked home, but I sat with Lily as she told me everything—which was practically nothing.

She didn't know what had happened. She only knew Miles had "accidentally" taken tomo, then arrested for questioning. Her mother had spoken to him once before she went to the police station. She had yet to return, and Lily was a broken twin.

"I just don't know," she repeated, but her voice didn't shake. Now that Phelps was gone, she was calm. It was unlike her. Too unlike her.

I dropped my voice. "But you knew Pierson."

She shifted, but began to braid her hair as if that was why she moved. I recognized the move because I did it whenever I was trying to cover up my motions. She knew something. She just wasn't talking.

"Tell me what's going on," I pressed.

Her bottom lip turned white when she bit it.

"Lily—"

"I can't." She confirmed everything in two words. She knew. She just didn't know that I did too. Tomo was everywhere, and everyone was involved. Fine, then I'd take the first step.

"I can't either," I muttered.

Lily searched my expression, her dark brown eyes imploring. She didn't speak, but she didn't have the chance to. Someone else spoke up first.

"Sophia."

A guy interrupted us, and it wasn't a voice I recognized until I saw his face. His defined jawline was impossible to forget. He looked like a man amongst boys.

"Anthony." I recognized the blond from the homecoming party. "Hey."

He tilted his head, not to look at me, but to study me. "You look tired."

I shrugged as I stood up to survey the emptying courtyard. I didn't know where Anthony had come from.

"I didn't see you at the assembly," I managed.

He moved closer. Too close. "I didn't see much of you at the dance."

My stomach twisted. That was right. He had seen me at the dance. He knew that I should've been in custody, but I wasn't—and he wasn't either.

I squinted at him, but he continued to smile. He seemed to be suppressing his laughter.

I stepped back. "I left early."

"Me, too," he agreed, never looking at Lily. She hadn't moved. "Though, I saw you talking to Phelps."

I didn't have time to respond before he spoke again, "What did you two talk about?"

"That's none of your business," Lily snapped.

It was the harshness of her tone that stopped me. Lily, the hyper girl who had introduced us, had practically snarled. I studied her reddened face as I slipped my body between the two.

"What's going on here?" I asked.

"Nothing," Anthony remarked, raising his eyebrows too mechanically. He had forced it, and his innocence came off as anything but sincere.

"Then we'd rather be alone," I said, but he didn't move. "We're talking."

He squared his shoulders in the way a dog's fur rose when it was trying to look bigger than it actually was. "I don't mind listening."