I want to ask her a lot of things, like what his deal is, why he calls her easy. But having been bullied for most of my life, I can pretty much put two and two together.

Instead, I crack a joke. “He probably has to be that way to overcompensate for his tiny penis.”

She chuckles softly, turning to me. “Yeah, probably.” She pauses, considering something, tilting her head to the side. “You want to go to lunch with me? My brother is letting me drive his car. I’m going to this diner that has the best fries ever. We might be a little late getting back, but trust me, it’ll be totally worth it.”

I hesitate, thinking about how I’m supposed to meet Dixie May behind the dumpsters right after lunch is over.

Harlow misinterprets my silence, her smile fading. “Or not. It’s totally fine if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s not that I don’t want to. I’m just supposed to meet my cousin and give her her makeup case that she left in the car …” I stop myself.

What am I doing?

Seriously, what am I doing?

This is the first time in forever that I have a chance to make a friend, and I’m going to toss it away because I need to give Dixie May her makeup case? Screw that! And I’m already in trouble anyway.

“You know what? My cousin can wait until after school,” I tell Harlow. “I’d love to go to lunch.”

Her smile returns. “Awesome.”

Yeah, definitely awesome.

Maybe this day won’t turn out as bad as I thought.

Yeah, talk about jinxing myself.

Because literally, three seconds after I have the thought, I receive a text.

Unknown: I know who you are, and I know what you did.

8

RAVEN

Great. Who did Dixie May tell? is the first thought I have. This text also means she’s given out my phone number.

This revelation makes me about twenty times more grateful that I’m going to lunch with Harlow, not only so I can avoid people, but because I’m standing up Dixie May and her makeup case.

Apparently, the message distracts me enough that even Harlow, who barely knows me, can tell something’s wrong.

“Is everything okay?” she inquires as we push open the doors and step outside into the sunlight.

I nod and try to force myself to smile. “Yeah, everything’s great.”

She arches a brow. “You sure about that? You kind of sound … I don’t know, deflated.”

“Well, I’m not.” I force a cheery tone, but it’s completely obvious that it’s forced.

God, I suck. It’s a good thing I don’t work undercover.

She gives a dramatic sigh, walking backward in front of me. “Okay, first rule of us being friends is we can’t lie to each other. I loathe liars. It’s like a deal breaker for me.”

I press my lips together with uncertainty. While I want to tell her about the message, that’ll also lead to me telling her about my past. And I can’t do that right now. Not when she just implied we could be friends.