Chapters (47)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- 2 Months Later
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Books by Kasie West
- Back Ad
- About the Publisher
She turned on her heel and walked away. I stayed two beats longer and watched Heath Hall being lowered into the waiting boat below, not wanting to admit to myself that of the words he uttered before jumping, two were words Robert had used all the time.
Nineteen
The next week went by slowly. I had taken a step back from the whole Heath Hall thing. I hadn’t even checked my messages all week. The bungee jumping night left me with a bad taste in my mouth. He had seemed more thoughtful when we chatted online. Even though I hadn’t divulged too much to him, there was something about the chats that made me think. That made me analyze myself. He knew how to ask the right questions. Which was very un-Robert-like. But even if he wasn’t Robert, I was beginning to wonder if he chatted with everyone online. If that was another part of his need for attention. Maybe I didn’t know him in real life, after all.
So when Amelia had told me that he’d given the information online this week about where he’d be, I wasn’t even upset that I’d have to miss it due to the charity dinner. Amelia was. Very upset. That’s why she was calling me again one hour before I had to leave for the dinner.
“What if tonight is the night he chooses to unmask himself and swear the room to whatever secrecy pact they seem to have? What if we miss it because you’re at your brother’s thing and I’m at the stupid swim awards with my parents and brother? Maybe I can get out of it. What if I came up with a really good excuse? One of us needs to be there to see him take off the mask tonight.”
“He’s not going to take off the mask,” I said, trying to curl my hair one-handed. It wasn’t a task I was fluent in two-handed, so it was going badly.
“He might. Maybe he’ll do it just to make us mad when he sees we aren’t there.”
“I don’t think he’ll notice we’re not there. I don’t think he cares that much about us,” I said, admitting out loud the thing I’d been feeling all week.
“Ugh. I don’t feel good.”
“You don’t?” Maybe Amelia was feeling the same disappointment I was.
“Was that convincing? Would that convince Coach if I called him?”
“Do you want to swim next year?”
She sighed. “Fine. I’m going, but it’s going to be so boring without you.”
I wished I could go. It wasn’t too late to go. I put down the curling iron. It was way too late.
“Okay, I gotta go find my cutest outfit for DJ.”
“You mean for the awards ceremony.”
“Sure. That’s what I meant.”