Chapters (95)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Video #1
- 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
- Video #2
- 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
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Video #3
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- The Final Video
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
I don’t know. She just said sex felt weird to her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do it again. I don’t think you did anything. She legit loves you.
She loves me.
But she might have been keeping the biggest secret of her life.
Forty-Six
My room feels like a cell.
Stale. Confined. The same books. The same walls. The same view out the window of the neighbor’s tree, even though it’s turning a thousand shades of orange and red. It all feels stale.
I keep thinking about what Natasha said. Sex felt weird to Chloe.
Weird.
Why?
We talked about it. We wanted to do it.
But maybe our wires got crossed and fucked up.
Had she written it all down?
Scott told me the cops had been all through their house. They’d been through her locker, the car, her room.
But what if someone else had the journal?
Ron might have it. He encouraged Chloe to keep it, so maybe she turned it in to him. My email to Ron asks him to call, says there’s something I forgot to ask that morning when we spoke.
Ten minutes pass. Then fifteen. And twenty. The floorboards squeak as I pace back and forth. Back and forth.
“What the fuck?” I say.
The phone rings, and I jump like someone has shocked me with a defibrillator. The phone almost falls to the floor when I pick it up.
“Hunter,” Ron says, “I have a message here to call you. I almost missed it. We have some kind of inane faculty meeting coming up soon.”
“I just need to ask you something.”
“You sound breathless,” Ron says. “Were you running?”
“No. Just…anxious.”
“An affliction we all suffer from. Ask away.”
“I’m wondering if you have Chloe’s journal,” I say. “You encouraged her to keep one in Ex Libris, I know that.”
“I encouraged you all to keep a journal,” he says. “I believe Chloe’s the only one who actually did it.”
Again, it feels like he’s jabbed me with a needle. Even though he’s right. My attempt at keeping a journal lasted three days. Chloe is the only one who did it. That was Chloe—she didn’t do anything halfway.
“Did she turn it in to you?” I ask. “Or show it to you? If we could find that, we might know what’s going on.”
“Ah, yes,” Ron says. “You know, Hunter, those journals are private. A way to work through feelings and ideas.”
“That’s not the question,” I say. “Did she give it to you?”
“That’s a really good investigatory notion. And one the police have already explored. They questioned me and specifically asked about the journal, but I’ve never seen it. Nor do I know where it is.”