BooksBarbecue
Back Someone Had to Do It
Chapters (39)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Authors
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  37. THE STORY BEHIND SOMEONE HAD TO DO IT
  38. SOMEONE HAD TO DO IT: THE PLAYLIST
  39. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

I touch my head for effect, but Taylor just stares at me as if waiting for me to say something else. She knows I’m lying. She knows I heard what I heard.

Nate takes my hand, and I feel her staring us down until the crowds swallow us up, and then we’re finally outside, the cool night air hitting our faces. I make a big deal out of this, leaning into the feeling-woozy thing so Nate doesn’t question how strange I acted back there.

“Sure you good? What do you think it is?” he asks, but there’s something in his voice that makes me think he knows I’m lying.

“No idea. Just want to sleep whatever this is off.”

Nate gestures for me to rest my head on top of his legs once we’re on the road, so whether he’s actually fallen for this act or not, he is determined to help me to feel better. He arranges my braids so they’re not irritating my neck, which is so sweet, I start to feel bad for feigning illness. After a few minutes I lift my head and ask our driver to play the radio, anything, because I actually can’t stand the silence or the sound of my thoughts. I let down my window, too, even though the AC is on. I need to feel the wind on my face. Nate looks at me, but I pretend to be exhausted and close my eyes.

I still can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve seen some fucked-up shit, real fucked-up shit, but hearing the way Taylor talked so casually about killing her own father...it’s messing with me. I never knew my dad, or my mom. Not really, not as people. Apparently, only forty percent of hit-and-runs are solved, and I was five when we buried them with no answers, no justice, and there is no god, no cosmic force, no hypothetical explanation, that can make that okay.

People like Taylor don’t know what it’s truly like to suffer. They create their own problems to offset the perpetual boredom their privilege grants them and then have the gall to pretend we’re all equal, like we’re all in this fight together. But we’re not. All she has to do is present herself and she will be chosen. Shout and she will be saved. And I don’t say this because I’m jealous; it’s just a fact. She is exceptional by virtue of existing, and I am not.

6

TAYLOR

I let her go.

There’s no point in running after her now with Nate by her side. He’ll only get in the way. I’ll deal with the nosy bitch later.

Jared insisted it was just my paranoia, but I know I heard something. Someone was there on the other side of that door, probably listening to every word.

It was her. I know it.