by Rachel Shane
Nearly an hour later, Gavin finally enters the waiting room. Us girls compete against each other for the biggest hug. He winces when we attack him. “Watch it, I’m broken.”
I know he’s referring to the bruises, but he looks defeated emotionally too. “We match, then.” I point to my heart and pacemaker.
He smiles at me, and it’s good to see him finding something to smile about.
“How did you stall Dennis for so long?” I ask when Gavin tries to pull away from us.
We give him some breathing room.
He slumps into one of the plastic seats. Purples and blues swirl around his eye. “At first I told him I didn’t have the tape. Didn’t know where it was. I hoped he’d let me go, but he didn’t believe me. Then he started getting impatient. On Monday, he wanted to try 90C. I couldn’t have that, not until you got there first. So I told him he was right, I was lying, the tape was back at my house.”
My head pounds, trying to work out the timeline.
“Dennis made me call them and get them out of his way. He had me tell them I’d gone to his house in Chappaqua to meet with him. They rushed there to rescue me. Except I wasn’t there.”
Sabrina gasps. “That’s why they boarded up the house! Your call must have made them suspicious.”
Gavin nods. “Right, and when Dennis didn’t find anything there, he tried to get into 90C anyway but the resident refused to let him in. He was keeping me hostage, tied up in his hotel room, so I couldn’t get a message to you or my parents. They walked right into his trap. Mario—Dennis’s brother—was waiting for them. They tried to trade the location—90C—for my freedom but Dennis refused to let any of us go until he found the tape. So my parents didn’t tell him where in 90C the tape was. Neither did I.”
And I know the rest of the story. Dennis laid low, waiting for the Ty and his roommate to leave the room, but Ty never did.
Gavin leans into me and rests his head on my shoulder. I stroke his hair. He must be exhausted. I can’t imagine he got much sleep the last few days. “I know you’re tired,” I say in a soft voice. “But can I ask why you told me you loved me and then tried to break up with me five minutes later?”
Isla shook her head at me as if it say now is not the time. But it is. Time is fleeting. I can’t lose him again without knowing.
He frowned. “I hated saying that. But Dennis had threatened me on the phone. Told me there were people in Milford watching my family, my friends. Said if I didn’t back down, he’d…” Gavin takes my hand and squeezes it. “I wasn’t going to back down, so this was the only way I could protect you.”
I squeeze back, my heart swelling. I forgive him. “You could have told me that though. Hell, you could have taken me with you. At the very least, being held hostage would have been a lot more fun if I was there.”
He lifts his head and brushes his lips against mine. “No doubt.”
“But—” Sabrina says. “If you wanted to protect her, why’d you give us the box of clues?”
“I had this box of sentimental stuff with me that I’d been saving for…I don’t know what.And I decided to give them to you as a message. That I’d be back and I screwed up.”
“So the real message for me to decode was your true feelings?”
He laughs. “I guess it was. Did you skip any clues?” He eyes me and I shake my head. Sabrina and Isla shake theirs too. “Then you know I went to your house. Sorry about that. I’d say I broke in, but it was unlocked.”
I snort. “Of course. Wouldn’t expect anything less form Krystal.”
“I went into your room—”
“Creepy stalker, much?” Isla teases.
Gavin hesitates. “You looked so peaceful on the bed. And I just kept thinking I didn’t know what I was up against. Because I really didn’t know if Dennis would hurt me, and I wasn’t exactly telling anyone where I was going because they’d all stop me.”
“I wouldn’t have stopped you,” I say.
He smiles. “I figured the scavenger hunt would be my back up plan. So other people would know the secret, or could figure out know where I was. But also in case something happened and I needed help. I knew the clues would slow you guys down and I wanted you to follow me, but at a distance. Obviously a good plan if I do say so myself.”
Isla studies her nails, looking used and dejected. He’d used her to plant a clue but never made her part of the plan.
His eyes flick to her face. “I had a really good time, Isla. And, I’m sorry that I don’t feel—”
She waves him away dismissively. “I know. You don’t have to say it.”
“And the school?” Sabrina prompts. “How’d you even know my locker combination if neither of us knew I was going there?”
“Don’t hate me, Sabrina.” Gavin sucks back a guilty smile. “But a few weeks earlier I found letters with our schedules and locker combinations. That’s when I started to suspect something weird was going on. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to get to the bottom of it before I did.”
“I don’t hate you,” she says. “But dumbass, if you’d told us what was going on last week, you could have saved everyone a lot of trouble.”
Gavin’s gaze turns serious. “But then none of us might have made it out alive.”
Gavin’s parents arrive at the station a little while later. Chuck and Josephine hug their children before turning their attention to Isla and me.
“I’m so sorry—but very grateful—you girls had to come to our rescue. Isla, Moxie.” She turns to me. “Thank you.”
“See, Mom? If you’d listened to me, you would know how great she is.” Gavin pulls me close. “And I’d also like to point out that I was right about going after Dennis. I proved you wrote the song. Now you can sue for real.”
Josephine starts to speak but I cut her off. I may have already rescued Gavin but a little more couldn’t hurt. “I think you owe it to him to let him start a band with me.” My eyes flick to the girl shuffling her feet next to me. “And Isla. Oh, and let Sabrina go to boarding school if she wants.”
“Actually,” Sabrina says. “I think I’d like to stay at Milford. I have friends there.” She pats both of us on the back. “And we owe someone else a thanks. In the form of a case or ten of yogurt.”
“We’ll be more lenient on the school issue.” Chuck’s mouth tightens but he pushes it into a half smile. “And the band issue.”
“And the girlfriend issue,” Josephine adds, and Gavin squeezes me tight.
Isla’s cell phone rings. She glances at the ID. “Shit, it’s my…uh…Dad.” She takes the call across the waiting room.
While we had waited for Gavin’s parents, I’d filled him in on the breaking news that Isla’s dad was also my dad. Gavin told me that when he’d asked Harry to give me the VCR, Harry wouldn’t shut up about me.
Remembering about the VCR makes my head snap up. “Mr. Tully, I don’t understand why you put the tape in the wall in the first place? Why not destroy it?”
Chuck covers his face in his hands. “The police came to interrogate the students after Omar’s death. I was worried they’d search my room. I had to think fast and I already had some construction supplies in my room from my after school job.”
Officer O’Toole emerges from the back room, pushing his auburn hair out of his eyes. “You can finish the reunion later. For now, I’ll need you to come with me.” He motions for the Tullys to follow.
“Wait, before you go.” I reach into my purse and pluck out the bribe money. I hand it to Josephine. “I can’t take this.”
She pushes it back to me. “Consider it an investment in your band. I want you to have it with no caveats.”
“Take the money. I need an amp!” Gavin pulls me in for one last kiss. “See you in school tomorrow.” He ambles away with his parents but then glances over his shoulder. “Unless any other family secrets happen to arrive.”
I watch him go, knowing this isn’t a goodbye. It’s a dot dot dot. To be continued.
&
nbsp; “You’re still coming to school tomorrow, right?” I ask Gavin as he walks away.
Isla taps me on the shoulder, wrenching me out of my trance. “My dad just called. He’s almost here. And, um, Krystal’s with him.”
My entire body stiffens as Harry and Krystal enter the police station. He keeps one hand steady on her elbow, the other wrapped around her waist to help her hobble on crutches toward us.
I ball my fists, trying to remain tough, despite my quivering insides. I’m still not sure how I feel about this whole thing. Part of me is grateful to know the truth, but the other part of me wishes he’d found a way to be in my life all this time too.
“Isla…Moxie, I’m so sorry…” He gets out before his blubbering overwhelms him.
I take a post behind Krystal. She gives me her palm, and I squeeze it. Because I don’t feel anger toward her. She did what she thought was best, protected me from the guy who agreed to leave my life at the first dollar sign.
“I’m proud of you,” she says. “Your records’ still clean.”
“Are you coming home tonight?” Harry asks Isla. His eyes are rimmed with red and sweat beads down his bald head.
She glances at me. I shrug. She can stay with me if she wants. “I—I think so. But only if Moxie comes with us.”
My head snaps up as hot anger flashes through me. Isla pleads with her eyes.
“He paid off my medical bills, Moxie,” Krystal says.
My heart squeezes. Still, I’m about to spit out a harsh no when something surprising comes out of my mouth. “Okay.”
Gavin’s family spent most of their lives hiding from the truth, from their past. I won’t do the same. It may take a while to get to know my dad, to truly let him be part of my life, but the hardest part is taking the first step.
I give him a tight smile, taking in my crazy, messed-up family. But the thing is, though I’ve always accused them of running away from me, this is the first time I’ve ever felt at home.
That night, Isla and I sprawl out on adjacent beds in her room, mine pulled from beneath her top one. Harry hovered as we ate dinner in near-silence, Krystal included. He made every excuse to come into the den when we were watching TV. When he went upstairs for bed, I could finally breathe. Getting to know him will be harder than I thought.
Isla flips over in bed. “I need to know…”
I brace for something difficult. Something that will seize the emotions I’m trying to keep at bay.
“I’ve been waiting forever for details on your make-out session with Gavin.” She waggles her fingers toward her chest in a gimmee way.
So I tell her. I tell her about the kiss, and about my feelings for Gavin I’d suppressed for so long. But I don’t stop there. I tell her about Krystal and the book I found and my real thoughts on the dad situation—that I’m not sure I could ever feel part of his life.
Isla tells me things too. Things I never would have guessed. Things that make us more alike than I thought. More like sisters. She tells me how Zack Bellinger is a sloppy kisser, but probably the only guy at school who’s truly loved her. How even though she dumped him for being too clingy, she knows she can always count on him to be there for her. She finally admits that one of the main reasons she was interested in Gavin was because she hoped his musical talent would finally make Zack forget about her. “But now that I think about it. I wasn’t trying to make him forget. I was trying to make him remember.” She shrugs.
They are so getting back together.
For the first time that night, I sleep peacefully, knowing everything is in its place.
The next morning at school, Gavin heads off to meet with the music teacher while Isla, Sabrina, and I fend off a crowd of eager gossipers who heard bits and pieces of the story. Isla and Zack Bellinger gab the entire time about her death-defying adventure (she exaggerates a bit). Becca practically becomes my new best friend as I relay the litigation and interrogation part of the story to her.
We still haven’t told anyone about the sisters revelation. Isla understands I need time. And so does she.
When the first warning bell rings, I open my locker and a shoe-box rests inside, the lid decorated with yogurt tops. I laugh. The box feels lighter than the last one. I shake it, expecting to hear the contents shifting. I don’t hear anything so I lift the lid.
The box is empty except for a few words written in shiny black permanent marker on the bottom.
For a fresh start on our new adventure. This time you create the clues.
The End...I hope you enjoyed reading about Moxie and Gavin! Please don’t forget to give this book a quick review on Amazon. Even just a two-word, “Liked it” or “Hated it” review helps so much, and I am grateful for all feedback from my readers. Please swing over to the book page and post your review since the star rating on the next page won't be visible online.
Click here to sign up for my monthly newsletter and receive your *free* Starter Library which includes two prequel novellas featuring Premature Evacuation characters and one short story featuring Kasey Screws Up The World characters (to be released in 2016).
That's right, you will receive three different short stories delivered right to your inbox for FREE!
Young Adult
Alice in Wonderland High
Kasey Screws Up The World
New Adult
Cunning Linguist, An Underground Sorority Prequel Novella (Fallon's Story)
Premature Evacuation, Underground Sorority Book 1 (Mackenzie's story)
Master Probation, Underground Sorority Book 2 (Bianca's story)
A Bone to Pick, Underground Sorority Book 3 (Erin's Story)
Thanks to Denise Jaden for all your keen insight into my books. You were my first reader on this book, back when it didn’t resemble anything on the current pages, and the book is all the more better for it.
Thanks to all my early beta readers on this book, especially those from Critique Circle and Absolute Write. You have helped shape every word contained in these covers. Thanks to Dana Bacher for your revision suggestions that shaped the book.
Thanks to Ladies Noir, Binders, KBoards, Absolute Write, Twitter, and all the other writerly online hangouts where I found great friends and great advice.
Thanks to Haley Scully, for giving me the name Isla to use. It was perfect!
And of course I can’t forget my loving family, for your continual support. But most importantly I’d like to thank my husband Josh and my daughter Quinn for being my rocks.
Lastly, thank YOU for taking the time to read this book. I hope you enjoyed it!
Rachel Shane studied Creative Writing at Syracuse University and now works as a digital Project Manager in New York City. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, young daughter, and a basement full of books.
Sign up for her newsletter here to get exclusive content, including a free short story prequel that chronicles how Corey Taft and Harrison Wagner went from bros to rivals during pledging.
Table of Contents
DEDICATION
Present Day
Chapter 1
Paper Lantern
Chapter 2
Paper Lantern: Present Day
Chapter 3
The Fork: Two Months Agp
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
The Fork: Present Day
Chapter 6
Pressed Leaf: Six Weeks Ago
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Pressed Leaf: Present Day
Chapter 9
Sharpie Marker: One-Month Ago
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Sharpie Marker: Present Day
Chapter 12
Fake Eyelash: One-Month Ago
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Fake Eyelash: Present Day
Chapter 15
Stuffed Bunny: Last Friday Night
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Stuffed Bunny
Chapter 18
<
br /> White Powder: Late Last Friday Night
Chapter 19
White Powder: Present Day
Chapter 20
The Drive: Present Day
Chapter 21
Lockhart: Present Day
Chapter 22
The Evidence: Present Day
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
The Police Station: Present Day
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Other Books by Rachel Shane
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
