Fallen Crest University
Page 31

Getting there, she saw I was still by the gymnasium, and she pounded on her car’s roof. “What are you doing? Get in the car.”
I couldn’t hold it in anymore. My blood was buzzing from the adrenaline, my run, and Summer’s terror. I folded over, and the laughter poured out of me.
“Wha—” She stopped.
Crap. I needed a ride. I tried to muffle the laughs as I went to the car.
Summer was glaring at me. Her hand crumbled over her keys and she choked out, “Do not tell me that you were fucking with me.”
I got inside and secured my seat belt. She couldn’t kick me out. I looped the strap around me a second time to make sure. I’d hold on to it like it was the only thing anchoring me in a tornado.
I waited until she got in and did her own seat belt. I said, “I might’ve been lying…”
She sucked in her breath.
I finished, “About the second light.”
She was silent.
Then the screams came. “I actually pissed my pants! How could you? Oh my god!”
I waited it out. She kept screaming, but the hysteria slipped a notch, and she started her car before turning out of the parking lot.
Two blocks. I kept telling myself that. We can make it two blocks.
Summer kept ranting, “I’m going to make your life hell. Buckets of water when you’re not expecting it. Your coffee’s always going to be cold. And your shampoo. You’d better hide your shampoo somewhere else because, every chance I get, I’m pouring hair dye in there.” She belted out a harsh laugh, turning into our parking lot. “So bad, Samantha. You’re going to pay so bad.”
She quieted as we got out.
I snuck a look. “I don’t know what came over me. I think I channeled Logan. I’m sorry. I didn’t know how scared you would get.”
Her shoulders loosened, and a short laugh slipped out. She shook her head, her mouth curved up into a rueful grin, and another burst of laughter jerked from her. She shot me a dark look as we entered our dorm. “Oh, man. I’m calmer now. I abhor being scared. Hate it. Hate it with a passion. My boyfriends used to do that shit to me all the time.”
My lips twitched. I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t dare.
She cursed under her breath. We started up the stairs to our floor, and she motioned for me. “Go ahead. Let it out. I might’ve overreacted.”
“You think?”
She laughed again, the tension easing a little bit from her. “I knew there wasn’t a second light. I was looking, but it didn’t matter. It was already in my head. What if someone was actually there? They were following me. They could’ve killed me. No one would’ve known, and they would’ve gotten you, too. Okay. My imagination was running wild.”
Right as we topped the stairs for our floor, I murmured, “I will never prank you again.”
She shrugged, letting out a breath of air. “It’s my bad. I know it was a joke—at least, I think I knew it. I totally overreacted, but,” she shot me cautious look, “this just means that I get to plan my payback.”
A retort was on the tip of my tongue, but when our dorm room came into view, it died.
Mason was sitting on the floor outside our room.
He’d been waiting, and judging from the mask on his face, he wasn’t happy about it.
MASON
She was laughing. I heard it as she and her roommate were coming up the stairs.
She had every right to be angry with me. I ditched her. She didn’t know about Nate or that we’d been at the hospital with him for the last six hours, waiting for all the tests to get done before they’d let us take him home. They would’ve kept him for observation, but the last bed went to a heart attack patient. That was what the nurse said when she cleared Nate to go with us. We were given instructions on what to check for, including his breathing, his skin color, his pulse every hour, and a few other things that Logan wrote down. As soon as I could, I went to Sam’s dorm. She hadn’t answered my calls, and as she came down the hallway, I saw the reason.
I stood, but they both quieted as they got to me. “You were running.”
Sam didn’t reply. Her eyes narrowed, and a shadow appeared underneath them. It was me. She knew something was wrong, and bags formed under her eyes. My mouth pressed flat. I hated being the cause of it. I couldn’t lie, but I knew that I couldn’t tell Sam about Nate. Those bags would become permanent, and she’d only worry.
She started to say something but waited, glancing at her roommate.
The girl continued to stare at me. Her eyes widened a fraction.
Sam cleared her throat.
“Oh!” Her roommate blinked rapidly, jerking forward. “Sorry. Um…” She pulled out her keys for the door but dropped them. “Shit.” Grabbing them, she tried to insert the right key, but it wouldn’t go. It took three more tries before she slid it inside and grimaced to us over her shoulder. “Sorry about that. I’ll be, uh…I’ll be in here.” She paused in the doorway, still looking between me and Sam. “Oh, yeah. Okay. Bye.” She went inside, and the door slammed shut.
Sam was frowning at it.
It opened again. Her roommate poked her head around it, biting down on one side of her lip. “Sorry. It slipped from my hand. Okay…again. Bye.” She waved at us, her hand right next to her ear. “Take as long as you want. I’m going to bed.”
Sam moved into me. I leaned against the wall, holding her to my chest, when their door opened again.
The roommate slipped out, holding a shower caddy. “Sorry.” She kept her head bent, and her eyes forward. “I have to go to the restroom first, and then I’m off to bed. For real. Take your time.”
I could feel Sam’s silent laughter, but she didn’t respond. We waited until her roommate made the trek to the restroom and went inside.
Sam whispered, looking up to me, “Maybe we should go somewhere private?”
I nodded, letting her take the lead, but when she started to head toward the parking lot, I caught her hand and motioned for the basement. “You have some rooms down there, right?”
Her eyebrows lifted high as she nodded. “A computer room. The movie room, and the kitchen are down there. There’s another smaller lounge, too.”
“Let’s go down there.”
“But…” She cast a confused look outside.