Lies We Tell (Thistle Cove 3)

1

Kenley

“You’re getting ripped,” Ezra says, tweaking my bicep.

“That sounds like an exaggeration.”

“Nope. I see some solid muscle definition going on.” He leans against the locker and adds quietly, “It’s sexy.”

I’d take it as a compliment, but when you’re working out in reaction to having been kidnapped and nearly murdered, it loses a little of its luster.

It’s been a little over a month since Monica Chandler kidnapped me and confessed to the murder of Jacqueline Cates and her involvement in Rose Waller’s suicide. It’s passed in a blur as I’ve tried to go back to normal. But that’s the thing. What’s normal about your former friend’s mother trying to kill you and confessing to being involved in two other crimes? What’s normal about learning that your beloved high school football coach carried on a relationship with a student who is now missing? And that no one, not the parents, not the administration, not the politicians care, because he can win a football game.

It’s disheartening. Disturbing. Defeating.

Since then, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving. My parents decided it was a good chance to get out of Thistle Cove, and we drove two states away to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was fun, but I missed the guys. We’ve got less than two weeks until Christmas break—two weeks of exams and Valhalla deadlines--but after that, they’re all mine.

“What’s this meeting about anyway?” I ask Ezra, who’s leaning against the bank of lockers. I’m rummaging through my mine, trying to find my history book.

“I don’t know, but it gets us out of class.” He catches my eye. “Want to bail? My dad is at a conference. The house is empty.”

Tempting for sure. “It’s a senior meeting. It could be important information about graduation or even college stuff—you know, that thing you still haven’t applied for?”

“Sometimes I forget you’re such a goody-two-shoes, you know, since you have a tendency to be so…” His dark eyes sweep over me and right there in the hall, I get warm.

“’So what?” I ask.

“Mischievous. Wild.”

I stare at his pink, soft lips and almost cave. Almost. Except Ozzy walks up with a deep-set frown and interrupts us.

“I know you love a good rant about the obsessive patriarchy and the need to dominate women’s lives, but seriously, I can’t believe he’s still allowed to teach,” he says. I glance down the hall and see Coach Chandler leaning against the wall outside his classroom. He’s handing out high-fives to passing students like candy on Halloween. It’s like nothing has happened. I guess in their minds, nothing has. Monica has taken all the blame and he willingly let her throw herself under the bus. “Is a championship ring really worth the well-being of the entire student population?”

“I’ll let you know when I get mine,” Ezra says, chuckling darkly. They’ve won the game, of course, and title, but the actual rings will be given out in a few weeks at a fancy ceremony in the city with all the other championship-winning teams.

It wouldn’t be football if it wasn’t a big deal.

Ozzy yanks at his cap in irritation and he adds, “Just because men have been getting away with bullshit like this for centuries doesn’t mean we have to put up with it.”

“Actually, I think we do.” I finally free the book by tugging it out with both hands. “Unless we can prove he’s actually sleeping with a student. Rose is gone. Kayla isn’t speaking.”

“You think it ends there?”

“Not a chance,” I reply, “but no one else has come forward.”

“Even with Monica in jail, they’re scared.”

“Or willing participants.” I slam the locker door. “The town has taken a side. His side.”

“I can’t believe you’re giving up.”

I narrow my eyes. “I’m not giving up, Oz, I just don’t know what to do.”

I have one lead. One, that may dig deeper into the truth about the men in Thistle Cove. The key card I found in Rose’s room. Like everyone else, I’m scared of what I’ll find.

He looks between me and Ezra. “I know you’re not giving up. I’m just frustrated. I know you are, too.”

The warning bell rings. “We need to get to the cafeteria.”

Ozzy makes a face. “I thought maybe we could skip.”

“That’s what I suggested, but Miss Priss was a hard no,” Ezra says, giving me a wink.

I don’t admit I almost caved. “You guys do what you want. I’m going to the meeting.”

Ezra groans but they both follow me down the hall. I’m actually curious about the meeting, and don’t like getting information secondhand. Unfortunately, we have to pass Coach Chandler on the way to the gym. Right before we walk past him, a girl approaches him.

Not just a girl. Alice Kendrick.

My pace slows.

“Ms. Kendrick,” he says, “I’ve got the information you needed about the football team. A few stats and details from the season.”

“Great. We’re finalizing the fall sport section of the Valhalla this week. I’ll come by after the meeting and pick them up.”

Ozzy looks back at me and I catch up.

“What was that all about?” He asks as Ezra walks ahead of us, through the gym doors.

“Nothing.”

But it wasn’t nothing. It was weird. Alice isn’t working on the sport section—particularly football. I’d intentionally kept all the girls off that assignment not to put them in Chandler’s orbit.

“Have you talked to her lately?” he asks. “In general?”

“No. I mean, she texted me a few times after the thing with Monica, but I just wasn’t up for it.”

We cross over the threshold into the gymnasium with the rest of our class. Ezra’s up on the bleachers, sitting with Finn. More than one set of eyes follow me as I climb the stairs. Some curious, or even jealous, about why I’m always with these guys. Others because they heard about me and Mrs. Chandler. And a few scornful because I shattered their idealistic view of Thistle Cove.

“Ms. Keene.” I turn and see Mr. Russell, the principal. “We’re making senior announcements. I figure you may have a few for the class?”

“Yeah, sure.”