Free Breakable by Aimee L. Salter Page B

for cheating, pleasure
that I’d caught Finn being the jerk he was, fear about what they might do to
keep me silent.
    I
met each of their gazes, working hard to keep my face blank. Then I smiled and
kept walking. Neither of them moved.
    Finn’s
rage had him almost vibrating as I passed. He hissed between gritted teeth,
“Stupid b–”
    “Right
now I’m pretty sure I’m the most intelligent person in this hallway,” I said.
    Finn
made a weird noise and his hand snapped out to grab my elbow. He whirled me
around to face him. 
    My
heart pounded against my ribs, but there was a strange calm that came with
knowing I wasn’t in the wrong here. I met Finn’s blazing gaze and snapped at
him, “Let. Me. Go.”
    He
didn’t move. For the span of three breaths, we just locked eyes. I felt great.
Sure. Solid. I didn’t care if Finn pummeled me senseless. When I regained
consciousness, I was still going to tell Mark that his girlfriend was cheating
on him with his second-best friend.
    But
then corners of Finn’s lips tipped up. His eyes took on that malicious twinkle,
and his fingers loosened on my arm. “Go ahead,” he whispered, giving me a
little shove back towards the art room.
    “I
will,” I said.
    Finn
smirked. “And no one will believe you.”
    “We’ll
see.”
    “And
even if they would, I think maybe you wouldn’t tell them because if you do, I’d
have to show Mark this.” Finn pulled something out of his back pocket and
flashed it at me.
    A
piece of white, lined paper, folded into a rectangle.
    The
name Mark written on it.
    In
my handwriting.
    My
locker left unlocked when Finn made a scene. My wallet inside it. The note I’d
written Mark before the dance, when I thought…
    The
truth came home to me with a crunch.
    I
gasped and grabbed for the paper. But Finn yanked it away easily. Then he held
it over his head, feet above my reach.
    “Finn… please …”
I sounded pitiful. But I couldn’t care less. If Mark ever saw that. If anyone else ever saw it…
    “Tsk,
tsk, C. Sloppy leaving your precious sitting around where anyone could
find it.”
    “You
STOLE that you stinking a–”
    “Don’t!”
he spat, his free hand snapping forward to grab my shirt. Karyn gasped.
Unadulterated fury twisted Finn’s face and I stumbled back, suddenly sure he
would pound me into the floor.
    He
yanked me to a stop. We stared at each other then; me breathing hard, his face
broken by a snarl.
    There
was a strange kind of honesty in the moment.
    “Who
else has seen it?” I asked quietly, all heat gone from my voice.
    “Just
me,” Karyn said from behind me, her voice oozing every kind of delight.
    Finn’s
eyes narrowed. “You and your ugly face already ruined my life once. I’m not
letting you do it again,” he ground out. “You say one word to Mark, and he’ll
find this in his locker. After copies go up all over school.”
    “But…but
you could do that anyway.”
    His
eyebrows waggled once. “I guess that’s a risk you’ll just have to take.”
    Karyn
laughed. Finn and I locked eyes. It felt like he was a wall, sliding inexorably
closer. Right now, I could see it coming. But soon it would push into me, press
the breath out of my lungs, flatten me…
    He
waved the paper at me once, then tucked it back into his pocket, eyes on me.
“Just keep that in mind.” Then he was striding up the hallway. Every so often
his laughter floated back to buffet my ears.
    I
had to get that letter back. I had to.
    When
Finn was gone, I wrenched my eyes from the spot where he’d disappeared and
forced myself to look at Karyn.
    She
leaned back against her locker, surveying me through narrowed eyes. “He’s right
you know. Finn’s cheating sounds a little familiar, don’t you think?”
    I
swallowed, unwilling to agree with her, but all too sure they were both
absolutely right. I could tell Mark anyway, make him believe. But the thought
of him reading that letter turned my stomach to stone.
    Karyn’s
grin could have slid