“Wow, she’s a bigger bitch than I thought she was.” I blurted it out before I realized I was talking to her brother. “Sorry, I mean—”

“No, you got it right. My sister’s a bitch.”

“What’s your name?”

“Tristan. That’s another reason why she tells people I’m her cousin. She hates my name.”

“I like it. It’s different.”

Shannon turned around and glared at me. She’d caught us talking, and even if she didn’t admit to being Tristan’s sister, she definitely didn’t want me talking to her brother.

I was considering what nasty gesture I wanted to give her in return for the glare when my cell phone vibrated in my bag. It was louder than I thought it would be. I discreetly reached for it, pretending to look for a pen. A new text was on the screen.

Attack another witch and you’ll wind up back in your grave.

CHAPTER TWENTY

I CHECKED to see who the message was from, but the number was blocked. I’d just gotten this phone. No one had the number except Ethan. Yet I knew who the text was from. Dylan. He’d found Rebecca’s body, and he knew I was the one responsible for her death.

I felt sick to my stomach, and I needed some air. I raised my hand, but it was lost in a sea of hands. Damn those girls and their attempts to impress the hot teacher.

“Mr. Ryan,” I said, not caring about calling out or speaking out of turn.

“Yes, Ms. Smith.” He motioned for the other girls to lower their hands.

“I’m not feeling very good. May I use the restroom, please?”

“Absolutely.” He wrote me a pass, and I took my bag with me.

“Thank you,” I said, taking the pass.

“I hope you feel better.” Mr. Ryan gave me a sympathetic smile, which elicited angry glares from the girls in the front row.

I walked quickly out of the room and headed for the girls’ bathroom. I ducked into the first stall and took out my phone.

Should I text him back or ignore it? If I didn’t answer, maybe he’d think he had the wrong number.

The phone vibrated again, and I jumped. My heart pounded.

Bathroom break. Meet me by the boys’ bathroom in the English wing.

Ethan. I sighed, relieved it was him.

Make it the girls’ bathroom. Already here. I texted back.

I put the phone away and stepped out of the stall. A head peeked into the bathroom.

“Come in,” I whispered. “No one else is in here.”

He rushed inside and scooped me into his arms. I giggled, and he put his finger to his lips. “Shh.” He pulled me into the handicapped stall and locked us inside.

I reached up on my toes and kissed him. This was what I’d missed out on all those months I couldn’t go to school because the cancer had me bedridden. This was what it was supposed to be like in high school, sneaking visits in the bathroom with your boyfriend.

We kissed until I was out of breath. I pulled away, needing some air. “This was a nice surprise.”

“Yeah, well, history was boring.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You love history.”

“Okay, I missed you. We went to bed angry last night, and I didn’t get to spend any time with you.”

“Sam withdrawal.” I nodded. “That’s a serious condition.”

“I know.” He gave me a devilish grin and kissed me again.

My cell phone vibrated in my bag, making a metallic rattling sound against the stall door.

“What was that?” Ethan asked.

“Um, I think I hit the volume button on the side of the phone. I must have leaned on it. It happened in class, too. Almost got in trouble for it.”

Ethan leaned in to kiss me again, accepting my lie, but then the bell rang.

“Oh, crap!” he said. “How am I going to explain this? The halls are going to be crowded. I’ll never get out of here without someone seeing me.”

“Go, go, go!” I opened the stall door and pushed him out.

“Well, look at this,” Shannon said.

Ethan and I froze. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to keep from exploding. Why did it have to be her?

“I’m sure Mr. Ryan will be interested to hear your stomachache is gone.”

“What do you want, Shannon?” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“I want you out of this school, but since I doubt that will happen, I’ll settle for out of Mr. Ryan’s class.”

“Why?” Ethan asked.

“Because for some reason, he likes her.”

He turned toward me. “You said he didn’t like you like that.”

“He doesn’t,” I shrieked. “He’s a teacher. That’s totally disgusting.”

“He’s hot, and you know it,” Shannon said.

“No, I don’t.” I looped my arm through Ethan’s, not even caring that we were in the girls’ bathroom together anymore. “Come on. We’re going to be late for our next class.”

Ethan came with me, but I could tell he wasn’t finished with the Mr. Ryan subject.

“We’re not done here,” Shannon yelled after us.

I didn’t even acknowledge her.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else to this thing with Mr. Ryan?” Ethan asked as we walked to Sculpture.

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s just Shannon’s overactive imagination. You should hear what her brother told me about her.”

“I didn’t know she had a brother.”

“A twin actually, but she tells everyone they’re cousins.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“She’s a peach.”

Ethan laughed. “You know your grandmother is the only one who ever used that expression.”

My grandmother used to call me a peach all the time. “Actually, Gloria says it, too, and I like it.” Of course when I’d called Shannon a peach, I was being sarcastic.

“Why does she hate you so much? Was it the diner incident?”

“No, she decided she hated me the first time she saw me. I think it’s just because she’s an evil bitch.” Too bad she wasn’t an evil witch. I immediately cursed myself for even thinking that. I didn’t mean it at all.

Sculpture was actually kind of fun. I had no idea what I was doing on the pottery wheel, but Ms. Matthews let Ethan work with me. We spent more time with our fingers interlaced in clay—which is way more romantic than it sounds—than making sculptures. When our turn was over, we washed up and headed back to our table.

“Hey, you got a text while you were gone,” Beth said, motioning toward my bag with her pencil.

“I did?”

Ethan gave me a look, but I shrugged my shoulders. I reached into my bag, keeping the phone well hidden inside and checked the message. There were two. One from when I was in the girls’ bathroom with Ethan and one from a few minutes ago.

Attack another witch and you’ll wind up back in your grave.

Attack another witch and you’ll wind up back in your grave.

Why was he sending me the same text over and over again? Was he trying to scare me?

“Who was it?” Ethan asked.

“Um, some set-up message from the phone company.”

“Really?” He took his phone out of his pocket. Ms. Matthews was very laid back, and as long as we got our work done, she didn’t care if we had our phones out in class. “I wonder why I didn’t get one. Can I see yours?”

“I already erased it.” When would the lies end?

A hall monitor showed up with a pass for one of the guys in the class. I knew he was on the football team because he carried a ball everywhere.

“There goes another,” Beth said.

“Another what?” I wasn’t even a little surprised she knew what the pass was about.

“They’re calling down all of Trevor’s friends. He’s officially a missing person now, and the cops are trying to find a lead on where he ran off to or who might have kidnapped him.”

So far I’d managed to avoid almost all talk about my victims. Trevor and Rebecca were the only ones who had actually been from this town. The investigation meant I wouldn’t be able to forget what I’d done to Trevor—not that I really could anyway. But now it was going to be in my face until the police ruled the case closed.