Every Last Word Read Online Free Page A

pretend I just received a text. “I have to run. My new lab partner needs my notes from class.” I pack up my untouched sandwich, hoping no one
asks about the lab partner I don’t actually have.
    “You’re not upset, are you?” Alexis asks sweetly.
    I bite the inside of my lower lip three times before I make eye contact. “Of course not. We get it, right?” I direct the question at Hailey, acknowledging the two of us as allies,
stuck on the bottom rungs of Alexis’s social ladder.
    And then I walk away as slowly as possible, ignoring the fact that every muscle in my body wants to run.
    When I feel the first sign of a panic attack, I’m supposed to go to a quiet place with dim lighting, where I can be alone and get my thoughts under control. My psychiatrist has burned
these instructions into my brain in a way that makes them second nature, but instead I duck around the corner out of sight and stand there, my back against the science building, my face pressed
into my hands, like I can achieve the same effect if I can only block out the glare of the sun. Eventually, I start walking through campus and let the path take me wherever it leads.
    It leads me to the theater.
    I’ve been here before for the annual talent show, the band recital, school plays—basically, the slew of events we’re forced to attend because they take place in lieu of class.
The five of us always ditch our assigned row and sit together in the back, snickering to ourselves and poking fun at the people on stage, until one of the teachers gets tired of shushing us and
sends us all outside, as if that’s punishment. We sit on the grass, talking and laughing, until everyone who had to stay and watch the entire performance finally files out.
    I hunker down in a seat in the center of the first row, because it’s actually darkest here, and I’m already feeling calmer, despite the fact that Alexis just force-ranked her best
friends and put me on the bottom. On the bright side, I no longer have to waste so much time wondering where I fit.
    The bell rings and I’m about to get up and head for class, when I hear voices. I crouch down lower, watching a group of people walk across the stage, talking to each other in hushed tones.
A guy’s voice says, “See you Thursday.”
    The last person emerges from behind the curtain. She’s about to disappear on the opposite side when she stops and takes a few deliberate steps backward. Resting her hands on her hips, she
scans the theater and sees me in the front row.
    “Hey.” She walks over and sits with her legs dangling over the edge of the stage.
    I narrow my eyes to get a better look at her in the dark. “Caroline?” I ask.
    “Wow. You remembered my name,” she says as she jumps down and collapses into the seat on my right. “I’m kind of surprised by that.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know. I guess I assumed you were the type of person I’d have to introduce myself to more than once before it would actually stick.”
    “Caroline Madsen,” I say, proving that I even remembered her last name.
    She looks a little impressed. “So did you see the rest of us?” she asks, pointing at the empty stage.
    “I guess. I saw a bunch of people go by. Why?”
    Her mouth turns down at the corners. “No reason. Just wondering.”
    But now she has me curious. And besides, this is a great distraction. “Who were they? Where were you coming from?”
    “Nowhere. We were just…looking around.” I start to press her for more details, but before I can say anything, she leans over, stopping a few inches short of my face.
“Have you been crying?”
    I sink down farther in my chair.
    “Guy trouble?” she asks.
    “No.”
    “Girl trouble?” She looks at me out of the corner of her eye.
    “No. Not like that. But, well…actually yeah, sort of.”
    “Let me guess.” She taps her finger against her temple. “Your locker-wrapping best friends are actually manipulative bitches?”
    I look up at her from