RUN!

22. Music to Watch Boys

Song: Music to watch boys to by Lana Del Rey

"What are you gonna do about it?" Lee asks the moment we step out of school.

"What? Find a girl?"

"No, I mean the plan. You didn't tell Sandra everything did you?" He blinks at me.

"Of course not. I didn't even talk to Sandra."

"Then how are we gonna pull this off? Damien could easily go ask her for confirmation."

"Sandra's only rule is secrecy. The article of every month is meant to be a surprise both the the person it's about and every other student. She would never agree or disagree to Damien's claims."

"What if he simply asks her whether or not she asked you to do anything?"

"He wouldn't do that."

"Your trust in both of them is amazing."

The car park is in sight now.

"I don't trust Damien."

"I get he's our friend but at this point- wait you don't trust him?"

"No. Come on, let's get in." I open the door to my car and it's only when we're both strapped in that Lee gives me the you were saying look.

"I don't trust Damien, I'm relying on mind games to keep him from asking Sandra. Whether he knows it or not, Damien relies on us more than he should. From the day he joined our school, he's looked up to us for acceptance. Not to be cocky but this is what I'm relying on. Sandra is not his friend, she's my friend. If he goes to ask any questions she will tell me by default and then he'll appear to be distrusting, which he would be if he took that course."

"I get what you mean. Then he'd lose face over all."

"Yeah. Plus...Avery's phone was stolen yesterday."

"Shit."

We stay motion less for a moment until I turn on my engine and begin to reverse.

"The only people who knew about that phone were you, Reyna and Damien."

"How did he know?"

"He was there when I found it but I never said whose phone it was."

"Unless he already knew Avery's phone looked like."

"But why would he want to take it?"

"That would only mean he has something to hide."

"I need to find out where he was yesterday. It was such a neat job, the person who did knew exactly where I kept my things."

"Wait, if Damien's on our suspect list now shouldn't we have someone watching him? I mean, we can't completely rely on everything he tells us about Declan."

"We won't. I plan on getting myself another spy."

"Who?"

"Jordan."

||

Jordan and I first met in Freshman year. We hit off at the first conversation, we were extremely similar and planned on doing the same things; joining Model UN, campaigning for Class President, wanting to become lawyers. Yeah, it was like I'd found a parallel me. But we were never friends either. It's hard to explain, we joined different friend groups and didn't try to keep whatever we had alive. Like I said, we are alike, and so we both know that friendships usually take too much of our time. She already had hers and I had mine, there was no point in trying to add another.