Fragments

9.0

9.0

The receptionist hands the phone out to me. She's stretched across the desk, waiting impatiently. "It's for you."

I take it and hope it's not my mother. "Hello?"

"Piper?"

"Adam?"

"I didn't know how else to reach you," he says on the other end. "You don't have a cell phone."

"I'm going to fix that," I laugh. The receptionist glares so I lose my smile and turn around. "So what's up?"

"Since the day you told me what happened, I've been ignoring Lionel." Adam pauses, unsure as whether or not to continue. I don't stop him. "But he came to my house. Wanted to know why I was avoiding him. So I confronted him, accused him, hit him, even. He denied it all, Piper. Everything."

I shouldn't feel surprised but I am. Why would he ever admit he did something awful to his best friend? He knows he would lose him.

"I don't believe him. None of it."

"Really?"

"Of course, Piper. Of course."

When I hang up the phone, the receptionist is still glaring at me. I muster up a quiet thank you and shuffle into the hall, quickly making my way back to my dorm and into my room. Sasha sits on my bed and looks up from my phone.

"Your mom?"

I shake my head. "Adam."

"Let's see if I'm keeping up...Adam as in the guy who beat the shit out of two people and got suspended?"

"And Lionel's friend." I scrunch my face up. "Or former friend."

I sit down on the bed beside Sasha and kick off my shoes, watching one fall to the floor and then the other. When I look up, Sasha's staring down at my comforter, looking completely uncomfortable.

"Is Adam, like, a good guy?"

Her words catch me off guard. "Because he was friends with Lionel?" I think about my response, about how it might affect her feelings. I think about my feelings, and only the friendship they feel for Adam. I decide to be honest. "He's short tempered, and has some bad habits, but I really think he is a good guy at heart. He's just been a bit misguided."

"It's why we're all here, right?" Sasha smiles. "I just can't get over his accent. Or his face. I really like looking at his face."