INSTALOVE

Chapter 39: A Knock at the Door

Chapter 39: A Knock at the Door

M A D D O X

The hinges of my dorm-room door groan as I swing it open. Time to face the firing squad... But it's not any of the faces I expected to see on the other side.

Not Dr. Carlyle.

Not the police.

Instead, I'm face to face with a blond, blue-eyed golden boy in a Metallica t-shirt and ripped jeans. He looks different from the last time I saw him, with his formerly shoulder-length hair cut to a short, spiky crop. But I could recognize him purely from his outfit. His signature style hasn't changed since his summer program glory days. No one else would dare dress so casually on this campus. No one but the Winthrop Academy Summer Maker Program's most famous alum.

"Emerson," I greet him crisply. "What are you doing here?"

He peers past me over my shoulder, his eyes scanning around my room, but he doesn't enter. "Hey man, have you seen my sister?"

"Reese? Why would Reese be—"

"She's not in her room. Some girl named... I forget. Something with an M..."

"Miranda?" I supply.

"Could be."

"Was she wearing a gray wool cap?"

"Yeah." He gives a hasty shrug, making a noise in the back of his throat to signal the irrelevance of this entire line of conversation. "Sure, Miranda. Whatever. Some girl lurking around outside. She told me Reese might have been headed over here."

I can't help but look at him askance. Outside? That's weird. Why would either of those girls—Reese or M—be anywhere besides their own rooms. Aren't we all supposed to be on lockdown?

Emerson cranes to see past me. I step back and sweep my arm to indicate the empty state of my dorm room. "No, I haven't seen her. Why would Reese come here—"

"Looking for what's-her-name," Emerson mumbles, clearing his throat. "The new girl. Lowercase." His eyes shift back and forth. He slouches against my doorframe and swipes his hand across his forehead, mopping away the sweat that beads at his hairline. "I take it you haven't seen Lowercase either?"

"Earlier," I tell him. "At Dr. C's office for her interview. Why? What's going on?"

Emerson scowls. He gestures for me to come close and drops his voice so low I can barely hear him. "I'm here to pick up Reese. The school was going to put her on a 72-hour psych hold if someone from the family didn't take her."

"A psych hold?" That sounds like a major over-reaction... But then again, Reese did seem pretty shaken up the last time I saw her, right after we got the news that Eleanor's body had been found. The two of them might have fought sometimes, but Reese loved Eleanor like a sister. I've never seen her that upset before. Beyond words. Beyond tears. Just a broken shell, staring at the ground, as if she couldn't even process what was happening around her. "Are they worried she might try to hurt herself?"

Reese's brother nods. He looks sideways down the hall to make sure there's no one else within earshot. "A danger to herself... or others."

I don't miss his emphasis on the last word of that sentence. My mouth forms an 'O' as his meaning hangs in the air.

A danger to... me?

I fold my arms across my chest. Something in the way Emerson looks at me makes me feel uneasy. Not that I'm alarmed, really. What could Reese possibly do to me? She's solidly built for a girl I suppose, and she definitely has a temper, but I'm pretty sure I could take her in a fight.