Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter Fifty-One

With everyone gathered in the hall trying to find out what was going on outside, the girls' washroom was empty. I let the breath I'd held walking through the halls out. My shoulders slumped, and I stepped towards the wall of mirrors above the three sinks in front of me, jumping when someone banged against the door. Pausing to look back, once again holding my breath, I waited, but nobody entered.

A minute passed. When still no one interrupted, I made my way to stand in front of the mirrors with my head hanging. Taking a deep breath in, counting to four, and then exhaling, I looked up, confirming that I looked worse than I had imagined when everyone I passed had stared. Covered completely along one side, with smears and handprints all over my face and in my hair, I looked like a walking contrast of good vs. bad. The angel and devil that sat on shoulders—or like I'd gone to a slaughter and survived.

Darting into a stall, I emptied my stomach, but it didn't help. The taste of tears and blood mixed was still strong on my tongue, and I felt as empty as I had since the moment David's hand fell limp to the ground. Sitting back from the toilet bowl, I slowly got to my feet and backtracked to the sink. I pulled out a handful of paper towel from the dispenser and folded it, turning on the faucet. But when I held it up to wash away the blood on my face, all I could see were the stains on my hands.

The door to the bathroom opened and then closed.

Pausing, I watched in the mirror as the door opened again, never enough to form a crack, and then closed. Shaking my head, I dropped the paper towel and turned the water on cold, bending at the waist to splash it on my face. The door opened and closed again, and I ignored it, knowing that now the shock was wearing off, the curiosity began seeping in as the girls from the hallway kept peeking inside to get a look at the blood-soaked student. Soon there'd be questions, and the only way to avoid that was to hurry.

With beads of water dripping from my face, mixing with silent tears, I squirted soap from the dispenser into my hands, and began to scrub. The water in the sink swirled, diluted from crimson to pink as it drained away. But all that remained of David still stained my hands. I bent over farther, biting my cheek, and started to use my nails. It was my fault. How would I ever scrub that away? Even if I scraped down to bone, it would never be gone.

David is dead because of me.

Another head poked through the door, the curious girl nearly landing on her face as someone swung it wide from behind her. I flinched, scared of the bombardment. But the girl from behind stepped through, turning her back to me so she could shoo everyone else away. The deadbolt slid home as soon as the door was shut, and Suzie turned to face me, her back resting on the door.

Why hadn't I thought of that?

I looked up, just for a moment, and held her gaze.

Why would she be here? Of all the girls to keep the others away, she was the best choice—everyone was too scared to argue. But with our history... Shaking my head, I looked away, once again concentrating on scratching away the dried, crusted mounds of blood. David said he died for me. His blood was on my hands. I'd never be able to scrub that away, which only made me rub harder.

Suzie stood, silent, her eyes scrutinizing me from head-to-toe as though trying to determine how concerned she needed to be. But after a few minutes, she pushed off the door and stomped her way across the bathroom, her mouth pinched into a thin line. "Stop," she said, and reached out to take my hands. She turned off the faucet and turned me to face her. "Alyssa, your hands are bleeding."

I looked down and saw the scratches my nails had dug. The tears that I'd held onto for so long outside wouldn't stop falling. The sting of paper towel being pressed against the open wounds almost felt like relief, giving me something other than David to concentrate on.

Swallowing, I nodded. "I didn't mean to—"

"I know," she said, and pulled me into a hug, smoothing back my hair.

My hands remained limp at my sides, and I wasn't sure how I should react. If only Tina could see us. I don't know if she'd laugh or be mad. After how mean Suzie was to us, how could I be accepting? But then, Tina didn't know her like I did. She used to be good, the best friend I wish I'd never lost. And considering what happened with Tina and now with David... It didn't matter what she thought right now.

Suzie was here.

Tina was gone, and even though I wanted to be alone, it was the last thing I should be doing.

Who else could work crowd control?

Suzie pushed me lightly away, just far enough so that she could grasp my shoulders and meet my eyes. "Where's your bag? Your keys?"

"In my locker."

"What's the combination?"

"Why?" I eyed the phone in her hand.

She waved it in the air and said, "Deryk is grabbing your stuff while we sneak out there." She pointed to the small window in the room. "He'll take us to your place and one of your parents can come back for your car."

"But..." I shook my head and stepped back, narrowing my eyes. "Why are you here? Do you even know what happened?" Would she care?

She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to say something nasty, but then sighed. Her shoulders slumped, and she said, "I know that someone died, and you didn't. You're covered in blood and David isn't here. Topped with the fact that you were asking me about him earlier and the cops let you leave?" Waving her hand in front of her, she rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to go with deduction here and assume the worst: David is dead.

"But," she said, raising her finger to keep me from commenting when I opened my mouth. "Even if I'm wrong, something happened, and you are covered in blood, so I'm taking you home. You can tell me what went down if you want, but you don't have to. It's totally your call. But you can't stay here, okay? Let's go."

She looked like it was the obvious thing to do, but I couldn't understand. For the last year we'd barely spoken, and when we did, it was just to trade insults. One friendly conversation—two if her telling me after gym class that she saw David counted—didn't make us friends again. Suzie had no reason to watch out for me, but this girl? This was the girl who used to be my best friend.

Was it worth seeing if this was the start of a renewed friendship?

I nodded to the window. "We won't fit."

"Trust me," she said, winking. "The window is large enough."

"Two, six, and nineteen. My combination is two, six..." Sighing, I looked down to the floor and back to Suzie. "Nineteen."

"Got it." Her hands flew across her phone and I jumped as she snapped it shut. She winced at my reaction and waved it in the air before tucking it into the back pocket of her jeans while backing up towards the window. "Sorry. Deryk's heading to your locker now."

"Thanks."

"Yeah, well, Tina isn't here, and you can't be alone," she said, and I couldn't tell if that was an excuse or the only reason she was helping me.

I didn't want to ask.

Less than a minute later she was helping me up onto the ledge and out into the field on the left-hand-side of the school, directly opposite where I hoped David's body was no longer present.

With my head and shoulder out the window, I paused just long enough to say, "David was murdered. He died so I could live."