Hunted Predators✔️

CHAPTER FIVE

"Hello?" Valerie's voice is cracked and muffled over the payphone. And if Katherine wasn't also hispanic, the payphone combined with Valerie's accent would have made her impossible to understand.

"Hey. It's Katherine." A car horn blares in the background.

"Where are you?"

Katherine glances around the city block. A month infested lamp post is the only source of light, and it dimly illuminates the small circle of land around her. "I just needed some fresh air." The argument with Darko plays over in her head, ending with her running away. Like a coward.

"Are there no trees at Mabry?"

"I'm at a bus stop to the airport."

"Katherine!"

"I know! I'm sorry."

For a second, all she hears is static. Then: "I heard about the kid on the field trip."

"Josh."

"Right. Look, only a few weeks have passed. Give it time. Things will go back to normal. What happened was terrible, but you can't blame the school."

"Of course not," Katherine snaps. She remembers standing in the shower, watching pink water wash down the drain. She remembers the stains on her uniform that she couldn't scrub away. "What possible reason is there to blame the school for something that happened on their field trip, to their students?"

"It was a freak accident."

"It's too much."

"You're not making any sense. When has kids dying in a random act of violence been something new? When there was a shooting at the neighboring high school last year, yeah, it was terrible and awful, and we still went to school the next day. Why is it scaring you now? Because they're rich?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Katherine opens her mouth. Then closes it. "Nothing, Val."

"Okay."

Katherine swallows the lump in her throat. "Okay."

"Hey, how's things going with Rayna? How much did she hear?"

"Nothing. She heard nothing."

"Really? That's great. And I'm sure you can figure the rest of this stuff out, you always do."

"Yeah, I-" Someone calls Valerie's name in the background. "Shoot. Look, I gotta go."

"Okay. Well-"

The line goes dead.

...

The stars glow dimly up ahead as Katherine trudges back across campus. She considers throwing her middle finger up in the air for any oh so clever boys that may be watching, but in the end, can't summon the energy to bother. Katherine is halfway back to her room only to remember the party. She exhales and changes course, for Adelaide Whicker's room.

She knocks on the window, but there's no response, so she figures Adelaide and her roommate are sleeping. Only after Katherine has thrown open the window and swung her leg into her room does she notice that Adealide is sleeping with the wrong roommate.

That's right. Sleeping.

While the girls are covered in Darcy's bed sheets, Adelaide's chest is not. Katherine squeals and covers her eyes, comprising her balance so she crashes face first on the floor. Darcy and Adelaide startle and jerk apart at the noise. They turn to stare at Katherine splayed on the carpet, their mouths falling open in unison.