Six Little Secrets(24)

She grabbed the envelope, and the movement caused a few of the others to lose their focus.

‘Is that against the rules?’ Zoe asked.

‘The rules said I had two choices,’ Jackie said.

‘It wasn’t explicitly stated,’ Holly said, staring at the envelope.

‘Whatever,’ Jackie said. ‘I want to see my other option.’

She ripped open the envelope and tilted it over. A piece of metal fell to the desk as she pulled out the paper inside. It was sharp at one end, resembling a surgical knife, like the ones she saw on television.

‘What?’ she murmured to herself before opening the note.

Q picked up the knife from the table and spun it between his fingers. ‘What is this for?’

‘What do you think it’s for?’ Jackie read the note twice more before she looked at him. She reached out and snatched the tool from his hands.

The others were several steps behind if they couldn’t figure it out.

‘He wants you to cut yourself?’ Cece asked.

Ding! Ding! Cece was the winner.

The slip read, ‘Coward. No, that’s not the word. But I’ll give it to you. Only if you use the knife to carve the name. Here, I’ll give you all but one letter, B-O-J-A. I want it somewhere noticeable. Somewhere no one would miss it.’ Jackie crumpled up the paper in her hands, its words emblazoned on her brain.

‘I found a letter,’ Holly said, holding up a piece of paper. ‘C.’

‘Okay,’ Teddy said, writing down the C.

‘Add O to the list,’ Jackie said, eyeing the knife. She wasn’t going to do anything to her body with that thing. But she also knew these secrets weren’t meant to be out in the world, at least not if she wanted to keep her social life intact.

‘How do you know that?’ Zoe asked.

‘Trust me,’ Jackie said, swallowing hard. This was almost over.

Glancing over their shoulders to make sure Mr. Curtis was still in the office, they leaned over the table to get a better look at Teddy’s notebook.

‘I wish I had my phone,’ Cece said.

‘I’m sure that’s part of his plan,’ Teddy added. ‘But I know a way we can figure this out.’

Jackie glanced at the clock. Two minutes left. Where the hell did time go? Her insides fluttered. She grabbed the lipstick and twisted it open, ready to write whatever she needed to.

‘I was never good at these things,’ Holly said.

Jackie shot her a look. Not helpful, skank!

‘It’s a name,’ Q said.

‘What?’ Jackie asked.

‘J-A-C-O-B,’ Q said, pointing at each letter. ‘No other word uses all of these letters. At least not in English.’

That impulsive need to kiss Q came up again, and instead of that, she squeezed his hand. Surprisingly, he squeezed back.

‘I need a reflective surface,’ Jackie said.

‘I have a mirror,’ Cece said, reaching into her bag.

Jackie glanced at the clock. One minute left. She snapped her fingers, a twitch she was unable to shake.

When Cece handed her the flip mirror, Jackie opened it and poised the lipstick and started spelling out the letters. Even in the stressful circumstances, she managed to keep the tremor in her hand at bay while she wrote. When she finished, she gave back the mirror to Cece and stared at the clock.

Everyone was silent as the minute hand clicked over to the ending time.

Jackie held her breath, looking around at the others. But nothing happened. The television didn’t turn on, and the intercom remained silent. With each passing second, hope fluttered in her chest.

Had she beaten this person at his own game?

And then, the itching started.





CHAPTER TWELVE




ZOE



Saturday


‘What’s wrong?’ Zoe asked.

Jackie’s breathing was strange, stilted as if she were having trouble drawing oxygen into her lungs.

‘Oh my god!’ Jackie said, squeezing her eyes shut and bowing her head. She held her head in both hands and let out a groan.

Zoe glanced over her shoulder at Mr. Curtis. They couldn’t afford to have him come out there, especially with someone’s name written on Jackie’s face. There was no explanation for that. If he thought they were distracting each other, he might separate them, and they needed each other. Zoe never thought she’d care about anyone in this room, but they were all going through this. And when her turn came around, she wanted to rely on them as much as they relied on her.

Mr. Curtis’ mood had deteriorated in the time since detention started. They couldn’t risk him finding out anything about what was going on.

‘Jackie?’ Q asked.

Jackie lifted her head. The skin around the lipstick had turned an angry shade of red, and tiny bumps spread across her forehead.

‘Gross!’ Cece said.

Jackie ground her teeth, but she didn’t come out with a snarky remark, though Zoe knew it was on the tip of her tongue.

‘I’m allergic to most makeup brands,’ Jackie said, her eyes welling with tears. Zoe had never seen the cheerleader so vulnerable. ‘I have to use hypoallergenic.’

Q grabbed the lipstick and read the side of it. ‘It says hypoallergenic.’