Ever After (East Raven Academy Book 1)(35)

Still, my heart beats faster when I think about talking to him later tonight. I’m going to tell him the truth. It could be the best, or worst, decision of my life.





9pm.





The moment of truth.





Everybody is hanging out in the student lounge. I’m sitting by Teagan as she talks to a sophomore girl I’ve never met before, but I’m not paying attention to their conversation because I am too nervous.

When the football game ended, Estaine found me in the stands, told me not to run away tonight, that he was going to talk to me, and he told me to meet him here. And so, I’m waiting for him to arrive.

I’ve tried to imagine how this conversation is going to go. In my head, it’s gone a lot of different ways, both good and bad. The bad being, he doesn’t believe me when I tell him the truth. Why should he believe me? I’ve lied so many times to him, how can he even trust that I’m telling the truth? To be honest, if I were in his shoes, I’m not sure I would believe me. But I hope he does. I so hope he does, because I need somebody on my side. Somebody besides Uncle Matty and Jake. And technically, they’re being paid to be on my side.

I know that none of this is my fault. It’s not even my dad’s fault.

Stupid terrorists.

The door opens, and my heart rate accelerates as I watch Estaine walk through the door.

This is it.

The moment of truth.

I watch him look around the room until his eyes land on me. He starts making his way over and I swallow hard. When he reaches me, he doesn’t say a word. He just grabs my hand and pulls me from the crowded room. I glance back at Teagan as we walk through the door, and she is smiling at me.

I am pulled through the door, but Estaine still doesn’t say a word. He just keeps walking, holding my wrist, and he pulls me farther and farther away from the student center, until I can’t even see the building anymore. Then he stops and looks at me.

“Are you ready to tell me the truth?” he asks.

I nod.

“Good,” he says, running a hand through his hair.

I walk over towards a nearby tree and take a seat. I pat the ground beside me. “This might take a while.”

He walks over and sits beside me. I pull my knees against my chest and take a deep breath, trying to decide how to tell him.

“First thing you should know is that what I am about to tell you is dangerous, and you can’t tell anybody,” I say. “If you do, you could be in danger, along with me and everybody at this school.”

“That sounds scary, Phoenix,” Estaine says.

“It is. So, I need you to promise,” I say.

He nods. “Okay. I promise.”

That’s all the encouragement I need.

“I’m not Phoenix Underwood,” I say. “I am Phoenix Black and my father is Tommy Black. I was sent here after being kidnapped by a group of terrorists. It sounds scary, I know. But they didn’t have me long before the secret service rescued me. To be honest, for that whole time, I was passed out from the drugs they gave me, and didn’t even know I was kidnapped until they told me, when I woke up in the hospital the next day.”

“Tommy Black... secret service,” he says, I guess trying to wrap his head around it. “Wow. Your dad is... congress...”

“Yeah,” I say. “And he’s alive. So is my mom. And Uncle Matty isn’t really my uncle. Jake isn’t my cousin. They’re actually secret service agents. They’re living on campus. When I said I had a family emergency, it was them.”

“I don’t know what to say. This is all just... crazy.”

“You know the shooting that happened at that Texas school?”

He nods.

“They were looking for me. The secret service left some false trails, and it lead them to that school,” I say. “It’s my fault those people are dead.”

Estaine stays quite for a moment. So long that I think I’ve completely scared him away. Truthfully, I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to be my friend. Being my friend could, potentially, be dangerous, and the last thing I want to do is put anybody at East Raven Academy in danger.

“You know it’s not actually you’re fault, right?” Estaine asks.

“In theory.”

He scoots close to me, until our shoulders are touching. “Phoenix, you’re in an impossible situation. None of this is your fault.”

“So, you believe me?” I ask.

“Why would I not believe you?”

“Because I’ve been lying so much.”

“I know you’re not lying now,” he says. “Despite what you may think, you’re actually not a good liar.”

“Trust me, I know I’m not.”

“It makes so much sense now. All of it. Why you’ve been avoiding me, why you reacted the way you did when I saw your dad was calling,” he says. “I was fully prepared to come out here and end up hating you.”

“I was trying to prepare for you to hate me,” I say. “But I don’t want you to hate me.”

“I don’t,” he says. “I feel like I know the real you now, and I really like the real you.”

“So we can still be friends?” I ask.