Ace of Spades Sneak Peek(57)

Want to hang after school?

My phone buzzes right away.

Sure, how’s your day going?—T

My lips stretch as I look down at the message. That’s something I really like about Terrell—he always answers.

It’s going … Trying to write and make this song better, but I can’t. How’s your day?

Buzz.

My ears are always available, so bring it with you when you come later. My day is pretty chill, didn’t feel like school so I’ve just been at home.—T

I wish I could not feel like school without being all guilty for wasting Ma’s money. But my attendance is perfect, even if I’m in the music practice room more than classes these days. One day off from school won’t ruin that, right?

I’ll bring it over with me, thanks:)

See you later:)—T

I switch off the keyboard, shove all my things into my bag, and rush out of the practice room and down to the school office.

“I’m ill and need to go home,” I tell the woman at the desk.

She raises an eyebrow at me. “Name?”

“Devon Richards.”

Her long red-nailed fingers tap away on her computer keyboard. She glances up at me, all haughty as she surveys me, then back down at the screen. She stops typing as the printer slides a form out.

The scratch of her signature permanently inking the page makes me cringe.

“Sign here, and you’re free to go.”

Senior privileges mean parents aren’t involved when it comes to calling in sick—which I don’t ever do, because for some reason I’m never sick—and when I used to try to pretend, Ma always knew I was faking. I sign the sheet, trying to push the guilt away.

I’m always in school, this is nothing.

I repeat it to myself over and over as I rush through the hallway, freeing myself from the prison behind the double doors and tall black metal gates.

I almost feel invincible.



* * *



I approach Terrell’s bright front door, with a pounding in my chest and sweaty palms. I’m high on adrenaline and happy to step away from music, give my mind a break. I step over some of the weeds tangling by the entrance and smooth my uniform before knocking.

I don’t need to overthink this. I don’t know why I’m overthinking this.

Soon enough, he answers, looking surprised and not exactly ecstatic.

“Hey, I was let out of school early so I just thought I’d come here,” I say.

Terrell looks at me, then looks back in his house.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be here for a few hours…” He pauses. “Now’s not really a good time.”

“Is everything okay?” I ask.

He nods. “Yeah, my sister is here. She’s not doing so well, so I’m just watching out for her while Ma’s at work.”

I see a black furball slink out of Terrell’s doorway. It meows, then walks past me. Terrell glances at it briefly, then looks back at me.

“Later?” he says, like his cat didn’t just run away.

I nod, feeling like an idiot.

Unexpectedly, his arms wrap around me in a hug, and then the door’s closed and I’m standing here, unsure of where to go now.

I walk away from his place, back toward Niveus—toward the side of town with unbroken picket fences, pretty front lawns, and happy families who never have to worry about their next meal or their college funds or their family being evicted.

I end up in the park Terrell and I went to. Dropping my bag on the ground, I climb the steps of the jungle gym and settle into the purple tube.

I close my eyes and at first all I see is darkness. I try to imagine waves, anything to calm me, make me forget everything that’s going on, and soon enough I’m swimming, but then I feel warm hands. I feel his hands around me again. Kissing me, holding me, warm and soft, skin against skin, water hugging us, lungs on fire as our lips finally connect—

Then I open my eyes and I’m met with the darkness of the tube, out of breath and disoriented.

It’s so quiet, I almost think I imagined it. The sound, a click. Like a photo being taken.

I sit up quickly, noticing a hooded figure in the corner of the park, turned away from me. I watch them closely as I start moving slowly out of the tube, trying to climb down without them hearing me. The figure turns a little and I see the edge of something covering their face. A mask?

My gaze drops down to their hands. They are flicking through pictures on a large camera. My breaths turn shallow. Aces?

I take a step forward, once again not realizing that there’s nothing but air in front of me, and I stumble off the jungle gym, landing smack on my knees. I groan loudly, which alerts the figure, and I hear them take off.

I get up quickly, dusting the dirt off my knees and running in the direction they went. But when I get through the park gates, I look out along the long road and no one is there.

There are no streets that they could have turned into that quickly, just rows and rows of giant gated houses.

It’s as though the figure vanished into thin air.





22


CHIAMAKA

Wednesday


It becomes apparent as Ward hands me my labor tools—a toothbrush and a bucket of soapy water—that Richards isn’t coming to detention. As soon as Ward leaves, I text him.