Grown(69)

“OMG! What happened?”

“They told him that I was still seeing Jay and lying about it. My dad flipped and took me out of Parkwood. Said he wasn’t paying all this money to send me to school to be some slut for a college kid.”

Tears fill her eyes. She wipes them on her hoodie.

“Gab, I’m so sorry.”

She waves her hand. “It’s fine. Anyway, I kept quiet, because I didn’t want those assholes to fuck with my life any more than they did. Changed my number and promised to keep my mouth shut. Then I saw you on the news. The way that lady attacked you . . . felt like it was all my fault. If I never convinced you to audition . . . you would’ve never met that monster.”

“It’s not your fault. None of it!”

She takes a deep breath. “Still, I couldn’t let you think . . . you were alone.”

“Thanks.”

She nods as another question hits me.

“Hey, how’d you know where to find me?”

“That open letter! I reached out to them, told them everything. They said that you might come, so I hid outside to make sure you weren’t followed.”

“Followed?”

“They know they did wrong, Chant. They wouldn’t be trying this hard to shut me up if they didn’t.”

Gabriela looks like she hasn’t slept in days. Maybe months. She coughs out a laugh. “Jay told me you came by his job.”

“Yeah, he played it off good,” I chuckle.

“He was just trying to protect me. That guy, I swear it’s stupid the way he loves me.”

A tinge of jealousy bites my stomach. “I wish . . .”

“Don’t say it. He wasn’t worth it. He tried to separate us! All that ‘Bright Eyes’ bullshit . . .”

I blink. “What did you say?”

She cocks her head to the side. “What?”

A fog lifts and sharp clarity crashes into me. I press into the door.

“You’re not real.”

“What?”

“Oh God,” I mumble. “Oh God!”

I swing open the door, stumbling away from the car.

“Chant! Where are you going?”

My thoughts spin counter clockwise.

Gab isn’t real. There is no Gab. I’m imagining this. I’m losing it just like Grandma. Why now? Why?

A hand grabs my hoodie, yanking me back.

“Don’t touch me,” I scream, swinging. “Get off me!”

“The hell? What’s gotten into you?”

Gab yokes my sleeve, eyes scanning the street. “Where are you going? Get back in the car! What if someone sees you?”

Even dressed down, Gab is gorgeous. Somehow, my mind made up the very opposite of myself. Everything I feared that I’m not.

I shove her away, crying. “You’re not real!”

“What are you talking about? Of course I’m real!”

“No one knew Korey called me Bright Eyes. I never told anyone that! Not even you.”

Gab frowns, flabbergasted, then lets out a chuckle before pinching my arm with a twist.

“Ow,” I shriek. “What the fuck?”

“Is that real enough for you?”

The sting burns. But can people who imagine other people FEEL them?

Gab measures my silence, rolling her eyes. “Oh my God! Are you serious? Korey called all his girls Bright Eyes. It said so in that report about Candy. Didn’t you read it?”

My knees jerk to flee but then I remember the woman who tried to kill me onstage. The wig, the way she called me Bright Eyes . . . she was one of us, another girl.

Damn, was anything we had real?

She shakes her head. “What’s gotten into you?”

“The cops told me . . . they said . . .”

“And you believed them?”

My shoulders slump. If Gab is real . . . that means everything that happened was real. He took me from my family and friends, he took my freedom, he took my heart, he took my songs! Hot anger flashes through me.

“I didn’t kill Korey,” I say, hard. “You believe me, right?”

“Of course!”

“OK. I have an idea. But I’m going to need your help. And your car.”

She smirks. “As long as I don’t get killed, I’m down for whatever.”





Chapter 86


Group Chat




W&W Squad (w/o the Jones sisters)

Aisha: Y’all seen that open letter? Signed by the victims.

Sean: So it wasn’t just Enchanted? There were others.

Aisha: Has anyone heard from her yet?

Malika: No.

Sean: Nah.

Aisha: Her parents are freaking out. I can’t believe she ran away.

Sean: I don’t know. What if she didn’t run away? There’s some loyal fans out there. She could’ve been kidnapped.

Aisha: I feel awful.

Sean: Me too.

Malika: I don’t. She murdered Korey Fields. We have a murderer in our damn Will and Willow chapter! Everyone is gonna know about us.

Sean: It ain’t about US or you. You’d murder him too if he touched you. Wouldn’t you?

Aisha: Did you actually READ that open letter? We gotta help her.