The Thrashers(13)

Jodi blinked at her, wondering if she understood her. “Here? What do you mean?”

Paige didn’t say anything for a second. Jodi watched her run her fingertips over her lips as she thought about something.

Trying to distract her, Jodi asked, “Zack invited us over later. Did you want to go?”

“Yeah,” Paige said absently. She jerked to face Jodi. “Have you gotten any weird texts?”

Jodi felt her heartbeat in her fingertips. “Yeah. On Friday, just before the cops came.”

Paige rubbed her sternum with the palm of her hand. “Can I see the number?”

Jodi grabbed her phone. Paige typed in the number into her phone when Jodi read it out, and as she hit the final seven, Jodi watched her take a shaking breath.

“What is it?”

Paige chewed on her nail, staring at her phone. “I got a text last month from that same number.”

Jodi swallowed. She kept her voice calm as she asked, “What did it say?”

“‘Are you having a nice summer?’ I thought it was a wrong number, obviously.”

“Maybe it’s someone who changed their number and forgot to let us know,” Jodi said.

Paige nodded slowly, staring out the side window at the busy boulevard. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Jodi’s phone buzzed. There, under her last text, appeared the words:

This one will look great on you, and a link to an auburn brown hair dye.

Jodi’s heart skipped. Paige read the text upside down, and her breath caught on a gasp.

Paige stood from the booth suddenly, her eyes whipping around the shop. Jodi looked, too. Only three other people inside, and none of them familiar.

Jodi stared at the message. “How did—”

“We have to go,” Paige interrupted, her voice thin. “She’s—Let’s go.”

Before Jodi could ask her what she meant, Paige was out of the booth and zipping toward the door. Jodi grabbed her things and tried to keep up. Instead of heading to the car, Paige moved quickly down the sidewalk, eyes wild.

“Where are you going?” Jodi asked, her short legs pumping to match her pace.

“Away. Someone was watching us. She was watching us—”

“Paige, stop!” Jodi grabbed her arm and dragged her under the awning for a doctor’s office. “Stop! Just take a breath!”

“I can’t!” Her eyes were wild. “I can’t breathe, Jodi. Every morning, I wake up and it feels like something is pressing on my chest. I went to my doctor. I don’t have asthma. I tried Lucy’s inhaler, and it doesn’t help!” Tears streamed down her cheeks, and Jodi’s limbs were frozen as she watched strong, brilliant Paige Montgomery sob like a child. “It feels—it feels like she’s there, Jodi. Like I wake up and she’s there. With me. She’s leaning on me, or sitting on me”—a rattling gasp—“watching me.”

Jodi’s fingertips pressed into Paige’s arms, anchoring her. “Okay. Okay, I get it. You’re freaked out. But Paige, the texts aren’t from her. Someone is messing with us.”

Jodi pulled out her phone to look at the text again. As Paige’s mascara smeared and her breath caught, anger boiled in Jodi’s gut. She opened the contact and hit the call button.

It rang and rang. After ten rings, Jodi gave up, frowning.

Paige was taking huge calming breaths and blowing them out slowly, leaning against the dirty brick wall.

“Let’s go home. Or go get some coffee or something.”

“No,” Paige whined. “Your hair dye.”

“I don’t care about that. And I don’t think we should be going anywhere near that beauty supply store today. Not if someone is watching us.”

Paige nodded and, in a flash, she pulled Jodi into a tight hug. “Don’t tell anyone, okay? About my chest?” she whispered.

Jodi’s skin warmed. She was trusted—given this moment to hold, just for the two of them.

“Of course.”



* * *



Paige drove them over to Zack’s after, and by the time they punched in the gate code and coasted down the driveway, Jodi could tell Paige had buried her breakdown deep.

The Thrashers lived in one of those houses that you couldn’t really believe existed outside of television. There was a fountain in front, a pool out back, and six bedrooms in between. Paige parked in the circular driveway, and they walked around to the side door.

Zack was at the kitchen island with his tutor, a UC Davis student who disliked interruptions, especially when they were Jodi. They knocked on the glass, and Zack was all too happy to jump up from the counter and let them in. The tutor glared at them.

“Hi, Peter Kim!” Paige said with a cheery wave. Peter’s jaw twitched.

“I didn’t know you had tutoring today,” Jodi said, sliding the door closed behind her.

“Neither did I. Dad wants me to do three times a week if I still can’t pass chemistry after the summer session.”

“Which doesn’t seem likely,” Peter said flatly, turning pages in the textbook.

Zack rolled his eyes. “I’ll be done in half an hour. Go hang by the pool. Julian’s out there.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Jodi said drily.

“Can I grab one of Katherine’s swimsuits?” Paige said, already heading toward the stairs for Zack’s older sister’s room.