Chapter 154: Chapter 154 - We Should Talk Soon
For half a second, neither of them moved.
Then Roxie shoved both hands against Zac’s chest. "Go."
Zac looked over her shoulder. "Where?"
"Anywhere that is away from my murder friend."
"We can tell her."
"Zac."
He gave her one quick look, still breathing hard from the kiss, then slipped around the other side of the equipment shed.
Roxie pulled at the bottom of her hoodie and tried to fix her hair with both hands.
It was useless.
Her mouth still felt warm. Her cheeks were hot. Her heart was beating too fast for someone who had supposedly been throwing away marshmallow bags.
Karen rounded the corner a second later.
She stopped.
Her eyes went from Roxie’s face, to her hoodie, to the shed, then to the empty space around them.
Roxie held up the empty marshmallow bag. "Trash."
Karen stared at her.
Roxie stared back.
The noise from the bonfire carried over from the field, music, laughter, and someone shouting about raffle tickets, but behind the bleachers it felt too quiet.
Karen took one slow step closer. "Where’s Prescott?"
Roxie’s stomach dipped.
She kept her face blank. "Why would I know?"
Karen’s eyebrows rose. "That was terrible."
"What?"
"That answer. You sounded guilty before the sentence even finished."
"I always sound guilty. It’s my face."
"No, your face usually looks like you’re judging people. Right now, it looks like you committed a varsity level crime."
Roxie looked past her. "I threw away a bag."
Karen looked at the bag.
Then at the trash can beside the bleachers.
Then at Roxie again.
"This one?" Karen asked.
Roxie followed her gaze.
The trash can was five feet away.
Damn it.
Karen smiled without humor. "The far trash can, huh?"
Roxie lowered the bag slowly. "I had plans."
"Clearly."
"Karen."
"Roxie."
They looked at each other.
Roxie could lie.
She was good at lying when she had to be. She could say she needed air. She could say she got dizzy. She could say she was avoiding Kendall, avoiding the crowd, avoiding the whole stupid fundraiser.
Karen might even let her.
That was the problem.
Karen would let her, but she would know.
Roxie exhaled through her nose. "I’ll tell you."
Karen’s expression sharpened.
Roxie looked away for a second, then back. "Just not yet."
Karen said nothing.
That was worse than yelling.
Roxie gripped the marshmallow bag tighter. "I mean it."
Karen’s jaw shifted.
For a second, Roxie thought she would push. Karen was good at pushing. Karen could smell a secret and start digging with both hands.
Instead, she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah," Karen said. "Because secret disasters always improve with time."
Roxie almost smiled.
Karen pointed at her hair. "Fix that before Angela sees it and starts praying for a repeat performance from her boyfriend."
Roxie’s hand flew to the back of her head. "Is it bad?"
"It is suspicious."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the answer you deserve."
Karen turned and started walking back toward the booth.
Roxie followed, still trying to smooth her hair.
Halfway back, Karen glanced over her shoulder. "And Roxie?"
"What?"
"If whatever this is hurts you, I’m going to be extremely difficult."
Roxie swallowed.
Karen faced forward again like she had said nothing important.
They returned to the hot chocolate booth together.
Angela looked up from the cash box.
Then she looked at Roxie’s hair.
Then at Karen’s face.
Then back at Roxie.
"Oh," Angela said.
Roxie grabbed the ladle. "No."
Angela blinked too innocently. "I didn’t say anything."
"You said oh."
"That is barely a word."
"It was a judgmental oh."
Angela’s eyes moved over Roxie’s face again. "Are you okay?"
Roxie poured hot chocolate into a cup. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
"Because your hair looks stressed," Karen said.
"My hair is cold."
"Your hair was kissed."
Roxie almost spilled the hot chocolate.
Angela’s mouth opened slightly.
Karen reached into the marshmallow bag on the table, popped one into her mouth, and looked pleased with herself.
Roxie set the cup down harder than necessary. "I hate both of you."
"That means yes," Karen said.
"It means I hate both of you."
Angela tried to hide her smile by counting money.
Roxie focused on the booth.
Cups.
Lids.
Marshmallows.
Change.
Normal things.
Across the field, Zac returned to the football table from the opposite direction.
Smooth enough that most people would miss it.
Roxie saw.
Karen saw.
Angela probably saw too, because Angela was quiet in that careful way she got when she was putting pieces together.
Zac grabbed his Sharpie from Mason, who said something that made Zac shove his shoulder. Then Zac signed another poster for a kid and acted like he had been there the whole time.
Roxie kept her eyes on the hot chocolate.
For a while, the night moved again.
Students came for drinks. Parents dropped bills into the donation jar. Caleb came back once to hand Angela an extra pack of napkins because the booth was running low. Karen watched him like he was still on probation, but she said thank you, which was basically a parade coming from her.
Kendall argued with a Student Council girl about the placement of the Road to State shirts. Coach Miller told two freshmen to stop tossing marshmallows into the fire. The raffle table announced a winner, and half the field booed because a teacher won the bakery basket.
Roxie started to relax.
A little.
Then she saw her.
Miranda Prescott stood near the booster table in a cream coat and dark jeans, polished enough to make the whole field look messy around her. Her hair was smooth. Her smile was calm. She held a paper cup in one hand but had not taken a drink from it.
Roxie had seen Zac’s mother before, but never this close and never without Zac beside her.
Miranda looked like the kind of woman who noticed things before anyone admitted they had happened.
Her eyes moved across the field.
The football table.
The bleachers.
The hot chocolate booth.
Zac.
Roxie.
Then back to Zac.
Roxie’s grip tightened around the ladle. She almost hid behind the counter.
Angela followed her gaze. "Who is that?"
Karen looked too. "Rich mom energy."
Roxie kept her voice flat. "Zac’s mom."
Karen’s eyebrows lifted. "Oh."
That was safe enough.
Miranda said something to another parent, smiled politely, then started walking toward the booth.
Roxie’s stomach went tight.
She could handle school girls whispering. She could handle Kendall with a clipboard. She could handle Karen almost catching her behind a shed.
Zac’s mother walking toward her with that calm face felt worse.
Miranda stopped in front of the booth.
Angela straightened automatically.
Karen stared at her with open suspicion.
Roxie forced her hand to move.
"Hot chocolate?" Roxie asked.
Miranda smiled. "Please."
Her voice was polite.
That somehow made it worse.
Roxie picked up a cup and filled it. "Marshmallows?"
"Just a few."
Roxie added them and placed the lid on carefully.
Miranda took the cup, then looked directly at the name tag sticker on Roxie’s donation apron.
"Roxxane, right?"
Roxie stiffened.
Adults only used her full name when they wanted something, when they were correcting her, or when they were pretending they did not already know who she was.
"Yes."
Miranda’s smile stayed in place. "Zac mentioned you."
Roxie felt Karen’s head turn.
Angela went very still beside the cash box.
Roxie kept her face blank. "He did?"
"Briefly." Miranda set a folded bill near the donation jar instead of handing it to Angela. "You gave everyone quite a scare at the pep rally."
Roxie’s fingers curled under the edge of the table.
"I’m fine now."
Miranda looked at her for a second too long.
"I’m sure."
Nothing about her tone changed.
That was what made Roxie’s skin tighten.
Miranda’s eyes moved toward the football table.
Zac was laughing at something Mason said, but his gaze kept cutting toward the booth. He was trying to act normal and failing if someone knew what to look for.
Miranda knew.
Roxie felt it before she proved it.
Miranda looked back at her.
"Smart girls usually are," Miranda said.
Roxie’s mouth went dry.
Karen shifted beside her. "That supposed to mean something?"
Angela’s eyes widened.
Roxie glanced at Karen fast.
Miranda looked at Karen, still pleasant. "It means I’m glad she’s recovered."
Karen’s face said she believed exactly none of that.
Roxie forced herself to pick up the next cup, even though no one else was in line. "Thank you."
Miranda lifted her hot chocolate.
"Enjoy the night, Roxxane."
She leaned slightly closer.
Her smile stayed soft enough for anyone watching to think the conversation was kind.
"We should speak soon."
Roxie felt the words settle cold in her stomach.
Miranda stepped back, turned, and walked away.
Roxie watched her go.
Across the field, Zac looked over and saw his mother leaving the booth.
His face changed.
Roxie did not move.
Karen’s voice came from beside her, low and sharp.
"What the hell was that?"
Roxie met Zac’s gaze from across the field.
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