Chapter 485
“Cassidy Elizabeth,” Elliott continued, pointing his finger at me in an accusatory fashion. “So help me, if you do anything of that sort, I swear I’ll fly over there and track you down myself, and when I do, it will not be pretty!” I scoffed at him, like he was going to hurt me. But still, there was a look in his eyes that let me know he meant business. “The last thing I wanna do is call your sister during the one vacation she’s taken since she started, the first one Aaron has taken in centuries, to tell them that our campus runaway is on the lam again. Don’t you dare!”
My outrage morphed into defiance for a second as I wanted to yell at him that he wasn’t the boss of me. But I knew I wasn’t going over there by myself. “I told you, I’m not!” I shouted back at him, crossing my arms.
“Good. You’d better not!”
“You’re not my dad, Elliott!” I couldn’t help it. Since when did he get to threaten me like he was in charge of my decisions?
“Okay, well, if I go have a chat with Mr. Findley, I’m sure he’d say the same thing.”
He was calmer now, probably because he knew I knew that my dad wouldn’t let me go either, and I wasn’t actually planning on going anywhere, despite the fact that part of me wanted to do it just to aggravate him. But I was beyond frustrated at that point, ready to go home and cry at my own failure. I growled at him and turned around, having nothing else to say, and headed for the apartment building, part of me hoping Christian decided to come out of the shadows and annoy Elliott since my boyfriend’s dad hates that guy almost as much as I do. I didn’t stick around to see what happened.
I was headed for the elevator when I got a message from Brandon asking how it had gone, and I suddenly remembered I’d promised earlier that I’d go hang out with my friends at Lucy’s. I’d been working on my research all afternoon, and he’d finally sent me a message right before the meeting asking me if I would go. I knew he was sorry for our fight; I was too. I’d promised him I’d come over when I was done, but I’d avoided him before the meeting because the last thing I needed was another fight before I had to go make my presentation. Not that it ended up making a difference.
The doors opened on five, and I walked out, trying not to look too annoyed. Lucy’s apartment is just down the hall from mine, so at least I’d be close to home if I decided I just couldn’t take it. They all knew where I’d been, and I assumed they’d ask a lot of questions. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that, though.
They were watching a movie when I used the code to get in. Lucy uses the same code for everything, so it wasn’t hard for me to remember it was her birthday—0705. I wasn’t sure what they were watching but it was engrossing and scary, and all I got from most of them was a mumbled, “Hey,” as I slipped inside and found a seat next to Brandon on the couch. Heather was sitting next to him on the floor, and she had her hands over her eyes. I couldn’t imagine anything on the TV could be scarier or grosser than what she’d seen in real life, but then, Heather is an odd duck.
“How did it go?” Brandon asked, reaching for my hand.
I gave it to him, even though part of me wanted to keep my arms folded in defiance. “Awful.” There were no two ways about it.
“Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” he said, trying to be reassuring. A woman on the TV screamed as a clown jumped out of the shadows, and I realized they were watching the new remake of Stephen King’s It. I had wanted to see it, but ironically my mom said I shouldn’t watch it because I’d have nightmares. If she only knew what I see in real life. I don’t have to listen to her anymore, but I had avoided the theater while it was playing just to be somewhat more compliant than I had been of late. It was an easy place to give in.
“It was that bad,” I assured Brandon. “They said no. They doubted it was as serious as I think it is, or that it’s even Daunator who’s behind it. Your dad was a jerkface. He wouldn’t even help me out.”
“Really?” Brandon asked, like he couldn’t believe Elliott was capable of being anything but kindhearted. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, Jamie wasn’t any help either. He may as well have not even bothered to ask Hannah. It was just a waste of time. And now there will be more people over there, dying or being changed because we aren’t going to do anything about it.” I was so frustrated at the whole situation, I could feel tears springing up in my eyes. I didn’t want to cry in front of my friends, so I willed them back.
His thumb drew little circles on the back of my hand, a gesture meant to be comforting that was starting to annoy me. I put up with it. “I’m sorry, Cass. It’ll be all right. I’m sure your sister will listen to you when she gets back.”
“Yeah,” I said, not bothering to remind him it would be almost another two weeks until that happened. How many people who were minding their own business, being regular humans persons right now were about to become monsters because we were dragging our feet?
Brandon said something else, something about letting the team over there handle it. But I had tuned him out. Heather jumped and yelled “Tarnations!” or something like that, which brought his attention back to the movie, so I just sat there and stared at the wall behind the screen, thinking about all of those people and how I’d let them down.
“Cass, you want some pizza?” Lucy asked, gesturing at the box in front of her on the coffee table. She was sitting in the recliner while Dax and Tara had the smaller couch.
Pizza was the last thing on earth I wanted. “No, thanks.”
“Dr. Pepper?” she offered.
“I’m good.” I forced a smile. She nodded and turned back to Pennywise, probably glad she wouldn’t have to leave to go get me anything from the kitchen.
