Paper Flowers (Pretty Plastic People) ★

009. Guilt Tripped

009. Guilt Tripped

At Aquino High, the most petty revenge can start an avalanche.

I make a quick stop by my locker to gather my books for the evening, anxiously glancing around for Taylor as I straighten my binders on their shelf. The certificate is still folded neatly and tucked away in my backpack—I wouldn't dare bring it out in the open before it's strictly necessary.

"Hey, Erika."

I jump and whirl around, expecting to see Taylor but startled to find Liam standing behind me.

"Hi." My voice is shaking a little bit, and that alone seems like a full confession of my guilt. Biting my lip, I turn back to my locker and right a book that toppled sideways.

I can feel Liam's presence behind me, closer than I want him to be. Usually I wouldn't mind, but right now I'm on edge, as if just by Liam lingering nearby he can detect the nerves radiating off of me.

"What are you up to after school?" he asks.

I grab my calc book and slide it into my backpack before shutting my locker with my hip. "I'm waiting for Taylor," I tell him, pausing briefly to readjust the Post-It note affixed to my locker. It's a little crooked—someone must have put it that way, because I'm always certain that it's immaculately straight.

"Taylor?" he asks, but any other questions he has are interrupted by Taylor himself turning the corner and heading our way. I can tell Liam wants all the details, and I'm glad he's interrupted because I don't know how I'd explain all of this even if I wanted to.

"Ready, Erika?" Taylor asks once he's within earshot, nodding at Liam in acknowledgement. There's a brief second of tension, but it passes so quickly that I figure I imagined it.

Glancing back at my Post-It note, I straighten it one more time before saying, "Yeah. Let's go."

Taylor's eyes linger on the sticky note longer than they should, but he finally nods and starts back down the hallway. I smile at Liam before saying, "I'll text you later," and hurrying after Taylor.

We walk down the hallway in what could be considered amiable silence if I weren't so nervous about what's about to happen. When we're all the way down the stairs and Liam hasn't come after us, I figure it's safe to reach into my backpack for the certificate.

"Do you know what you're going to say to her?" I ask as I struggle to balance my backpack while unzipping it and continuing to walk.

In a rare show of kindness, Taylor reaches over and holds my bag for me. "Not really. I guess she deserves to know, but at the same time it's really upsetting news. Who knows? Maybe she'll know something we don't."

"Allison knows a lot of things we don't."

When he doesn't respond, I glance over at him and see that he has pursed his lips so that they're folded into a thick line.

As we keep walking and Taylor doesn't say anything else to me, I start to wonder if he and Allison are plotting behind my back. What if all of this is an elaborate scheme and they know exactly what's going on? Already I've wasted hours when I could be studying, planning and blackmailing for a result that may not even be desirable. The worst thing would be for me to be fooled again, especially by my own sister.

Still, Allison could never have known that I'd be cleaning out the attic, so she couldn't have possibly planted the certificate. With this and the resolution that I had to triumph dwelling in the back of my mind, I keep walking.