Twisted (Editing)

Chapter 17

I sat in the passenger's seat, backpack in my lap on the ride to school. What would I tell my friends when they saw me. Jonah pulled into the parking lot. "It's going to be alright--don't worry."

"You don't know what I'm thinking."

"But I can feel your emotions pretty well." I raised my eyebrow and thought of all the bad thoughts I could. Gut-churning ones that made me sick. His face darkened.

"Could you not try to change your mood on purpose?"

"What works, works." I got out of the car and started speed walking towards the school. I went into the building, turning down the corridor as quickly as I old to avoid him. Liz spotted me and barreled through someone to get to me.

"Where have you been? You haven't picked up your phone for three days."

"Oh, my phone broke. I accidentally put it in the washer along with my uniform. I still haven't got the new one yet." Where even was my phone? The last time I remembered holding it was when I entered the house on that fateful day. Would I be allowed to go back and get it?

"Make sure you do that. Yasmine and I invited you to hang with us and you didn't respond. We've been worried."

"Sorry. And I've had a lot on my mind this weekend--I wouldn't have been able to go out."

"Have you been working on that project of yours? It's not due for another three months."

"Something like that."

"Imani, can we talk?" Jonah, yes of course Jonah.

"No." Liz and I started to walk off. I would face him eventually, but at school, I could avoid him for a while. I could feel his gaze boring into me as I left.

"You have to admit that he's kinda hot."

"I guess so." Who was I kidding? He was beautiful. "But we only work on our project together." The lie felt heavy on my tongue. Liz was human--how could I even begin to explain? I couldn't.

"There's a Halloween party tonight, which you would know if you hadn't washed your phone."

"I don't have a costume."

"I'll drive you to Party City after school and we can see what you can come up with on short notice. I can pick you up from your house."

I tried my best to hide my panic. "No, let's go straight after school and I can change at your house. I want to dress up like Storm so we'll need to buy a nice white wig. None of that cheap stuff."

"Yeah okay sure. Yasmine is going as Catwoman and I'm going as Ginny Weasley." I looked at her hair.

"Good choice."

After school, we bought the black and gold jumpsuit that made up my costume. Along with thigh-high boots that made me three inches taller, I felt powerful. The wig was a lace front, so it looked natural. It fell in waves down to my shoulders. I lined my eyes with eyeliner. I took some time to look at myself in the mirror. Next, to me, Liz adjusted her Gryffindor jacket and Yasmine shimmied into her catsuit.

"Why did I want to be Catwoman in the first place?" She groaned. "I'm not going to be able to take this off to pee."

"You'd better not drink anything," Liz said as we piled into her car. "I won't be there to help you get into that thing."

She huffed. "I should've gone as a witch or something like that. Something simple." Liz drove to the site of the party. Like the last one, music blasted from the house, audible from the down the street. I stepped out, my legs becoming covered in goosebumps from the chill of the air.