Playing Perfect

14. Affronter

14. Affronter

To Confront

Alice came to school the next day with a blazing sort of incentive to confront Heather and cuss her out, even if it was in front of the entire school.

But when her eyes landed on Heather in the parking lot, surrounded by their usual friend group of Emily, Grace and Jason, she felt that fire vanish. Suddenly, she felt as though she were drenched in icy water. A chill ran down her spine.

Emily spotted her and immediately waved her over, a wide smile on her face.

Alice gulped. There was no turning back now.

She locked her car—since Theo hadn't given her a lift, or really spoken to her outside of text messages, since their exams—and made her way to her friends.

Friends.

Funny how that word had taken on so many meanings in the past four years.

"Alice!" Emily pulled her into a tight hug. "Where were you last night?"

"Yeah, you didn't show up at all," Heather added. She wrapped her arms around Alice's waist, hugging her tightly, and Alice thought she might be sick.

"Yeah, I wasn't feeling well," Alice said finally, her voice weak.

"I hope you're feeling better," Heather smiled, her voice sickly sweet—did it always sound like that? Alice's hands trembled.

"Yeah, I know a great doctor if you need one," Grace said.

Jason whacked her arm scoldingly. "I'm sure the Travers have their own family doctor."

"Oh, right," Grace muttered. "Sorry."

"Well, I hope you feel better before the Debutante," Emily said, slapping Alice on the back.

Alice jumped, snapping her eyes up to meet Emily. "Right. Right, yeah. Umm."

"What's wrong?" Emily asked, furrowing her brow. "You seem strange."

"Yeah, about that," Alice muttered. She sucked in a deep breath, her mind flashing back to last night in Cauley's car, his minty breath as he told her 'You've got this'. She pursed her lips, straightening her back to meet Heather's eyes. "Heather."

Heather blinked, furrowing her brow innocently. "Yes?"

Alice swallowed thickly, steadying her voice. "Do you mind if we talk for a second?"

"About what?"

Alice frowned. "About... Well, it's a bit private."

"Private?" Emily joined. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Alice said quickly. The entire group was watching her now. She inwardly groaned—she'd been trying to avoid this sort of thing. "Well, yes. I mean, I just want to... return your legal notes."

"Oh," Heather said. She held out a hand. "Well, you can just pass them to me here. I don't mind."

"I wanted to give them to you privately," Alice said quickly.

"Why?" Heather asked.

"Yes, why?" Grace was speaking too now, watching Alice with a frown.

"I just wanted to," Alice said. She was beginning to grow flustered. Heather laughed.

"What is wrong with you today, Alice? You can just hand them to me here. It's not a problem," she said.

Alice snapped. "I know it was you."