Burn for Burn by Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian Read Free Book Online Page A

if there was a way we could get things back to how they were before. But she refused. She didn’t even want to talk about it. For Rennie it was over. Erased. She had a way of doing that. Erasing the stuff she didn’t like. I’d just never seen her erase a person before.
    *   *   *
     
    I dry my face with a paper towel. I turn to toss it into the trash, and with my back to her, I say, “Honestly, I never thought your breath stunk. For what it’s worth.” I realize that these might be the first real words I’ve spoken to her in years.
    Kat stares at me, and I know she’s surprised.
    And then, from the last stall, there’s a sound. Shallow breaths, the kind you have to fight to take when you’re crying. Both of our heads swivel toward it. “Who’s there?” I call out, panicky, like I’ve been caught doing something bad.
    “Yo. Who’s in here?” Kat says.
    There’s no answer. Then Kat marches down to the stall and kicks the door open with her boot.

CHAPTER FIVE
    MARY
     
    I ’M PERCHED ON TOP OF THE TOILET, HUGGING MY KNEES to my chest.
    The stall door swings open. That spitting girl from this morning stares back at me. The pretty Asian girl is standing next to her, and her white sweater has a big stain across the front.
    “Who are you?” Kat demands.
    “I’m Mary.” I swallow hard. “Nice to meet you.”
    Kat says, dryly, “You too.”
    “What are your names?”
    This seems to catch them both off guard. “I’m Kat, and this is Princess Lillia.”
    The Asian girl gives her a dirty look. “It’s just Lillia.” Then she narrows her eyes on me. “Why are you hiding in here?”
    “Umm . . . no reason.” It’s hard to look her in the eye, since I’ve been listening to her crying for the last ten minutes. It doesn’t seem right, someone so pretty and popular should have anything to cry about. Whatever it is, it must be bad.
    Lillia flicks her hair over her shoulder. “You’re obviously upset about something. Or maybe you just enjoy spying on people in bathrooms?”
    Kat slouches against the open door. “Let me guess. You hooked up with some guy over the summer. You let him feel you up, and now he doesn’t even remember your name.”
    “Not even close,” I say, and bite down on my lip. I’m not sure I should tell these girls anything. After all, Lillia is in Reeve’s circle. She’s friends with him. And Kat . . . well, she’s just scary. “I saw someone I used to know. That’s all.”
    “Who?” Kat says. I can tell by the way she slouches against the door that she’s not going to let me leave until I tell her.
    “This guy. He . . . used to torture me when we were in seventh grade. He basically got everyone in our grade to hate me. He’s the reason my family moved away. Anyway, I saw him today, for the first time in four years, and he didn’t even recognize me. After everything he did.” Some of my hair slips into my face. I push it behind my ear.
    “How old are you?” Lillia asks me, quieter and softer this time.
    “Seventeen.”
    Kat asks, “And you’re originally from the island? Which middle school did you go to?”
    “I’m from here, but I went to Belle Harbor Montessori, on the mainland.” I used to ride the ferry every day to school and back. Me and him.
    Kat shakes her head and says, “Reeve.”
    My eyes widen. I’m nervous that she figured it out so fast, but I’m also strangely comforted. “How did you know?”
    “Who else could it be?” Kat says, holding to the stall door open for me. “We go way back.”
    I climb down. Lillia moves back over to the sink and wets a paper towel. “I’m not surprised. Reeve’s basically a Neanderthal,” she says, dabbing her front. “He ruined my sweater.”
    Tentatively, I say, “I thought you guys were friends. I saw you together this morning.”
    Lillia sighs. “We’re not friends, but we’re not not friends.”
    Kat rolls her eyes. “Great answer, Lillia.”
    Right away I say, “Please don’t