Usually, Shane lived for drama. But this was just too much.
Things had been tense for days, ever since the party. It wasn't like their little group was always drama free and nothing but fun, but things had reached a level of angst that was weird even for them.
"It's been like this all week," he said to Liam. They were standing on line in the cafeteria and Shane was watching the weird 'who's going to sit where' dance Karma, Amy, and Lauren were doing by their usual table. All three of them kept circling the table like they were playing musical chairs but the music never stopped. "Ever since the party, it's just been tension, tension, tension."
Liam shrugged but paid more attention to choosing a slice of pie than to the three girls. "You sure you're not just seeing things?" he asked. Shane was his best friend, but Liam knew he had a hard time (a very hard time) not finding drama in everything. "You know Karma's still hung up on Amy and Amy probably knows Karma is still hung up on Amy and Lauren is...well… Lauren."
Shane knew Liam was right, it all made perfect sense. But he wasn't buying it. "This is all because of the party," he said. "Everything's gotten weird since then."
Liam glanced up from his pie and watched the girls for a minute. They'd finally settled at the table with Karma on one side, and Amy and Lauren on the other, at opposite ends of the bench, forming a little triangle. "It probably just made things harder for Karma," he said. "And Amy feels guilty. And we both know she doesn't do guilt well."
"This all your fault," Shane said as they headed toward the table. "If you hadn't talked me into throwing that party in the first place…" He trailed off as they reached the table and he frowned as Liam took the spot between the two blonde step-sisters. Ever since he'd met that Squirkle girl at the party, Liam had been trying to keep extra distance from Karma. Apparently, that meant at lunch too.
"Hey," Karma said as Shane sat down. She seemed genuinely glad to see him which only made things weirder. Shane chalked it up to having someone else there (anyone else) to help ease the tension. He couldn't help noticing that Karma went right back to studying her phone, tapping out a text now and again. It was the same thing Amy and Lauren were doing.
No one was talking. And Liam was so busy digging into his pie he didn't even seem to notice.
This was just wrong. All kinds of wrong. Things hadn't been this tense since right after the wedding when Amy and Liam were keeping their secret.
A secret!
That had to be it. Someone, or more than one someone, was keeping a secret. Judging from the tension at the table even before he and Liam got there, it had to be one of the three girls. And it had to be a BIG one.
Shane had sworn up and down that he was done outing people and telling other people's secrets. But this, he quickly decided, was different. This was very different. This was a mess and, no matter what Liam thought, Shane didn't like messes (unless he was the one responsible for them). And it wasn't just messy. It was also uncomfortable and worrisome and seemed like it might be the beginning of the end for the Karmy friendship.
Amy was barely speaking to anyone except Reagan and especially not Karma. That was weird enough. But what was even weirder was that Karma didn't even seem to notice! Shane remembered a time when either one of them could have told him exactly how many hours, minutes, and seconds it had been since they last spoke. But now, Amy spent most of the day staring down at her phone as she texted Reagan and Karma… well…
Karma was walking around Hester with the goofiest grin Shane had ever seen in his life. And while it wasn't unusual to see Karma smiling this was just borderline creepy. Even creepier was the way she kept disappearing at the weirdest times.
He'd tried talking to Liam about it, thinking that maybe they were having super sexy secret makeouts in the art room again. "She was fifteen minutes late to bio the other day and she didn't even try to make an excuse."
Liam shrugged (he did that a lot lately and it was starting to piss Shane off). "Karma hates biology," he said. "She probably just didn't want to go."
"But then she was twenty minutes late to American History on Tuesday," Shane said. "And half an hour late to Study Hall, and ten minutes late to art."
"Maybe she needs a watch," Liam said as he laughed at his own joke and Shane just rolled his eyes.
He didn't even mention that yesterday, during English, Brandi had mentioned that KArma didn't show up for PE at all that morning. Two minutes later, Amy asked for the bathroom pass and didn't come back till five minutes before class ended.
"Where did you go?" Shane asked her. Amy just shook her head and stared straight ahead at the blackboard, but her eyes were red and puffy and Shane was sure she'd been crying.
That was the last straw for Shane and why he was so determined to figure out what was going on. Except for Liam, Amy was his best friend and he hated seeing her like this. Something had to be done but, for once, Shane was at a loss. Amy wouldn't talk to him and the only other person he might be able to ask was Karma. And since, clearly, this had something to do with her and her goofy grin and random disappearances, just like when she and Liam...
Oh. My. God.
How had he not seen it? He'd thought it, briefly, when he thought maybe Karma and Liam were getting it on in the art room. But Liam had blown that idea off and even if they were, that wouldn't bother Amy. She'd been fine with them being together before.
No. This wasn't Liam and Karma. This wasn't Kiam.
Karma was hooking up with someone else! Someone else in school!
Shane had to find out who and not just for Amy, but for Liam too. He could only guess that his best friend hadn't put it together yet (unlike Amy) but sooner or later, he would. And Squirkle girl or no Squirkle girl, Shane knew Liam would be heartbroken. Losing Karma to a Karmy love match would have been one thing. But this was something else altogether.
There was only one choice for Shane. He had to get to the bottom of this. He glanced around the table. Amy was still texting and refusing to even look in Karma's direction. Lauren was staring off into space and occasionally sending quick little texts (probably to Theo, Shane thought) and then poking at the food on her tray. And Karma wasn't even paying any attention to her food at all. She was all about her phone and that goofy grin kept getting goofier with every message she sent.
Shane had to figure this out and he had to do it now! And since Amy wasn't going to be any help and he knew Karma would never talk to him he knew what he had to do. He had to talk to the other part of the little tension triangle at their table. It was his only choice.
He had to talk to the wicked step-sister.
Shane chased Lauren down right after lunch, as she was on her way to Music Appreciation. He tugged her by the arm, leading her to a deserted part of the hallway.
"What the hell, Shane?" Lauren tried to scoot around him. "I'm going to be late."
Shane blocked her path. "Since when do you care?" he asked. "You hate Music Appreciation. Just last week you said Miss Lawrence was a tone deaf troll who shouldn't even be allowed to teach a children's chorus."
Lauren huffed. "That's so not the point," she said. "I don't want to be late." She glanced over his shoulder down the slowly emptying hall. "And whatever drama it is you're stirring up? I don't want any part of it."
"Believe me," he said. "If there was anyone else I could go to with this, I would. But you're it. And I need your help."
"Sorry," Lauren said. "Not interested. Gotta go." Shane grabbed her arm again as she tried to slip by and Lauren yanked herself free and started down the hall, moving way too quickly for him to grab her again (and why was she in such a hurry? It wasn't like the class was going to suddenly disappear if she didn't get there right now.)
He tried one last ditch move, yelling down the hall. "It's about Amy," he said, surprised when that caused the little blonde to suddenly stop.
"What about Amy?" Lauren asked, suddenly turning to face him and sounding almost panicked, which only surprised Shane more. "What's wrong with Amy? Is it Reagan? Are they breaking up?"
It was Shane's turn to take a small step back as Lauren kept moving closer and closer. He looked at her, like really looked at her. He'd thought she'd be at least a little concerned since she and Amy had been getting along better lately. But this was a bit much.
"They're not breaking up," Shane said, though if Amy was this upset about Karma hooking up, a Reamy break-up might not be that far off. "Why would you be worried about that?"
"No reason," Lauren said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. "You just said something was wrong so I just thought… so… um… what is wrong then?"
Shane kept staring at her and Lauren shifted uncomfortably. There wasn't anything obviously different about her, not like she'd grown a second head or started dressing like a Goth or anything. But there was something. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"What's with you?" he asked.
"There's nothing with me, Harvey," Lauren replied. "You're the one dragging me off into dark corners and talking about something being wrong with Amy and not telling me what it is." She glanced at her watch and frowned. "And now I'm really late and I have to go."
Lauren turned and stalked off down the hall and Shane watched her go, still trying to figure it out. She reached the end of the corridor and turned left, quickly disappearing from sight.
Shane shook his head and scuffed one shoe on the floor. Talking to Lauren had been a bust and now he was back at square one. He turned and headed down the hall toward his class, yet another one he shared with Amy who would spend the whole period not talking to him and ignoring the teacher and constantly playing with her phone.
He just wished he could have gotten something out of Lauren. Why'd she have to be in such a hurry anyway? Class had already started and she was already late without a pass. Five more minutes wouldn't have gotten her in any more trouble than she already was…
Shane stopped. Right smack dab in the middle of the hall. He glanced back down the long corridor, back the way Lauren had gone, something was just not… right…
Left.
She'd turned left. At the end of the hall.
Lauren had turned left.
The music rooms were down the hall, next to the art rooms. To the right.
There was nothing at the end of the hall if you turned left. Literally, there was nothing. Just an old abandoned bathroom that was in a constant state of being remodeled, an emergency exit, and a janitor's closet.
Why on Earth would Lauren go left?
What could she have possibly been in such a hurry to get to, especially down there.
Unless…
No. No way. No fucking way.
Shane pulled his phone from his pocket. Liam was in one of his several art classes right now, one he shared with Karma.
Shane: Is Karma in class with you right now?
Liam: Nope. Late again. She must really need that watch. LOL.
It couldn't be. There was no way!
Lauren had been in such a rush, way more of a hurry than she should have been for class. And all that worry about Amy breaking up with Reagan? And she'd turned left.
Oh. My. God.
"Holy shit," Shane said out loud to the empty hall. "Karma's hooking up with Lauren."