A huge thank you for all of the feedback I received on the last chapter! Thanks to RHatch89, Fun With Typing, karma3825, nick2951, and Mr Tea The Dino for reviewing. I would have liked to get this up yesterday but I wanted to make sure that I had time to read it over first. As always, let me know what you think!

Chapter 29

As I'm walking into the Grille, it strikes me as really stupid that I have no idea who I'm meeting, or even what she looks like. How am I supposed to know who to go and sit by, or who to greet when they walk through the door?

Although I do have somewhat of a resemblance to my sister, so maybe I won't be the one doing the introducing.

As I'm waiting by the hostess stand, I glance around what I can see of the restaurant, looking for any girl or young woman sitting alone. Possibly in a red trench coat. But as far as I can tell, the place is mostly filled with couples and bigger groups of people out for an early lunch or late brunch.

"Hi," I tell the hostess, before she can even speak. "Table for one…two, I mean. Table for two. But the other person isn't here yet."

The woman stares at me for a moment, obviously caught off guard by my ramblings, along with the fact that I probably look as sick as I feel. But she nods, grabs two menus, and leads me over to a booth in the corner of the restaurant.

I sit and immediately order a ginger-ale – my stomach is in knots, and I can't tell if it's from the flu or because I'm so nervous. I tap my foot against the chair leg for what seems like forever, staring down at the table and sipping my drink, before I feel a shadow pass over me.

I close my eyes for a moment, not even sure I want to know who this is. Am I about to come face to face with "A"? I highly doubt it. But even so, I take a moment to brace myself before I raise my eyes.

A girl with cocoa-colored skin, around my age, stands beside the booth. She has dark, straight hair down her shoulders, and her hands are planted on her hips. Like her voice, there is something about the girl's appearance that is definitely familiar, but I don't know why until she sits down and says, "Hey. You're Viola?"

"Yeah," I reply, nodding slightly. "So are you ever going to tell me your name?"
"I would've, if you'd given me the chance," she says with a smirk, and I raise my eyebrows, sensing something strange in her tone. Is this girl flirting with me? "I'm Shana," she says, actually holding out her hand for me to shake. Shana. That's right. She's on the swim team. I've probably seen her hanging around Emily.

I reach out to grasp her hand, but pull back at the last minute. "Um, actually, I'm kind of – " I begin, but my voice cracks and a fit of coughing cuts me off.

That seems to get the message across, though, because she retracts her hand and smiles slightly. "Oh. Got it." The same waitress who brought me the ginger-ale walks up, and Shana orders a coke, only speaking again once she's out of earshot. "Did you bring it?"

"The money?" I clarify, pulling the envelope out of my wallet but keeping it firmly grasped in my hand. "Yeah, I guess. This is what my sister left for me. Now can you please tell me what's going on?"

Shana shrugs nonchalantly, and I feel my nerves subside slightly. If this was anything bad or, say, illegal, she wouldn't be so calm, would she? "It's for a car," she tells me, her voice low.

I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but it was not this. "A car?" I repeat, dropping the envelope onto the table in surprise. I casually slide it toward myself, out of her reach. This girl doesn't seem very threatening, but I'm not sure I trust her with this kind of money. And I have seen her hanging around Jenna at school.

I don't have much to do with Jenna, but apparently she knows something she shouldn't, because for the past few months "A" has tried relentlessly to kill her, with no success. So I've always been a little jittery around the no-longer-blind girl, even though I've never been able to figure out what she's up to.

Shana nods in response to my question, but doesn't elaborate, so I do. "What do you mean, a car? Can I have some more details, please?"

"It's Jenna's car," she tells me, after glancing around, presumably to make sure that no one recognizable is nearby. Finally, we're getting into the real secrecy here. "The blue Ford Mustang?"

I know exactly what she's talking about – I know that car. I followed that car, once. Well, actually, I followed Hanna and Aria, who were following Jenna, but still.

I know the car.

But that doesn't mean I'm any less perplexed. Feeling my brow furrow, I take another sip of ginger-ale and ask, "What? Why would Mona want Jenna's old car?"
Shana shrugs again, glancing down at the envelope of money, still under my hand. "All I know is that she offered to pay Jenna some big money for it. I'm just the middle man. Sorry."

I frown at her for a moment, contemplating this. From what I've seen, Jenna and Shana's relationship goes beyond friendship – which is strange, considering Jenna used to be the most boy-crazy girl in school. I'm not so sure that I can trust that Shana is completely in the dark about this.

I start to speak and then hesitate. I probably shouldn't say anything about "A," even if I'm no longer on the team. Maybe, even if Shana does know the real reason behind this sale, it has nothing to do with the mysterious tormentor in the red coat. I don't think it's a good idea to bring up something that could only get me in more trouble.

"I think you know more than you're telling me," I settle on, leaning forward and folding my arms on the table.

"I don't," Shana insists. "And I don't think that Jenna does, either. Mona offered her a lot of money for this car. Why would she say no?"

I grimace, frustrated, and press my hand to my aching head. On any other day, I would fight harder about this, refuse to leave until I got a better explanation. But I can barely think through the thick fog in my brain. I'm too sick to deal with this. All I want to do is go home and pretend that my life is someone else's.

Shaking my head, I sigh and move on to the next problem with this situation. "Okay, so what? You expect me to just give you the money and you'll hand over the car? I drove here. How am I supposed to get it home? And what am I supposed to tell my mother?"

"You don't have to do anything but hand over the money," Shana says quietly, her voice practically a whisper. "You should only have half. I'm supposed to meet Mona in a few days. She'll give me the rest of the cash and I'll give her the car. Unless," she adds, raising an eyebrow, "you'll be doing that, too?"

I let out a laugh before I can stop myself. "Yeah, no. I'm definitely not getting any more involved in this than I already am. She'll be…back in a few days. I'm sure she'll call you then."

"Fine." Shana finishes her coke and pushes the empty glass aside. "So the money?"

I slip the envelope out from under my hand and stare down at it. Giving a random girl an envelope that contains at least a thousand dollars seems like a really bad idea. Maybe I should forget this and stay out of it, keep the money safe until my sister gets back from Radley. She can worry about her own problems.

I mull this over in my head for a moment, ignoring Shana's growing impatience. And I finally realize something: I don't care. I don't care if Mona ends up getting cheated out of all this money. I don't care if this whole car thing is some elaborate plot.

I don't care.

And the easiest way to stop caring is to end your own involvement. So I slide the envelope across the table with a smirk. "Here's your money. Go ahead and count it if you want."

I don't actually expect her to, but she does, pulling the wad of bills out and sorting through them, her lips moving silently. Then she slips them back into the envelope and smiles. "Twelve hundred. All here. I'll take this to Jenna now."

"Whatever," I reply, rolling my eyes. "Maybe you can use some of that money to pay for these drinks?"

Shana gives me a strange smile. "I'm not sure this place will accept a hundred dollar bill for two drinks," she says, and I get the odd feeling that, once again, she is trying to flirt with me.

The thought of this makes me uncomfortable enough that I stand up abruptly, taking a moment to get over the sudden dizziness. I cough into my hand and slip my sunglasses back over my eyes. "Guess you'd better figure it out, then. My sister will be in touch. Good luck with the car."

...

Next up, Viola's life takes another turn when Mona vanishes, and the girls enlist her to help them figure out some cryptic clues from "A."