Anew

15

The next suspicious Gabriel sighting didn’t occur for another two weeks and Scarlet was beginning to think her doubts about Gabriel had been ridiculous. But her fears came back to life when Heather dropped into a seat next to her before first period and said, “Gabriel’s up to something shady.”

Scarlet looked up. “Not again, Heather.”

“No, I’m serious. Didn’t he tell you yesterday that he couldn’t hang out because he had to work on his English paper?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I saw him. Right after school. In the warehouse district.”

The warehouse district was considered the ghetto of Avalon. But Avalon had a population of only two-thousand, so “ghetto” was a bit of a flexible term. Either way, it was strange for anyone, especially an Avalon High student, to be in the warehouse district at all.

“What were you doing in the warehouse district?” Scarlet asked, putting her pencil down.

“Getting my nails done. Duh,” Heather said, like Scarlet was supposed to know her friend went to the slums to get pedicures. “But I saw him, Scarlet. And he was definitely not working on his English paper.”

“What was he doing?”

Heather leaned forward. “He was talking to some weirdo in an abandoned building.” Heather blinked. “An abandoned building. Who chit-chats in the warehouse district?”

“Who gets their nails done in the warehouse district?” Scarlet retorted.

“You’re not taking me seriously, Scarlet. Gabriel is hiding something.”

Scarlet paused, thinking of the possible reasons Gabriel would meet with someone in an old warehouse.

She thought of none.

“There has to be some reason why—“

“He’s shady,” Heather interrupted. “I’m telling you, Gabriel is up to something. He’s dealing drugs or selling organs on the black market or something. He’s bad.”

Scarlet’s heart started to pound.

No. Gabriel couldn’t be bad.

He didn’t feel bad.

…Did he?

Scarlet furrowed her brow, confusion seeping into her chest. “No.” She slowly shook her head.

“Why else would he lie about working on his paper? Why else would he lurk around a creepy warehouse?” Heather tapped her freshly-polished nails on the desktop.

Scarlet shook her head again. “It just doesn’t feel righ—“

“Good morning, ladies,” Gabriel said, entering their first period. “Hey, beautiful.” He leaned down and kissed Scarlet’s cheek before taking the open seat on the other side of her.

Scarlet wanted to say something to Gabriel. She wanted to ask him a million questions.

But she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answers.

“Hey, Gabriel,” Heather said, slowly. “You weren’t by any chance in the warehouse district after school yesterday…were you?”

Scarlet shifted her eyes over to Heather, hoping to halt her friend’s investigation. She wasn’t ready to hear Gabriel’s answer. She wasn’t ready for him to lie to her.

Gabriel swallowed and waited a beat. “Nope.” He shook his head. “I had that English project thing.”

“Oh.” Heather shrugged.

The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class and Scarlet turned to look at Gabriel.

His eyes were buried in his notebook as he opened to a fresh page.

Why would he lie?