Free Web NovelChapter 61: Sasha Apologize
Monday was just the same as any other start to the week. It was Monday, that heavy reminder that you have to drag yourself back to school and start the whole cycle over again. Another repeated circle of classes, bells, and faces I was starting to get tired of seeing.
Today, Princess had a plan. She wanted to have a little chitchat with Peamah during the break. Her goal was to interrogate him and find out who he really was, because none of us believed he was the same Peamah we buried. I didn’t know if that was actually a good idea. Trying to corner someone who has been acting as serious as he has about his training seemed risky.
That dude has been putting in serious work. Malo and I have been secretly watching him from the sidelines whenever we can. Every single dunk he made into that net felt like his entire world. It was like basketball was the only thing he wanted to do for the rest of his life, and nothing else in this school or this town mattered to him. Seeing him like that made me wonder if he was even the one behind the murders. He seemed too obsessed with the game to care about anything else.
"Hey guys," Sasha called out.
She walked up and sat right beside us in the bleachers overlooking the court. It was a free period, so we were all pretending to just hang out while we were actually spying on Peamah. The second Sasha sat down, Malo didn’t even hesitate. He was the first one to move, sliding five seats away from her like she had the plague. I didn’t want to be left alone with her, so I followed him. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
But Sasha didn’t take the hint. She stood up and came closer to us again, trying to close the gap.
"I need to talk to you," she started.
We didn’t even let her finish. We both stood up and moved again, sliding further down the row. Thankfully, the gym seats were scattered enough that we could keep shifting around to avoid her.
"I’m sorry!" she suddenly shouted. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
She stayed where she was this time, about fifteen seats away, but her voice echoed off the high ceiling. We both turned to look at her. Even the few other people who were practicing on the far end of the court paused for a second to see what the screaming was about.
"I think we should leave," Malo whispered to me, his eyes darting around nervously. "Peamah definitely knows we have been spying on him now, and that purple hair just made everything ten times worse."
"Wait," I whispered back, grabbing his sleeve so he wouldn’t bolt. "We have to hear whatever she has to say. We can’t just leave without knowing what she’s up to."
"I’m sorry, guys," Sasha said, her voice dropping to a lower volume now that she had our attention. We could still hear her clearly in the quiet gym. "I shouldn’t have threatened you like that. I was just scared that night. I didn’t know what else to do to get you on my side."
I turned to take a proper look at her. She looked different, less confident than before. I noticed the thick scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, even though it wasn’t that cold in the gym. She must be hiding the scars from when Princess attacked her. Princess had almost killed her, and those kinds of wounds from an Alpha don’t just disappear overnight.
"What do you want from us?" Malo asked, giving her a mean stare. "We can see you’re not in jail, so what’s the problem now?"
"I want to help," Sasha said, looking between us. "I want to uncover the truth behind what is happening with Peamah. You two are the people I have been closest to lately."
"Closest to?" Malo scoffed. "You threatened to rip out our hearts and made us do the unthinkable. We are not even close to you, Sasha. We hated you. Even Faye wished you were dead."
I turned to look at Malo, my jaw dropping. Why was he bringing me into this? He was the one who had a whole plan to trap her in an asylum for weeks just to get her out of our hair. He should talk about his own grudges before he starts volunteering mine.
"Sasha, what do you really want from us? Just go do your own thing and leave us out of it," I said, trying to sound firm.
"I want to be part of your group," she said.
"Group? What group?" I asked, genuinely confused. I didn’t realize we were a formal organization now.
"She means us. Our little group," Malo said, sounding a bit protective.
"Since when did we even become a group?" I asked him.
"Freshwolf, of course we are a group," he insisted. "The two of us are friends for life. I shared my vision for the future with you. I shared my donuts with you. I even risked my life to help you."
"Look who is talking," I said, rolling my eyes. "The only reason I have a bun in the oven at this age is because I took those drugs from you in the first place."
"Well, I wasn’t the one who actually knocked you up," Malo shot back. "You did the deed with an Alpha, not me. Plus, I got beaten up by you and then I got my leg snapped by Beam. So I’d say we’re even. But we are a group, and we are definitely not letting her into the inner circle." He finished by giving Sasha another hard stare.
"For me, I don’t trust her either," I muttered to Malo, keeping my voice low. "But she is the reason why we are even here spying on him. She saw what happened in the woods, and she knows a lot of things that we don’t. We might need her."
"Mingling with her is just going to get our hearts ripped out for real this time," Malo argued. "She is dangerous, Faye. We knew that from the moment you tried to save her."
Just as we were sitting there whispering and arguing back and forth, trying to decide if we should ever forgive Sasha, the atmosphere in the gym suddenly changed. The rhythm of the room shifted.
We were interrupted by the loud, steady sound of a bouncing ball.
We both snapped our heads toward the court. Only Peamah was there now. He was slowly bouncing the basketball, his eyes downcast. No one else was on the floor anymore. I looked around the entire gym, checking the corners and the exits. It was empty. Aside from me, Malo, and Sasha, who was now sitting five seats away, we were the only ones left in the building with him.
He stopped bouncing the ball. The silence that followed was heavy and ringing in my ears.
Then he looked straight at us. He didn’t look at Sasha or Malo. He looked directly at me.
Before I could even blink or move out of the way, he pulled his arm back and threw the ball with everything he had. It came flying through the air like a missile, aimed straight at my head.
