“I know what you did.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Abby freeze in her seat. I pretend to pay attention to my teacher reading about the fall of Czar Nicholas II, but all I hear is mumbling. Abby hands me the note again, which I open to find the words “Sit with me at lunch” scrawled underneath my message. I pocket the note.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even be within a foot of her knowing what I know. The worst part is that what she did isn’t part of her reputation at all; she is known as the reserved nerdy girl in the back of the class. Yet when I read her message, I got a gut feeling that my request might get me into more than I bargained for. As cheesy as it is, desperate times call for desperate measures.

We walk to the courtyard in silence after the bell rings, finding a secluded spot away from our peers munching on Cheetos and poorly made burgers. As I take out my own sandwich lunch, Abby finally speaks.

“How do you know?”

“I have my sources,” I try to say as they do in movies, but I think I sound like an idiot.

She narrows her eyes at me, “There must be a reason why I’m not in handcuffs then.”

“Well,” my voice shakes and I clear my throat, “I have a favor to ask you. A job, I guess. There’s a boy that has been going around messing with the underclassmen and I think he needs to be stopped.”

I see her quirk a brow, which I must admit fits her face very well. “What makes you think I would do it anyway, princess?”

I struggle to keep my composure when I say, “I bet you wouldn’t want me spreading the word about how a few guys around the area have been disappearing, would you, Abby?”

“All right, all right, quiet down. I’ll help you,” she sighs out, scanning around us to make sure no one is listening, “but you have to pay me back for it somehow.”

“Oh shit, you’re right, how did I not think about that? What’s your price?” I should have prepared for this part, I rehearsed every other aspect of this conversation.

A knowing smile creeps onto her face, making me uneasy about what’s to come. She scoots a bit closer and says, “Pretend to be my friend for a while. I think it throws people off that I don’t hang out with anyone from school, so we’ll just go to movies and stuff.”

Okay. Not what I expected. It was very tame compared to my request, but my gut was hoping for something I can’t quite put my finger on.

“Oh. Um. Yeah, that sounds great. Deal,” I say while extending my hand to her.

She takes it and pulls me into a hug, “Deal.”