When the Beat Drops by Anna Hecker

Author:Anna Hecker [Hecker, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2018-03-29T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

I find Britt in the waiting room of the ER. Her skimpy festival outfit looks out of place in the sterile, fluorescent-lit room, and she’s hugging Yelena’s backpack to her chest and staring at the wall, her eyes blank and unfocused.

“How is she?” I whisper, sinking into the chair next to hers. The air-conditioning in the hospital is on full blast, and I rub my hands over my arms, trying to smooth away the goose pimples.

“She’s fine.” There’s mascara caked around Britt’s eyes, a nightmare reflection of the panda hat perched on her head. She clutches the backpack tighter. “I mean … of course she’s fine, right?”

I swallow. The last time I saw Yelena, she definitely didn’t look fine.

“Is she with the doctors?” I ask.

Britt nods, holding the backpack tighter.

“Did they say anything? Did anyone come talk to you?”

Britt shakes her head. “They won’t tell me anything,” she says, more to the backpack’s empty, staring eyes than to me. “But she’s okay. She’s definitely going to be okay.”

“I’m sure she will be,” I say, because I can’t imagine the alternative. I put my hand on her knee. Her skin is icy under my touch.

“You want a sweatshirt or something?” I ask.

She looks at me blankly. “Why?”

“You’re cold.” I pat her bare knee. “It’s freezing in here.”

“Is it?” she asks lightly. Her tone turns my blood even colder. It’s creepy the way she’s acting like everything is fine, when everything is clearly not fine. I tell myself to ignore it, that she’s probably just in shock.

“Yeah.” I start to get up. “I’ll get us sweatshirts. And maybe some coffee. They have a cafeteria here, right?”

“Don’t.” Britt clamps a hand onto my arm, her fingers frigid. “We should both be here when she comes out.”

Unease snakes through me, but I sit back down. Britt needs me here now, and that’s more important than sweatshirts or coffee.

“Did you call her parents?” I ask.

“Nah.” She snuggles the backpack closer. “They don’t need to know.”

“Britt!” I pull back, alarm bells clanging in my head. “Of course they do.”

“No, they don’t. We said we were going camping. If they find out about this, they’ll kill her.”

My gut lurches at her choice of words. “Britt,” I say, trying to keep my voice even. “Their daughter’s in the emergency room.”

“But she’s going to be fine.” Britt draws her knees in around the backpack, sinking deeper into the chair.

We don’t know that, a voice rumbles in the back of my head. I screw my eyes shut, but I can’t make it stop.

“Give me her phone,” I say, opening my eyes.

“Huh?” Britt has one arm on the doll’s head, absentmindedly stroking its hair.

“Yelena’s phone. Is it in her backpack?”

Britt narrows her eyes. “This is Emma,” she says, wrapping a protective hand around the doll.

“Okay, fine.” I swallow, the half-digested breakfast sandwich doing backflips in my stomach. “Is Yelena’s phone in Emma? Can I look?”

Britt wrinkles her nose. “I guess,” she sighs, unzipping the backpack. She takes out the full

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