Hemlock House by Katie Cotugno

Author:Katie Cotugno [Cotugno, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

12

Sunday, 11/24/24

Holiday let herself into my dorm room that night while I was sleeping, easing the door open and padding across the industrial carpet in a soft pair of sweats. “Hi,” she muttered, reaching out and running the tip of her index finger along the curve of my ear, a touch so light it seemed wildly improbable that I could feel it all over my body.

“Hi,” I said, boosting myself up onto my elbows as she climbed into bed with me, slinging one leg over my hips and making herself comfortable. She smelled different than usual, flowery and faint. “What are you doing?”

Holiday grinned, her smile like a slice of moonlight in the dark. “What do you think?” She reached back and pulled her shirt off—

And I woke up with a gasp alone in my extra-long twin bed.

“Dude,” Dave said, glancing at me across the room from his perch in his desk chair, where he was scrolling a thread on Discord and eating a banana. Dave was from South Korea by way of California; his parents sent elaborate care packages full of socks and ginger tea. “You good?”

“I’m awesome,” I muttered, then counted to a hundred and shuffled grumpily down the hall toward the bathroom. “Never better.”

The weather that day was perfect for a football game: crisp and clear and sunny, the kind of autumn morning that made me feel nostalgic about living in New England, even though I was still actively doing it. The streets were packed with tourists. The air smelled like leaves. A guy dressed in full Revolutionary War regalia handed out pamphlets advertising walking tours of Harvard Square.

Holiday had texted to say she’d meet me at the entrance to the stadium, and when I made my way over she was already waiting, looking more like her regular self today in a big cream-colored fisherman’s sweater. I felt myself relax at the sight of her in broad daylight, tall and lipsticked and normal: it had been an aberration, that was all, whatever had happened between us last night. It didn’t have to change anything.

“Look,” I said as soon as we were close enough. “About—”

“I was tired,” Holiday interrupted with a wave of her hand, “and I listened to Dear Evan Hansen right before I came to the party. You were totally fine.”

“Are you sure?” I asked uncertainly. “Because it definitely felt like—”

“Michael,” she said; I couldn’t tell if I was imagining the edge in her voice or not. “You’re good. Seriously. I would have done the same thing if you hadn’t gotten there first.”

“You would?” I asked, half a beat too quickly. “I mean, you would have—” I broke off.

Holiday looked suspicious all of a sudden, like possibly she thought I was setting some kind of trap for her. “Anyway,” she said instead of answering, “there’s something else I want to talk to you about. I was thinking when I got home last night: Why was that girl Noelle—”

“Linden!” Greer called. When I looked up she was

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