Page 61 of The Crafting Con

Hiro: Did I say Declan told me? Brain fart. I meant Stasia.

That can’t be right, can it? My hands tremble as I hold my phone out for Stasia to read, and she growls. “Oh, no, he did not.” She takes off like a bat out of hell, streaking across the parking lot. I try to follow, but my legs are too sluggish. The noisy chatter of passing students buzzes like static in my ears, and I squeeze my eyes shut, searching for a lifeline.

There’s nothing.

I can’t breathe. I can’t…

Declan’s voice whispers through the chaos. Name five things you can see.

I blink my eyes open, staring blearily around the parking lot.

I see cars. And people.

Nausea churns my gut, and I swallow.

I see a… a blue Jeep.

Said Jeep slows to a stop in front of me, and there’s Tyler, rolling his window down with a look of concern etching his features. “Aimes. You okay? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

I shake my head, my tongue too thick to form words.

Tyler’s out of the car in a flash. “Are you sick?” His hand presses against my forehead when I fail to answer.

I feel a warm palm.

Gravel under my feet.

A phone in my hand.

The weight of my backpack.

I take a breath in, and this time the oxygen reaches its destination. “I’m okay, I’m just… feeling a little overwhelmed.” Another deep breath, and I tilt my head up to meet his worried gaze. “Sorry to freak you out like that.”

“Hey, no worries. Stress can be brutal. I get it.” His lips tilt into a crooked smile. “What you need is to blow off some steam. And as your newly affirmed friend, I feel duty-bound to help.” He nods toward the Jeep. “Hop in.”

I must still be feeling the aftereffects of my panic attack, because nothing he’s saying makes any sense. “What? Why?”

“Because.” He leads me around the side of the Jeep and opens the passenger door with a flourish. “You and I are going to play hooky.”

“But what about school?” I glance over at the red-brick building with its wide swathes of floor-to-ceiling windows. A crowd of students lingers outside the entrance, waiting until the last possible moment to go inside. I search for Declan’s face among the throng, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I know I should probably seek him out and get to the bottom of things, but I can’t seem to make my feet move.

What I need is a pause button.

A moment away from it all to simply process and reboot.

Blowing off steam it is.

I climb into the Jeep and pull on my seat belt as Tyler slides behind the wheel. He shoots me a wicked grin. “You ready to get a little crazy, Aimes?”

I think of the list of people I need to face, the mountain of baggage I need to sort through once and for all. Just as soon as I can breathe again. I square my shoulders and nod. “Punch it, Chewie.”

We careen out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires, and I force myself not to look back.

CHAPTER 24

DECLAN

Two days until OA Con