two can keep a secret,

chapter twenty-three.

Lilith.

We all go our separate ways to our rooms. I grab a change of clothes, a few bathroom things, a hairbrush, a first aid kit, and a few other last minute things I might be needing. I grab them all in a rush because I don't want to see any of the girls.

By the time I get back to Blaise's room, all three of them are in there. I toss my bag onto Blaise's bed and close the door, snapping to the desk. "Sit on the goddam desk, Riddle."

For once, he listens. "Yes, ma'am," he says, nodding before he walks over to the desk and sits on it, moving his knife to the side. Blaise and Draco snicker from their spots on the bed. Riddle flips them off as I walk into the bathroom to get a cloth wet.

I run the water and wet the cloth and walk back out.

"You're going to get yourself expelled," I say, standing in front of him at the desk. He rolls his eyes.

I start gently rubbing the cloth across the blood on his nose. Draco and Blaise try to talk to each other, but I drown it all out. Riddle studies me as I wipe the blood off his face.

The blood coming from his nose, the blood on his cheek, and the blood on his brow. Warrington got him good, but seeing how much blood is on Riddle's hands, Warrington got it worse. I have to put a few butterfly bandages on his cheek so the cuts will close up better.

His eyes follow me when I grab his hands and start wiping the blood from them too.

"You have blood on your hands," he says quietly, looking down at my hands.

I glance at them, and he's right. It's probably from grabbing his face and smacking Warrington's, but whatever. I look up at him and shrug. "You have blood on your face."

He rolls his eyes and grabs the rag from me before he starts wiping my hands. "He's a lucky motherfucker. If you guys weren't there to stop me, he would be dead."

"There's no reason for that, Riddle." At that, he looks back up at me, raising a brow. "People break up all the time. It's nothing new. You don't have to go on trying to kill someone because they broke up with me."

"But I want to."

"Just because we want things doesn't mean that we should have them."

"He's a dick."

"And so are you," I say. "Everyone here is a dick. We do it to not seem weak, and it doesn't get us anywhere."

He stops cleaning my hands. "It could get us somewhere better."

"Unless you want to go on a killing streak to be remembered, it doesn't get us anywhere after school."

"You slapped him."

I nod. "As you said, he's a dick. And it felt good."

I grab the first aid things and put them in my bag. "I'm using your shower," I say to Blaise.

"Did you bring clothes?" he asks.

I groan. "Shit. Fuck me. I completely spaced it when I was grabbing stuff."

"I brought an extra pair," Riddle says. Of fucking course he did. "You can borrow them for the night."

I sigh because I don't have a way out of this, do I?

"All right," I agree, grabbing a few things from my bag. He hops off the desk and goes to his bag, grabbing out a T-shirt and shorts.

He hands them to me and shrugs. "The shorts might be a bit big, but there's the strings, so you can try to tighten them."