Drowning.

She was drowning in a sea of emotion. They whirled around her, taunting her. Each threatening to drag her under, but she kicked and fought her way to the surface. She drew in a deep breath, air filling her lungs for what felt like the first time since he picked up the coin.

Focus, she ordered to herself. Focus on what you need to do right now, then you can worry about Carson.

Even as she thought those words, her body was torn between cleaning up the mess or chasing after Carson and begging him to give her a chance to explain. But she knew she had to give him space. He just received a sucker punch of information and needed time to process. So Madison forced her knees to bend and slowly lowered herself to the ground. One by one she picked up the incriminating evidence, cursing herself for bringing it to school. At the time, she thought it was a good idea. Keeping the bag close to her lessened the chance of her mother finding it while snooping in her room. But obviously that backfired.

Then a thought dawned on her. What if Carson told somebody about he saw—like his dad? She, along with the rest of FEC, would go down in a pile of flames. Panicked now, she hurried along, scooping up the coins and chucking everything into her bag. She dashed out of the room and sent an SOS text to Avery, praying she would respond. Thankfully, she did. A text popped up seconds later.

What's wrong? —Avery

We have a problem. The study group was compromised. —M

What?! How?? —Avery

Before she could respond another text appeared on the screen.

Wyatt says to meet us by the football field near the bleachers. —Avery

Great. As if her day couldn't get any worse. Madison changed directions and headed toward the field just as the bell rang. When she got there, Wyatt and Avery were waiting for her. They were seated on the bottom rung, their heads bent and touching as they whispered back and forth. When she approached the bleachers, Wyatt stood and scowled, while Avery clutched the bench, her eyes full of worry.

"What happened?" Wyatt demanded, not wasting time on pleasantries.

Taking a second before delivering the bad news, Madison wet her lips and swallowed. Then proceeded to explain everything that occurred in Mr. Perez's room. As she talked, the lines on Wyatt's face grew more pronounced as his scowl deepened. By the end, his expression was thunderous.

"Do you know what you've done? You've jeopardized all of us! And for what? A little remorse?"

"You don't think I feel bad?" Madison snarled, feeling just as upset as he was. "Of course I do! But it's also wrong what we're doing. Stealing people's things isn't right, it isn't ethical."

"If you were experiencing a moral dilemma with what we were doing then you should said have spoken up." He shook a finger at her. "And you never should have accepted our invitation to join."

"Oh so it was an invitation now?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because I'm pretty sure the picture you took of me was a direct threat."

His face screwed up in disgust. "That picture was a way to insure you wouldn't tell anyone. I wouldn't have used it if you decided not to join."

"And how would I have known that? You ambushed me and then threatened me. It's not out of the realm of possibility."

Avery stood up. Her face disconcerted as she asked, "Is that what you really think? That we threatened you?"

Madison jetted out a breath, refusing to answer. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Avery's feelings.

Avery took a step closer, the hurt in her voice palatable as she continued. "Is that why you decided to join? Because you had no other choice?"

"Avery..."

"What about our friendship? Did you not really want that either?"

"No!" she cried out. "I mean yes. I wanted our friendship. That wasn't fake."

"Then why the sudden change of heart? Why did you stop hanging out with us and return the medal?" Avery asked.

"I...I—This isn't...." Madison huffed in frustration. This was harder to explain than she thought. "Look, this whole thing was a huge misunderstanding. That jade necklace you saw me take wasn't what you thought. I wasn't stealing it. I was just looking at it because I was bored and hiding from everyone. In fact, I returned it to the jewelry box before I left."

Her confession was met with shocked expressions. Avery made a squeak, then buried her head in Wyatt's chest. "Oh God," she whispered, her words muffled.

Madison forced herself to continue. "I wasn't going to accept initially. But some stuff happened with my mom and I changed my mind." She stared at Avery who was clinging to Wyatt, clearly embarrassed by her faux pas. "I'm sorry for letting you believe I was like you. I feel awful for lying."

"I told you stuff," Avery accused, her brown eyes flashing.

"I know."

"I trusted you with my secrets."

"And I trusted you with mine. I might not share the same..." she searched for the right word, "...views as you on certain subjects, but it doesn't change the fact that I want to be your friend."

"How can you say that? Everything is built on a lie."

"A misunderstanding," she corrected. "And I can say that because you were the only person who saw what everyone else didn't. You were correct that day when you stopped by my locker. I was angry and resentful when I moved here. I said no to everything and everyone because it gave me some semblance of control over my life. But because of you, I finally started to say yes and it changed me."

Avery let out a harsh sound. "Yeah, changed you to steal."

"No, changed me into someone who started to accept. I wouldn't have done without you."

Avery's face softened as the corner of her lips lifted in a small smile. "Do you really mean that?"

"Absolutely," she stressed.

"As lovely as this little heart to heart is," Wyatt interrupted, holding up a hand, "we have bigger problems to deal with. Like what we're going to do about Carson."

Madison's heart clenched at his name. "Maybe we can convince him to keep it quiet." Even as she spoke the words, she knew it would never happen. Carson was a journalist with a moral streak a mile wide. He would research till he found the whole truth and then report it.

 "You need to talk to him Madison," Wyatt told her. "Find out exactly what he intends to do. Then we can go from there and figure out our next steps."

"You have class with him right now, don't you?" Avery asked.

She nodded.

"Good. Do it now before he has a chance to talk to anyone. Text us the details the minute you know," he ordered.

"What if he tells?" Madison asked, twisting the ends of her hair. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't want to even think about that possibility," he muttered, running a hand over his face. "I'm counting on a full ride scholarship to college. There's no way I would get that with a record."

Avery's already pale face turned ghostly white. "My parents would kill me."

 Madison thought of her mother finding out and winced. "Let's not think of that right now. I better go and talk to him."

Lost in their own thoughts, they trudged back to campus in silence. Avery was the first to wave goodbye and leave. Madison was about to do the same when Wyatt stopped her. He grabbed her upper arm and backed them into an empty alcove.

Towering over her, he stared at her with a penetrating gaze. "This is your fault. I hope you know that. We may have pressured you into joining, but you're the one who ultimately accepted. You could have walked away at any time." When she opened her mouth to protest, he held up a hand. "You can make excuses all you want, saying we threatened you or blackmailed you, but you and I both know those are just what they are—excuses. You're not the type of person who lets themselves be bullied into doing anything you don't want too."

She closed her mouth and looked away.

"The moment you started to feel guilty you should have come to at least one of us and voiced your concern. We," he motioned to her and him, "may not be the best of friends, but you are friends with Avery. You know her well enough by now to understand that she's an extremely sweet and open person. She wouldn't have judged you. She would have accepted what you wanted and helped. Instead, you decided to do it all on your own and got caught."

Fed up with his speech, she hissed, "Yes, you're right. I admit it. I should have talked to you guys instead of giving the cold shoulder. But what's done is done. I can't go back and undo my actions."

"No, you can't," he confirmed, his eyes glinting in the darkness.

When he didn't say anything else or let her pass, she blew out a frustrated breath. "I take responsibility for what happened. What else do you want from me?"

"I want you to realize that you're on your own now. The instant you went behind our backs is the instant you lost our support."

Outraged, she rose on her toes and hissed in his face, "So because I have a conscious and don't believe in stealing, you're going to stop being my friend? Let me tell you something Wyatt, that's not the definition of friendship. Friendship is sticking together through thick and thin."

Anger swept over his face. "You're the one who turned her back on us first. You speak this big game, Madison, but when it comes down to the wire, you don't follow through. Doing things on your own, ignoring your 'friends,'" his fingers made quotation marks, "that isn't the definition of friendship either. Do you know Avery cried over you?"

"Well, she's cried over you too," Madison lashed out.

His body stiffened, but he continued to talk. "I held her as she wept, wondering why you refused to talk to her. So don't lecture me on friendship. I may have my issues, but at least I never completely shut her out of my life."

She gritted her teeth, hating the way he laid out the truth before her. "Is that all?"

He stepped back. "No matter what happens, through thick and thin, Avery knows I have her back." He took a pregnant pause. "Can she say the same about you?" With that parting shot, he whirled around and walked away.