15

"Are you in there, Clover?"

Astrid paused. She lets go of my shirt. The both of us looked at the door as Douglas spoke again.

"I saw you get in here, Clove, but didn't see you come out. Scared of Elle?"

I was about to speak but Astrid covered my mouth with her hand. She looked at me meaningfully – her brows raised and her forefinger in front of her lips – she wanted me to shut up.

"Let's get out of this place," she whispered. "You'll come with me, right?"

I couldn't answer her straight away because I was still stuck at the moment she was surely about to kiss me. My head wasn't anywhere near steady, but I managed to give her a nod.

She then stood up, grabbed a stool, and began climbing out the window. "Come on," she said.

I was on top of the stool and Astrid was already waiting for me outside, but before climbing out, I paused. I looked back at the bathroom again and swallowed the fact that I just spent several hours with a girl that was almost like a stranger to me. I looked at the bathroom floor she was sitting on. The bathtub where she almost kissed me. The sink I threw up in. The mirror I first saw her through.

"Clover, quick!"

I climbed out the window.

—