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Thehow it had gotten there in the first place And then she glanced at her nightstand and saw the phone there Her cell phone Beneath it was a note from her mother, and she realized it was probably her mom who’d folded her hoodie and placed it on her bed too

She picked up the note

You can have this back on a probationary basis Mess up again,

and it’s ours for good!

XOXO,

Mom

Of course Violet knehat this was really about Her parents had hated being unable to reach her, not being able to call and check up on her Still, the hugs-and-kisses were a nice touch, she thought; glad to have her phone back, no es and realized that she hadn’t been drea after all; there were calls and texts fro where she was Already she’d lanced at the ti he’d spread the word for her:

Running late Be there soon

Then, setting the phone aside, she hesitantly reached for the sweatshirt, alht scald her, and she flipped over the fleece to exa different about it than there had ever been before; it was the sah School hoodie it had always beenthe one she’d worn so often it had lost its shape, the edges of the sleeves fraying and tattered

Only now she didn’t want to wear it Noas just another reht she’d first encountered James Nua in the police station

Violet’s face crulanced once more at the sweatshirt she held And then she reotten about

Slipping her hand inside the single front pocket, her fingers searched until they grasped the tiny slip of paper that added into an almost unnoticeable ball "There you are," she whispered, the sliver of a s her lips as she smoothed it out Her eyes were slower to adjust than they should have been She guessed it was a side effect of the drug she’d taken the night before to help her sleep Everything about her felt like that: slow to adjust

When she finally recognized what it was she was staring at, she felt a burst of triu