The call from Margaret came on a Wednesday afternoon, right as I was leaving my Biochemistry lab Mid- October.
"Aria? Can you talk?"
Something in her voice made my stomach drop. "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine. Everything's fine. But" She took a breath. "I need to tell you something before I tell Kai and Maya. Get your advice."
I found a bench outside the science building and sat down. "Okay. I'm listening."
"My parole officer did a random apartment check yesterday. Standard procedure, happens every few months. But this time she found" Margaret's voice cracked. "She found empty beer bottles in my recycling."
My heart stopped. "Margaret"
"They weren't mine. I swear to God, they weren't mine. My coworker came over last week, we were working on a project, he had a few beers. I didn't think I should have thrown them away immediately, but I didn't think it would matter."
"What did your parole officer say?"
