“I’ll go let them know. The firefighters are here,” he said, placing her down gently. “Everything’s going to be okay.” His face looked terrified, though.
In the parking lot the fire trucks were screeching to a halt, and firefighters were jogging toward the school, shouting orders to one another. The parking lot was bathed in flashing red lights.
Em watched the fire lick the sky. The walls must be on fire now. The bleachers. Everything. Firefighters entered the building. Hurry. Hurry.
The students had gathered in the parking lot, shivering and sickly fascinated by the scene in front of them, not knowing if everyone had gotten out safely. Friends found each other and cried with relief. Across the lot Em saw Gabby standing with Lauren, Sean, Andy, and the rest of them, looking around wildly. Looking for Em, no doubt.
“JD, we have to go over there—” She started to point to Gabby, but she was distracted by a sudden change in the air. She felt it.
And then: “It’s gonna go!” She heard one of the firemen yell, and then they all started yelling it. “It’s gonna go.”
Em tugged on JD’s sleeve. “What’s gonna go? What’s happening?”
He shook his head.
“There’s still a girl inside!” Em screamed hysterically, a sob welling in her throat. But in all the commotion, no one heard her or paid attention except JD.
“Shh,” he said. “Shh . . . They’re doing what they can.” She barely noticed that he took off his blazer and slung it around her bare shoulders. And then he kept his hands there, on her shoulder blades.
That’s how they were standing when the gym collapsed.
The ceiling folded in on itself with a giant, heaving moan. The fire-weakened walls crumbled in and down, raining rubber and pebbles into the burning gymnasium. Screams ripped into the night, and it took Em a moment to realize that she was screaming louder than anyone else.
? ? ?
As the policeman led her to the ambulance, Em babbled uncontrollably. “I . . . I don’t know what happened. Drea set the fire. I didn’t know what was going on . . . and then I woke up and she was lying there, and . . .” She dissolved into sobs. She couldn’t stop shivering.
Two EMTs helped her climb into the ambulance. They were taking her to the hospital. Something about smoke inhalation and shock.
“She . . . she tried to kill me . . . ,” Em stammered.
“Shh. It’s going to be okay,” JD said soothingly. “I’ll be there at the hospital. I’ll see you soon. I’ve got you.”
All she could think was, Drea tried to kill me. And now Drea is dead.
? ? ?
The tears burned and her body ached. Her friend was dead, the only casualty of what newscasters would refer to as “another troubled youth’s cry for help.” Just a few hours later Em was at home in her bedroom, unable to sleep, unable to move, her face pinned to a pillow that was soaked with her tears.
She had been released from the hospital into her parents’ care—miraculously, the doctors said, she had suffered almost no injuries. The smoke hadn’t done any significant damage; she’d suffered no bruises or scrapes. Still, it had taken forever to get her parents to stop fussing over her, asking for extra tests, pain medication “just in case,” the works.
Even if they showed up on no scans, Em knew her wounds were there. Drea, JD, Gabby, Skylar, the fire . . . Like bare feet pounding hot asphalt, these thoughts sent tremors of pain all through her body. She blamed herself. If she and Drea had been honest with each other about their motivations and plans, if they’d been more in sync, tonight would have gone much differently. Drea had only been trying to help. To save her. And Em had failed to save Drea.
So instead of trying to sleep, as her parents were doing right down the hall, Em was curled up in an oversized T-shirt with her journal. She’d frozen when she’d come to a page on which she’d marked Ty’s words to her from a few days ago: We aren’t so different, you and I.
Rap-tap-tap. A tapping at her bedroom window made Em spring to her feet. It was Ty. Or Ali. Or Meg. Tonight had come to no resolution; Em now knew her battle was far from over.
But no. It was only Crow. He must have hauled himself up onto the roof of the screened-in porch and made his way to her bedroom window. She felt a moment of fear, but it was followed quickly by relief. Crow might be insane, but Em trusted him, somehow.