“We’re in the kitchen.”
Her mom came in, and her dad followed a few moments later. Charlie came in, too, but he was clearly not completely awake and still wearing the superhero mask he obviously slept in. He sat down and stared with unblinking eyes at a bowl of cornflakes. It was a rare thing for the Scullys to have breakfast together, but Dana didn’t comment on it. There was a palpable tension in the air. Mom and Dad set about making coffee and preparing breakfast, neither saying much of anything. Gran retreated further into herself and Dana went back to her chair. Melissa came in yawning, too, dressed for school but with her hair still tousled. She gave wordless grunts and poured some of the fresh coffee, ladled in four spoonfuls of sugar, and thumped down on her chair. Her coffee was half gone before she blinked her eyes clear and looked around.
“What’s with everyone this morning?” asked Melissa.
Mom put a plate of eggs and toast in front of her. “Here you go. Hurry up and eat or you’ll be late.”
Melissa cut a look at her father, whose mouth was locked into a tight line, then over at Dana. They didn’t have to say a word to each other to know what was going on. Mom and Dad had had another fight. That seemed to be happening more often since moving here.
Breakfast proceeded with arctic coldness.
Only Gran was smiling as she thoroughly buttered both sides of her toast.
CHAPTER 18
Francis Scott Key Regional High School 7:27 A.M.
“Glad they didn’t suspend you,” said Eileen.
“I thought they were going to expel you,” said Dave. “That’s what everyone was saying.”
The Minderjahns had intercepted the sisters in the hall, and the four of them were clustered together around Melissa’s locker.
“Well, then everyone’s stupid,” growled Melissa, instantly coming to Dana’s defense.
Teens moved like currents up and down the hall, and a lot of them gave Dana looks. Anger, amusement, curiosity, and contempt, all in equal measure.
“It’ll pass,” said Eileen with confidence.
“Yeah,” said Dave. “Everyone’s hurt and scared right now, so you freaking out gave them something else to focus on. Otherwise they’d have to deal with their own stuff. What’s it called? Transference? Something like that.”
Melissa nodded. “Right. And anyone who doesn’t get over it, anyone who keeps holding it against you, well … I guess it’s safe to say they’re not your real friends.”
“I don’t have any real friends,” said Dana. Then she gasped as she realized how hurtful that sounded, but Eileen gave her a motherly smile and a pat on the arm.
“We’re your friends,” she assured her.
“Yeah,” said Dave, though he was looking at Melissa when he said it.
The bell rang for class, and they all went off in different directions. Dana tried to be invisible, but she could feel the eyes on her. At first everyone treated her exactly as she expected, and she was convinced she had a huge winking neon light over her head that said WEIRDO. But the wattage of contempt seemed to diminish after her first class. It wasn’t that anyone rushed up to hug her, but instead they seemed to simply pull away and focus on their own lives rather than hurl mental stones at her. Dave had been right, at least in part.
On the way to her locker after algebra, two girls came over to her and blocked her way. She recognized them as having been in the gym. Karen something and Angie something.
Dana braced herself, expecting …
Expecting what? A punch? To be told what a creep she was? To be threatened in some way?
None of that happened.
Instead Karen said, “Were you telling the truth?”
“What?” asked Dana.
“Yesterday,” said Karen. “About Maisie. Were you telling the truth? Did you really see her?”
“I…”
Karen’s eyes were fierce but also wet. She looked like she was fighting to hold back tears, though her hands were balled into fists.
“You better tell me, or so help me…,” she said in a tight whisper.
The other girl, Angie, was shorter and broader and wore a field hockey sweater. She looked like she could break Dana in half, and looked like she wanted to.
“Tell me,” begged Karen.
“Yes,” said Dana, her own voice a whisper.
Karen grabbed her upper arms. “Was she in pain?”
Dana did not know how to answer. The truth seemed likely to earn her a beating. But so, too, would a lie. She braced herself, ready to use some of the jujutsu she’d been learning or the karate she practiced with her brothers. She wasn’t very good, but she would go down swinging.
“I think so,” she said. “She was bleeding and … she was screaming.”