What else to say about me and Graham?
Graham and I had been connected since we were five years old. In a parallel universe without Harry, Graham and I started dating in ninth grade. We had our first kiss before the truth or dare party, it was every bit the whispered secret it should have been. We went to prom and snuggled on the rock as Graham talked about the stars and I wondered about what else fills space. It was all romantic and built on friendship and our adventures. We graduated college and spent a few years traveling, returning for Viv’s opening nights and movie premieres. Maybe we got married, maybe we decided we didn’t believe in it, but we did have a sly-smiling, cookie-stealing kid who we loved.
My world doubled on the porch, and alongside Graham I saw the parallel life unfold. Harry was a lot like our meteorite. He wasn’t only the flash of a meteor; he was the cosmic debris that made it into your atmosphere. He left his mark. He spun Graham and me off course.
I both hate him and love him for that.
33
It doesn’t say anything good that the Seven Hills police department missed the skeleton dangling like an angel of death from the clock tower.
A little after dawn, on Halloween morning, an assistant arrived to the real estate office at the first floor of the tower. She told the 9-1-1 dispatcher that a monster was hanging from the clock. A line of police cars raced over, officers brandishing guns. The opening crew at Holy Bagels who’d been at the center of the previous week’s disaster came running. One of them snapped a bunch of pictures while the police waited for the interim chief and Mayor Carver to arrive.
The police weren’t forthcoming with details. Meetings were behind closed doors. Mayor Carver announced by lunch that in light of new evidence recovered, unrelated to IV, the police department had reopened the case of Jane Doe’s death. She stated that it was possible that upon reexamination, new leads might come to light. Graham said the police were saving face. They couldn’t appear to be caving to the pressure of a vigilante, a criminal, an arsonist, a vandal. As for IV, the police vowed to continue looking for the parties responsible.
The initiates had ideas for new rebellions. Can anyone get a real cadaver? What if we set the school on fire? They were sledding downslope, ice hard and shiny under them. Destined for collision.
“We’ve got to convince them to lay low for a few months,” Graham said.
“Or maybe that the Order’s got to end. Period,” Viv said. When she focused on my look of dismay, she added, “Not for real. It won’t end for us.”
Harry ruminated silently.
We needed to dismantle the Order in a way that prevented the initiates from picking it up and keeping it going themselves. Not just behead the snake; make sure it didn’t sprout a new head—or six. We’d tell them IV needed a hiatus until the police pressure had eased.
Our next move was hazier. Either we’d stall and eventually the initiates would lose interest—senior year was bound to distract—or we’d stall and they wouldn’t lose interest, in which case we’d reinvent the Order again. Its reincarnation would be benign: parties and bonfires.
For the four of us, the Order could return to what it had been at the start. Our little universe. We were afraid of letting another day go by without telling the initiates the Order was going into hibernation. If we waited, how long until Trent and Conner acted out again? What if they got caught?
The Order and its initiates, who were full-pledged members at that point, would meet for a bonfire. That night. We’d break the news. If needed, I’d use the Polaroid picture to force them into submission.
Harry showed up on my doorstep. He knocked and retreated to the lawn where he waited.
“What’s up?” I said from the doorway.
“Can you come and sit out here?” he asked.
I wanted to slam the door. I went out and sat on the bottom step with him.
“I know you’re angry. Really pissed. But would you do something for me if I asked?” When I didn’t answer, he kept going. “I have been your friend—one of your best—for more than five years. Hopefully I’ll be your friend forever and the four of us can be buried in the same plot.” I laughed despite myself. “Seriously. Will you promise me something? The why will be obvious to you in a day or two. And you can chew me out and I can start delivering the first of a million apologies I owe you.”
“Okay, what.” I toed the lawn and avoided looking at him.
“I want you to stay home tonight.”
“No,” I said, firm and fast.
“I want you to stay home for the rest of the night and I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why?”
“It’s important to me.”
“So what, Harry? Being there is important to me. It’s important to Graham and Viv. Why should what you want matter more to me than what I want?”
“It shouldn’t. But I’m asking you for a favor.”
“You don’t deserve one. You broke up with me using bogus reasons. You insulted me. You called me sneaky. You hurt me, Harry. More than anyone ever has. Do me a favor and spare me your requests.”
“Please.”
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You’re ridiculous. You are insane asking me this. I invented the Order. You know what it means to me.”
“I do. Doesn’t that tell you that I have a really good reason if I get what the Order means to you and I’m still asking?”
I watched an ant cross the length of a flagstone.
“Don’t call Graham or Viv. Shut your cell off. Tell your dad not to answer the home line. Stay in your room all night. We’ll explain to Graham and Viv tomorrow that I asked you to flake. Okay?”
“I’ll think about it.” Liar. I would not give up this slice of the Order for Harry, not after he’d torn my heart out and left it to be picked at by the seagulls. I wanted him to leave and I couldn’t figure out a quicker way of accomplishing that without appeasing him.
Harry took the lawn in a few strides before one last look back. His eyes bright and burning with the electricity of thoughts, beliefs, and dreams. “I love you, Isadora Anne Pendleton. I think your perfect song is mine too.”
The air went out of my lungs watching his caramel figure take off in a sprint. I only whispered “I love you too” when he was too far to hear.
I called Graham from my room. “Have you watched the footage today?”
A long pause and then a loud exhale. “I haven’t. Hold on, let me pull it up and I’ll e-mail it to you.”
I flipped open my laptop and waited.
“There. Sent. I’d go through it but I’ve got to prepare the truth serum for tonight.” We said good-bye. Thirty seconds later, I rang him back.
“Graham. The camera’s aimed at the ground, not the tunnel. How long has it been like this?”
“It is? Shit. Your armband must have loosened.”
“You said you watched it yesterday though, right?”
“Uh, yeah, I was going to, but I didn’t.”