“It’s all down to lunch.”
Lovely. She could have warned me before we glided into the cafeteria. Why oh why couldn’t Glinda the Good Witch wave her magic wand and make the people of munchkinland love me?
Reminiscent of the first day of junior year, people stared and whispered as I walked past. At least they weren’t staring at my arms this time, but between me, Luke and Noah’s empty lunch table.
“Grab a tray, we’re getting food,” Lila mumbled as we breezed past our table. Natalie sent me a weak smile, while Grace busied herself with a container of yogurt.
My heart sank. The opinions of the rest of the school honestly didn’t matter to me. Their laughter and whispered comments stunk, but in the end, didn’t matter. But Grace’s rejection broke my heart. I slid my tray behind Lila’s, not touching a single item of food.
Uncharacteristically, Lila grabbed a plate of fries and two fudge brownies. “The school’s divided. Deanna told her friends that Luke only used you to make her jealous, which leads you back to the world of pathetic. Thanks to the fight at the dance and your and Noah’s make-out session before first period, some people think you dumped Luke for Noah, officially putting you on the road to freakdom.”
Awesome. Maybe I could be the queen of freakdom, the ruler of emotionally scarred people everywhere. Kind of like a stepsister to the Good Witch.
“And the rest of the school thinks that you and Luke used each other, that he belongs with Deanna and that you and Noah are hot.” Lila gave me a sly smile and winked as she handed her money to the cashier.
I followed her and caught sight of Luke hovering over Deanna, grinning at her like a fool. I did dump Luke for Noah, but Luke dumped me, too. Truth be told, I’d used him for normalcy. Had he used me to win back Deanna?
Deanna caught me looking. Her eyes narrowed. Luke gave me a half smile while taking Deanna’s hand. Maybe he’d used me, but I was okay with that. In this case, two wrongs made a major right. “Let me guess, you and Natalie make up that last group.”
“We’re the only part that matters, right?”
I joined Lila at the condiment station. “If the majority of the school has thrown me on the freak bus, why’s lunch a big deal?”
Lila squeezed honey mustard all over her fries. “Grace.” Sitting next to Natalie and another of her public friends, Grace stirred her yogurt over and over again.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t already made the decision. Rep versus friendship. Rep always wins, right?”
“She’s trying. Give the gossip some time to die down and she’ll come around.”
Yeah, maybe she would. I placed my empty tray on the condiment table. “Tell Natalie I said hi, okay?”
“Where are you going?”
“To paint.”
NOAH
“‘Sup, Mrs. Collins.” I strolled straight into her office and plopped down in the chair across from her. I had an hour to kill before I started my Friday night shift. Steam and the stench of nickel coffee rose from the untouched mug on the corner of her desk.
She glanced up from a file and gave me a weak smile. “I’m impressed. You responded to a summons on the same day. I didn’t think I’d hear from you until next week.”
“You wrote the magic words: Jacob and Tyler.”
“Hmm.” Mrs. Collins’s eyes drifted back to the file. Lines strained the skin around her eyes and she lacked her ever-present puppy enthusiasm.
“Are my brothers okay?”
She rubbed her forehead, looking suddenly exhausted. I sat on the edge of my seat. If those bastards hurt my brothers … “Mrs. Collins, are they okay?”
“Yes. Yes, your brothers are fine. Sorry.” She waved her hand over the file before closing it. “I’m a little distracted and tired. TGIF, right? Or do you kids not say that anymore?”
Mrs. Collins forced a kind smile onto her worn face, placing her hand over the four-inch thick file. That was when I caught sight of the label. It was Echo’s file. My gut twisted. Something was wrong.
“As you know, Tyler’s fifth birthday is rapidly approaching and I talked Carrie and Joe into letting you have an additional day of visitation.”
“No shit.”
A little tension eased off her face as she chuckled. “No shit, but I’d prefer you not say that around me again, or around your brothers.” She picked up a small white envelope on the edge of her desk and handed it to me. “Party invitation. The boys are making a big deal out of it. It’s an exclusive party at the visitation center with you as the only guest. Oh, and me. Maybe you could pick up some balloons for the visitation room. I’ll bring streamers. Be there or be square.”
Jacob had chicken scratched my name on the envelope. I never thought I’d see the day where I could celebrate any important event with my brothers. “How did you pull that off?”
“I told you if you concentrated on working on you, I’d take care of the situation with your brothers. When I give my word to someone, I plan on keeping it.” She rested her open palm over Echo’s file and stared down at it again. Was that the problem? Had she made a promise to Echo that she couldn’t keep?
I tried fishing. “Echo wants to remember what happened to her. Do you think you’ll be able to help?”
“I can’t discuss Echo with you, just like I won’t discuss you with her.”
Fair enough. Attempt number two. “She told me what happened with her mom. Actually, she told me what people told her what happened with her mom, which isn’t jack. To be honest, nutcase or not, I can’t imagine any decent mom hurting her kid.”
Mrs. Collins relaxed in her chair, still looking exhausted, though a spark lit her eyes. “Of course you wouldn’t. You had a very close relationship with your mother.”
Suddenly filled with the urge to beat my head against the wall, I slumped in the chair. I’d walked myself into this one. “Yeah, I did.” How the hell could I turn this back around to Echo?
Her puppy enthusiasm returned. “Jacob loves to write, but you know that already. Anyhow, Carrie and Joe let me read this endearing story about how your mom declared the first Friday of every month as family campout night. It sounded absolutely delightful. Was it fact or fiction?”
Mrs. Collins craved trust. I’d give the dog a bone. “Fact. My mom and dad started the tradition when I missed my first Tiger Scout campout because I got sick. That was Mom’s way of making me feel better.” She’d always found a way to make everything better.
“The rest of the story is also fact? The ghost stories, s’more making, everyone sleeping in the tent in the living room?” Mrs. Collins laughed. “You must have been a cool big brother.”
My grip on the invitation tightened. “Still am, but I can’t take credit. The campouts were all about my parents.”
“Then why were they upstairs instead of in the tent with your brothers the night of the fire?” Her eyes pierced through me. “I think you know why Jacob is having night terrors.”
I stood up. “I’ve got to get to work.”
“Noah, tell me about that night. Give me the opportunity to help your brother.”
“Like you’re helping Echo?”
Mrs. Collins blinked. Good—for the first time, I’d screwed with her. “That’s what I thought.”
WATER RUNNING INTO A STEEL sink mingled with the sound of banging as I walked into the classroom. The art teacher busied herself cleaning bowls while Echo sat on a stool with a wet paintbrush in hand. Several bright blue spots dotted her cheek and she created new ones when she absently tapped her index finger to her chin, causing the brush in her hand to mark her face in the same rhythm.
“May I help you?” The water turned off.
“I’m here for Echo.” Work would have to wait. If Echo had problems, I wanted to know.
Echo continued to tap her finger to her chin and created more dots on her face while she stared at the canvas. The intensity of her stare shocked me.
The art teacher stacked the bowls and walked toward the door. “She’s in the zone. Good luck getting her attention. Do me a favor. If she ends up painting her whole face, grab my camera from my desk and take a picture. I’ll add it to my collection.” She gazed at Echo and smiled. “I’ll title that one Smurf. Nice tats, by the way.”
“I’m focused, not deaf,” mumbled Echo after the teacher left. She put down the paintbrush and attempted to wipe her face with a rag.
The blue only highlighted the red in her hair. “You’re smearing it.”
“It’s a bad habit of mine.” Echo gave up, leaving the blue paint on her cheek. She hopped off the stool and stretched. “What are you doing here?”
The night sky stretched across Echo’s canvas. The curvature of the earth was lit on fire with bright yellows, reds and oranges. Bright blues quickly faded into darkness with stars glittering in the sky. Everyone said she was an artist, but I’d had no idea. “Echo, this is …”
“Crap.” She wrinkled her nose.
“No, really …”
“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What do you need?”
“You.”
I loved how her face glowed. She stood up on her tiptoes and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “If I do any more I’ll get paint on you.”
Everything Echo did or said became sexual in my mind, and I fought hard to expel the images of her naked and covered in paint. “Mrs. Collins snagged me an invitation to Tyler’s birthday party.”
“Really? That’s fabulous!”
“Yeah.” But not why I’m here. “She was browsing through your file and she looked kind of … worried.” Echo’s smile fell. Throughout the week, her spirits had lowered with each passing day, but I let it slide when she’d come to life for me. No more sliding. I wanted answers. “You haven’t been at lunch this week. What’s going on, baby?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.”
I snagged one of her belt loops and brought her body against mine.
“Noah, the paint.”
“Fuck it. I can change clothes.” I tugged on her chin to force her to face me. “I don’t know much about this boyfriend stuff, but I’m not only interested in kissing you.”
“I know, and that means a lot to me. It’s just … I’m buying Grace time.” She tried a half smile, but failed.
When she’d told me earlier in the week about her shitty little friend, my response made her cry. Luckily, I’m a quick learner, so I kept my mouth shut—at least when it came to Grace. “What’s got Mrs. Collins so down?”
“I don’t know.”
I took a deep breath to keep the anger under control. “Echo, if you can’t trust me …”
She raised her voice. “I don’t know! Mrs. Collins has gotten very serious, asking me more questions about Mom and what I think about restraining orders, and Dad and Ashley have taken annoying to a whole other level. They took my car away from me this morning and announced that they will be driving me to and from school. They made up some lame excuse and said they wanted to detail it. Who details a Dodge Neon? I’ll tell you— nobody. Ashley may be brainless, but even she knows that!
