STICKS AND STONES ↝ S. HARRINGTON

[5]

"There's something wrong with Nancy," Becca mused, studying where the girl stood behind Steve in the lunch line, and Anna turned in her seat at the lunch table to follow her gaze.

Where Nancy Wheeler usually looked so calm and put together, enough that Tommy and Carol usually referred to her as Princess, or Little Miss Perfect when she wasn't around, that day she kept glancing around as if she were lost, or searching for something. When Steve spoke, causing Nancy to turn her gaze back to him, her smile never quite reached her eyes, and she only looked at him for a moment before scanning the room again.

"She's probably just tired." Anna said, shrugging. "It's not like any of us got much sleep last night, thanks to her and Steve or Tommy and Carol."

"Alright, I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that." Landon said, hiding his grimace and popping a french fry into his mouth.

"Nance, c'mon, this way," Anna could hear Steve's voice from a short distance behind her.

"I'll be right there, just give me a second." Nancy responded, and Anna could hear her footsteps growing closer as she turned back around in her seat again, seeing Nancy making a beeline for their table rather than where Tommy and Carol waited at theirs, her eyes locked firmly on Becca and Anna. "Hey," she spoke up, glancing around again before looking back at them.

"Hey, Nance," Anna said. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you guys had seen Barbara around at all today?" she asked. "Or even if you knew what time she left last night? I haven't seen her around anywhere, I don't think she's here."

Anna's eyebrows furrowed together in concentration as she thought back to the couple of morning classes she usually shared with Barb, but having come up short. She also didn't know where Barb's car was parked for the party, or how late she stayed, but given how uncomfortable she'd looked the night before Anna had assumed she left the second Nancy had gone upstairs with Steve, while she and Becca had been working on their math homework.

"I haven't seen her," Becca said, and Anna shook her head.

"Sorry," Anna added.

"It's alright, just..." Nancy trailed off for a moment. "I'm sure she probably just stayed home today, I'll give her a call after school. Thanks anyways."

The three of them watched as Nancy scurried off in the direction of the lunch table where Steve, Tommy, and Carol were all watching her expectantly, and as soon as she sat back down, Landon looked back at them with a confused glance.

"Alright, so everything... else put aside concerning the four of them," he said, grimacing slightly. "What did I miss last night? What happened with Barb?"

"You really didn't miss much." Anna assured him. "Barb cut her hand when Nancy tried convincing her to shotgun a beer, and since Nancy wound up staying later at the party and going upstairs with Steve, Barb's probably just avoiding her."

"I felt bad for her, though." Becca added. "You could tell she didn't want to be there. Not that Tommy and Carol made it any easier for her."

"Did you talk to her at all?" Anna asked. "When you went to get her the first aid kit?"

Becca nodded. "A little." she said. "She said she was sorry if any blood got onto the carpet, but it was fine. I told her I was sorry in return if she wasn't having a good time, I mean Anna, you saw how uncomfortable she was, but she didn't say much after that. After she went into the bathroom to try and fix it, I went back out to the pool with you guys."

Anna spared one last glance at Nancy to see her still looking around the room, though by now she had to know for sure that Barbara wasn't in the cafeteria, if she hadn't been in any of her shared classes with Nancy that morning. When she looked back at her friends, Becca and Landon had managed to change the subject, moving onto that of the new movies premiering at The Hawk that weekend.