POWER BACK

Chapter 16: Everybody Knows

Everybody Knows

Jack, October

After first period Monday morning, I search the hallways for Peyton. She had a meeting with the Principal and coaches before school, and I want to find out how it went. I head over to her locker between classes, but she's not there. I'm about to go find Marshall, when I stop dead in my tracks. Somebody vandalized her locker door—"Whore," "Skank," "Cooze," "Slut" are written in blue and white window paint, the kind kids use to decorate their cars for games. I just stand there looking at it, rage roiling like bile in my gut.

Marshall walks up and stops beside me, assessing the situation. He reaches a finger out to touch the space between the locker door and the wall. At the bottom edge, there's some kind of clear, slimy liquid oozing from inside.

"Do you think she's seen it?" I ask him. "Is she here?"

He nods. "I saw her early this morning at our meeting."

"I wonder where she is."

"She has biology first period. Then Pre-Cal with Coach Baird. That's where she'd be headed."

How the hell does he know so much about her schedule?

I leave Marshall standing there messing with her locker combination—he probably knows that too—and take off toward the math hall.

I wait outside Baird's class, but she never shows. I send her a quick text.

Me: Where are you?

All through government, I keep checking my phone.

Nothing.

After class, I go straight to her locker. Somebody—probably Marshall—wiped away all the profanity, and there's no more slime oozing out.

Me: Did you clean her locker?

Marshall: 👍🏽

A thumbs up emoji? Seriously? Of course he'd text in emojis. Annoyed, I shoot him another text.

Me: On the inside too?

Marshall: Yeah. Egg whites, I think. Got her stuff laid out to dry in dark room.

What? I remind myself to ask him about this later.

Next class is floral design, and I'm kind of dreading it if I'm being honest. Bree will be there. And it's not like I'm avoiding her or anything, but I kind of just don't know how to be around her now. I mean, should I act like her boyfriend? Is that something she'd expect? I wish there was some kind of manual on this shit.

The problem is, I don't want to be her boyfriend. She's great and all, real pretty and smart. But she wasn't the one I had in mind. At the same time, it doesn't feel right to break it off either. So, I'm just stuck.

When I walk into class, she's bent over her notebook writing again. I peer over her shoulder before I take a seat. When she feels me next to her, she closes the notebook on her finger, saving her place. She doesn't say anything but squeezes my hand. Then she puts her head down on the desk. I lean into her with my hand on her shoulder. "Bree? You okay?"

She gives her head a little shake. Then she gets up, grabs the pickle pass, and darts out into the hall.

Should I follow her?

No. No it seems like she needs to be alone.

What the hell?

I glance over at her empty seat. Her notebook has fallen open to the poem she'd been writing.