“No, not really,” I said, gunning for the door. I could hear the commotion behind me as the women attempted to put out the fire. Noelle shouted my name, but I didn’t turn around. “I’m at an observatory somewhere in Soldier Woods. Can you Google map it and come get me?”
“Of course.” I could hear the sounds of rustling sheets, of him grabbing clothes and getting dressed. “But how did you get—”
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain all of it when you get here,” I said, shoving through the door at the bottom of the steps and into the warm hallway. “I’ll find whatever road it’s on and start walking down the hill. Just keep an eye out for me.”
“Okay. I’ll be there as fast as I can,” Sawyer said.
“Thanks, Sawyer. You’re saving my life,” I told him. “Again.”
Then I hung up the phone, just as the door opened and slammed behind me.
“Reed! You can’t go!” Noelle shouted. “You don’t understand what’s going on.” I turned around, the fury inside of me so fierce that it took all of my strength, my control, my energy, to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs.
“I understand one thing, Noelle,” I said, getting right in her face. “Since I’ve met you, you’ve done nothing but preach to me about friendship and sisterhood. But you have no idea what either one of those things means.”
Then I lifted her phone in front of her and flung it at the cement floor as hard as I possibly could. I shoved through the door at the far end of the hall, out into the bright, cold sunshine, leaving her behind—for good.
“I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong,” my mom said as I held the phone between my ear and my shoulder and attempted to zip up my Croton High School duffel bag.
I’d just taken the longest shower of my life, standing under the warm spray until the feeling came back into every one of my toes and the scrape on my cheek stopped stinging. It had been just long enough to charge my phone to the point where I could make this call–the call asking my parents if they could get me excused from school for a few days so I could come home.
“There’s just a lot going on here and I feel like I need to get away to deal with it,” I told her. The zipper finally unsnagged and let out a satisfying zip to punctuate my point. “I think I need some time alone to figure out … I don’t know … why I’m really here, I guess.”
“You’re not thinking of quitting school?” my mother said, alarmed.
I sat down on my bed and sighed, closing my eyes. “Not quitting school. Just maybe … quitting Easton.” It was hard to even get the words out. Quitting was not usually part of my repertoire. I looked down at the maroon and gold duffel bag. “Maybe I should go back to Croton High.”
“Reed, honey. Just think about all the opportunities you’d be passing up,” my mother said.
“I know, Mom,” I said through my teeth. “But just think about all the crazy I’d be passing up too.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. I could hear her quietly breathing, could practically hear her thinking. “I just don’t know—”
“Neither do I,” I said as patiently as I could. “That’s why I’m coming home just to think about it.”
“Reed, there are some things you should probably—”
“Mom, can we please just talk about this when I get there?” I asked, pushing myself up to standing again. “I have to get out
of here soon if I’m going to make my flight.”
When I’d returned to my room, my bag—the one the supposed cops had taken from me—and my laptop had been waiting for me on my bed. Those three goons, who must have been hired by Noelle to play their little parts in the charade, had brought my stuff back to my room. After letting another crushing wave of anger pass through me, I’d grabbed my wallet, retrieved my ATM card, and booked a one-way ticket to Pittsburgh. Turned out it was a lot cheaper than the roundtrip airfare to Paris I’d priced early last week. I hadn’t even had to empty out my bank account to buy it.
“Okay, hon. That’s probably better anyway. We can talk it all out face-to-face,” she said.
Yee-haw. I couldn’t wait. Suddenly I found myself hoping the flight was forced to circle the airport a couple dozen times before landing. I could use the extra alone time.
“I’ll call the headmaster, and your dad can fax a signed excuse note from his office,” she added. “And I’ll call your brother and tell him to drive home for dinner tonight.”
Scott. It would be so good to see him. It would be good to even get a noogie from him. At least I knew that he was one person who would never betray me, one person who actually knew what it meant to be a good friend.
“Okay. Thanks, Mom. I’ll see you guys soon.”
We hung up and I took a deep breath, glancing around to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. My laptop would be coming with me, but right now it was still open on my desk. My Easton Academy e-mail account was open on the screen. I glanced at the clock. To get my mom off the phone I’d kind of exaggerated about how little time I had before I had to leave.
I pulled the chair out gingerly, my body still recovering from its night in the woods, and sat down. A few of the e-mails were easy deletes–rehashings of lunchtime conversations from friends, a lengthy discussion about whether Lorna should date a sophomore. Then I saw a message from Portia and my heart lurched. Tiffany, Rose, and Portia had to be wondering what the hell had happened to me last night. I’d left them in the solarium doing my homework for me, promising I’d be right back, and then never returned. I quickly sent a message to the three of them, apologizing and saying a family emergency had sprung up and I’d be away for a few days. Then I sent a quick note to Mr. Barber, explaining the same and basically begging for leniency—just in case I did decide to come back here.
Back in my inbox, there was a week-old message from Ivy. Another surge of guilt constricted my lungs. I couldn’t believe I’d thought she’d kidnapped Noelle. I closed my eyes for a second and rested my head in my hands as I remembered, in vivid detail, the insane accusations I had spouted at her that night in the bathroom. She probably hated me, and with good cause.