slightly odd note in his voice, Fiona didn’t pause to
analyze it.
Instead she hurried upstairs and knocked on the
bathroom door. “Willow?”
Her teary voice said, “Yes?”
“I found some pads.”
“Really?” The door opened a crack, and Erin held
a hand out.
Fiona gave her the pads. Then, with a sigh, she went
to the bedroom next door and knocked. “Amy?”
“Go away!”
“We need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk!”
Tough, she wanted to say.
“You can’t hide up here for the next three days.”
“I want to go home!”
“We all want to go home.” Except, maybe, Fiona.
She decided to shelve the slightly startling realization
to think about later. “Can I come in?”
After a long pause, Amy said, “Oh, fine,” a bitter note
in her voice. I can’t stop you, she might as well have
said, but I don’t have to be nice.
Or maybe, Fiona thought, trying to be charitable,
I really do want to talk to you, but I’m sulking so I
can’t admit it.
Amy lay flat on her back on one of the beds, staring
up at the ceiling. Fiona could tell she had hastily wiped
away tears.
“You okay?” she asked gently, sitting on the other bed.
“They all act like they hate me.”
“No, they were just expressing disapproval.”
“She’s such a mouse, ” Amy spat.
Fiona counted to five. “Not everyone has your confidence, Amy.”
“You should have seen her outside. She was all
over Hopper.”
Ah. Was revenge sweet?
“Are you sure she was flirting, and not just playing?”
“Playing?” Amy rolled a sidelong, incredulous look
at Fiona. “Oh, right.”
“Willow is young in a lot of ways…”
“Not that young.”
Willow’s confidences weren’t hers to tell, and
anyway, Fiona wasn’t so sure Amy would care that the
other girl’s mother had died and that might be why she
was clinging to childhood.
“No matter what you think Willow did to you, you
owe her an apology.”
Tears abruptly filled the sixteen-year-old’s eyes, and
she flipped so her back was to Fiona. “No way!”
“To some extent the decision is yours.” Fiona paused.
“But I suspect you’ll get the cold shoulder from the
others until you say you’re sorry.”
Voice smothered by the pillow, Amy cried, “But
I’m not!”
Fiona stood. “If you make your apology gracious
enough, everyone will assume they were mistaken
about your motives. Think about it.”
Quietly she left the room, shutting the door behind
her. Had it been smart, she wondered, to give a girl like
Amy advice on how to manipulate people? How to get
along with other people, yes. But she’d done more than
that. She’d as good as said, Here’s how to act out the
scene so you’ll look good.
She made a face. It was done, and she couldn’t take
it back. She couldn’t say, If you’re not sorry, we’ll all
be able to see right through you.
Willow’s and Erin’s voices now came from their
bedroom.
Fiona rapped lightly on their half-open door. “Can
I come in?”
“Sure,” Erin said.
Willow’s eyes were still puffy. She sat cross-legged
on the bed, a pillow clutched to her stomach. “Um…
were those the only two pads?”
“No, John has quite a collection, apparently. I’ll get
them later.” She smiled. “I’m going on down. Why
don’t you two come with me?”
Willow hunched over and squeezed the pillow harder.
“I can’t! Everyone knows… And I acted so stupid.”
“I think you’ll find everyone sympathizes with you.
And, thanks to sex ed if not their own mothers, boys do
know about menstruation.”
Erin nodded, her black hair shimmering. “Come on.
It’s better to get it over with.”
“Is Amy down there?”
“No,” Fiona said. “Right now, she’s…in her room.”
She’d almost said, Sulking. Thank goodness she’d swallowed the admission in time.