A Tragic Kind of Wonderful(29)
A spike of adrenaline burns through me.
“Mel, what did she tell you?”
I take a deep breath and let it out, trying to cool down. “What’d she say we fought about?”
“She said you made fun of us behind our backs until one day she had enough. She told us what you supposedly said, about Zumi being clumsy and crude, and me being a creepy hermit.”
“Supposedly? You didn’t believe her?”
“I hardly believed anything Annie said. Besides, it all sounded like stuff she would say. Didn’t sound like you. But we didn’t see you anymore, so it didn’t matter much.”
“Zumi believed her.”
Connor grimaces. “Yeah, it got to her. Especially when you didn’t defend yourself.”
I look down at my hands.
He says, “I told myself I wasn’t going to ask, but … why didn’t you answer our texts and … I mean, I’ve never had mono but it couldn’t have been that bad.”
“I was pretty sick,” I say. “But I also didn’t want you guys caught in the middle of me and Annie.”
“So what did you two really fight about?”
I shrug. “Take her story and switch the names around, for a start.”
“I suspected that much,” he says. “What else?”
“We also fought because I found out Annie liked girls—”
“Wait, you didn’t just suspect—she actually told you?”
I nod. It was unmistakable.
He closes his eyes and tips his head back to face the ceiling. “Shit.”
“Yeah. Then I asked if she knew Zumi had a crush on her. She said of course, but that it would never happen. Which … which was fine. Everyone has a right to like who they want. But I … I called her out on how she led Zumi on. Then whenever Zumi started looking too hopeful, Annie would push her away and rave about some guy in a movie or magazine to throw her off. I couldn’t talk to anyone about this stuff to see if I was imagining it, so I just kept it bottled up. When Annie flat out admitted it, I … I just kind of lost it.”
Connor looks down again. “That’s why you stopped talking to us. You couldn’t explain what happened without Zumi hearing all that.”
I nod. “I never understood why Zumi loved Annie, but that doesn’t matter. Why does anybody love anybody? I guess I was a coward. If I was a good friend, I’d have told her.”
Connor reaches out and pulls my dangling feet up to rest solidly on the sofa cushion. “She wouldn’t have believed you.”
“A good friend would have tried anyway.”
“I guess I’m a bad friend, too,” Connor says. “I didn’t know everything you knew, but I knew Annie didn’t treat her well. I could see Zumi stung by it sometimes, but mostly she was happy around Annie even without them being together. I don’t think people have the right to interfere with anyone else’s relationships, even if it’s with someone you think is no good. We wouldn’t want Zumi meddling with who we like.”
I smile. “Except she would anyway.”
“Okay.” He smiles back. “Bad example.”
HAMSTER IS RUNNING
HUMMINGBIRD IS HOVERING
HAMMERHEAD IS CRUISING
HANNIGANIMAL IS LEVEL
We’re supposed to finish our Chem lab reports and submit them online today, only something’s wrong with the Web portal. Next week is spring break but Mr. Gottfried doesn’t want to put it off that long. He tells us to send everything in from home by Sunday night. This makes me think about the assignments Zumi’s missing. Mr. Gottfried says no one’s picked up any work for her, so I do.
I text Connor to meet me at lunch. He knows Zumi’s schedule, and we go room to room picking up her assignments. It strikes me as odd that he hasn’t been doing this but he says she told him not to. I’m surprised he didn’t just do it anyway. I think he’s more out of sorts than he’s admitting. It’s the push I need to decide to do it myself.
When school lets out, I ask Holly for a ride.
“Really?” she says.
“I have Zumi’s textbooks and can’t carry everything on my bike.”
“Oh.”
“You talking to her now?” Declan asks.
“Nope.” I don’t know what else to say.
I get everything organized while Holly brings the car around. They help cram everything into the backseat, bike and me included.
Fifteen minutes later, everything is piled on the curb in front of Zumi’s house.
“Mel,” Holly says. “You know what you’re doing?”
“Nope.”
Holly looks at me for a moment. Then she nods. “Call me if you need anything.” She drives away.
It takes two trips to shuttle everything to Zumi’s porch. I strap my stuff to the bike rack so I’m ready to hop on and ride away when the time comes. I take it slow, trying to work out what I’ll say, but it all depends on Zumi. And if she won’t say anything, she also won’t stand around to listen to any prepared speeches.
I gather up her books and binders and knock on the door.
It opens. Zumi’s in her usual faded jeans, sneakers, and her black DON’T ASK hoodie.