Take the Fall(10)

“Do you think she saw him push—”

“—haven’t slept since Friday.”

“My dad bought a gun.”

“Good idea, the killer could come after you!”

“Fuck off, that isn’t funny.”

My mouth is like sandpaper. If Gretchen were here, I’d know exactly what I should be doing, thinking, saying. Like after the bus crash that hospitalized half the lacrosse team. She reached out immediately to the victims’ families and friends and started a fund-raiser, and I stepped in to help her get organized. She never told me what to say, but she set the tone and I adjusted accordingly. Without her, I feel adrift. I hover at Aisha’s side, but she doesn’t seem to know what to do or say either. I think we’re both relieved when Haley spots us and swoops in.

“You look awful. Why are you even here?”

I give a nervous shrug. “Same as everyone else. I want to know what’s going on.”

“Nobody knows anything.” She sighs, tightening her ponytail and brushing her spiky bangs out of her eyes. “I’ve heard everything from Marcus stalking Gretchen to her dad having a disgruntled employee to it actually being suicide to her sister killing her.”

“Kirsten?” I shake my head immediately. Gretchen might have disliked her little sister, but it was completely one-sided.

“They had that fight at Brianne’s party. . . .” Aisha frowns. “But yeah, deranged killer on the loose seems more likely.”

I squeeze my eyes shut at the idea of the killer in the woods actually being a crazed lunatic. But it could have been someone random, no one Gretchen knew at all. . . .

“The cops still haven’t found her Mercedes,” Haley continues. “Oh, and they’re questioning Kip Peterson.”

“What?” This is a surprise. To my knowledge, Kip never even spoke to Gretchen that night. “Where did you hear that?”

“Reva Stone. She said she ran into him on his way to the sheriff’s office.”

I hesitate. Reva was no friend of Gretchen’s, but when I think about it I guess I understand why Kip might be questioned. He’d been following her around with cartoon hearts in his eyes since at least the sixth grade. Gretchen was never interested in dating him, but he always seemed good-humored about it.

“What did they want to ask him about? The car?”

She shakes her head. “No, I guess he saw something that night.”

I look at her, wide-eyed. “He said that? What did he see?”

Haley bites her lip. “He claims he saw Gretchen in the woods before she died.”

I stop in my tracks. I hung out with Kip for at least an hour at Brianne’s house Friday night. We played UltaShock in the basement, as we usually do at her parties, but if he left when we did, he might’ve actually seen what happened to Gretchen—if not what happened to me first. “But I thought he stayed at the party. Was he in the park?”

“Sonia.” Aisha touches my elbow, looking worried. “Do you think Kip could be the person who chased you?”

I freeze up. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I guess I should. “Is he a suspect?”

“He was so creepy about her, he should be,” Haley says. “The way he followed her around with that camera.”

“You talking about that perv Peterson?” Derek comes up, wrapping his arm around Aisha. She gives him a look. “What? He carries that camera around all the time, but when he’s not ‘on assignment’ for the yearbook, all he does is take pictures of tits. What about that isn’t pervy?”

Aisha stops and raises her eyebrows. “You seem to know a lot about these pictures.”

Derek grins. When he leans in to kiss her, Haley makes a face and pulls me aside. “Are you okay, Sonia? Like, really? Everyone’s so freaked out about all this, but I can’t even imagine how terrified you must’ve been . . . or how you must feel now.”

“Thanks. It was scary—I just—” I pull my sleeves over the marks on my wrists, but my hands have started trembling again. “I miss her.”

She presses her mouth into a line and gives my arm a reassuring squeeze.

I try to ignore the way my skin stings under her hand. Haley, Gretchen, Aisha, and I all used to be close. We’ve known one another since kindergarten, grew up at each other’s houses, but at some point around middle school, Gretchen and I paired off. We hung out with each other exclusively more and more, and she started inviting just me to sleep over and even convinced her dad to bring me on the occasional family trip. It felt so intimate at the time, almost like having a sister. I didn’t realize how much we had alienated Haley and Aisha until it was too late. We never fought or had a misunderstanding; we were still friendly with one another at school. It just sort of happened. But it’s always felt weird.

There’s a mandatory assembly after homeroom and the halls fill with low chatter as we file toward the cafetorium. I get stuck behind a couple of snickering guys and I’m about to ask what they could possibly find funny until I tune in to their conversation.

“Bullshit, man. Friday night?”

“That’s what he’s telling everyone.”

“Why would Kirsten Meyer hook up with that little shit freshman?”

The guy shakes his head and laughs. “Kid claims he’s got moves.”