The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett(24)

“I’ll check on Rush in the morning, OK? Thanks for bringing him home.”

“No problem,” Connor said.

I watched him walk down the street to his car and wondered if it was possible he actually meant the part about Lizzie not being his type. Were there people who were immune to her charms? It seemed more unlikely than the existence of werewolves.





Chapter 10


Day Seventeen

The search parties started to lose their enthusiasm. At school, people talked about Lizzie’s disappearance as if it had happened in the distant past. Every once in a while, Lizzie’s mom went on TV, begging anyone who had any information about her daughter to come forward. That was the saddest part. Other people could forget about Lizzie, but not Ms. Lovett. She’d always feel the pain of her daughter’s disappearance and the pain of watching everyone around her slowly stop caring.

I thought about calling Ms. Lovett. I knew how stupid it was, which is why I only thought about it. But I wanted her to know someone still had Lizzie on their mind. And I wanted her to know Lizzie was in a better place, which didn’t mean dead but out in the woods where she belonged. But I couldn’t say that, because people didn’t agree with the notion of werewolves, which had become increasingly awkward for me.

Like when Mychelle Adler came up to my locker and said, “So I hear you think Lizzie Lovett turned into a werewolf.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“Is it true?” Her expression said that she really, really wanted it to be true, because then she could make fun of me forever.

School had been bad enough since I’d read my Griffin Mills essay. For years, I’d been mostly ignored for being weird and nerdy. The essay made it different. People started actively making fun of me. It was hard to walk into school every day knowing I was going to be mocked. I didn’t get why everyone was treating what I wrote like it was a huge insult. I didn’t think I was the only one who wished she’d grown up somewhere else.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you there’s no such thing as werewolves?” Mychelle asked.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you opinions should be left to people with brains?”

For a second, I thought Mychelle might hit me. It would have been an extremely unexpected addition to my day and slightly fascinating, because I’d never been in a fistfight. But she backed off.

“Watch yourself, Hawthorn Creely.”

I burst out laughing. “Seriously? Watch myself? Are we in the remake of Mean Girls?”

Mychelle gave me one last unamused look and went on her way. The good thing was I didn’t have any classes with her for the rest of the day. The bad thing was Griffin Mills High School was pretty small, and there were plenty of other people I had to avoid.

? ? ?

“If you didn’t want people making fun of you for thinking Lizzie’s a werewolf, then you shouldn’t have told anyone you think Lizzie’s a werewolf,” Emily said at lunch.

She had a point.

Though I’d only told four people, and I couldn’t imagine Emily or my parents running around town spreading gossip. Rush had really outdone himself.

“I wish you’d just entertain the possibility that I’m right,” I told Emily.

“Hawthorn, you can’t will werewolves into existence because you’re bored.”

I took a bite of my sandwich, which was some sort of avocado concoction I wouldn’t have chosen to eat.

“I wonder if Enzo will come back to the diner.”

“Why?” Emily asked. “Because he’s so desperate to see you? You’re lucky he hasn’t.”

“He’s not a killer.”

“Maybe not. But he’s damaged.”

I was pretty sick of everyone acting like they knew what I needed when no one really knew me at all. I was about to tell that to Emily when the gym door opened and a guy walked out.

“Sorry. I didn’t think anyone came out here,” he said when he saw us. I’d noticed him around school because he wore skinny jeans and had all sorts of piercings, which was not the usual style in the Mills.

“Well, we do,” I said.

“Mind if I smoke? There’s nowhere else to go on campus.”

I shrugged, and he lit a cigarette. Then he nodded at Emily.

“Hey, you’re in my guitar class, right?”

“Yeah,” Emily said. “Sixth period.”

“You’re really good.”

Emily blushed, and I felt embarrassed for her.

“I’m OK. Piano is my instrument. I just took guitar for fun.”

“Maybe you should think about switching instruments. I’m Logan, by the way.”

He held out his hand. They shook. Emily told him her name. I wasn’t addressed at all. I focused on my sandwich as if I was choosing not to be a part of their conversation.

“You’ve been playing guitar for a long time, haven’t you?” Emily asked.

“I got my first guitar before I could walk.”

I rolled my eyes. Emily smiled at him.

“It shows.”

“I’m actually in a band,” Logan said. “Strength in Numbers? You might have heard of us.”

I couldn’t believe he actually uttered that clichéd line. I looked at Emily to see if she was equally amused, but she was gazing at Logan like he was the first boy she’d ever seen.