Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(80)

On her way in, she’d taken the glances from curious snobs who didn’t understand why someone dressed like her was on campus. She was here for her friend.

The door swung open. “Hey, Alice,” Stacey said, “thanks. You’re relieving Gloria here.”

“Hi, Al,” Gloria said. She sat beside Terry at a desk, where they’d obviously been working hard. Books and papers were scattered around them. “She just needs to go to her Lit test, and then afterward she has to drop this paper for a seminar. I wrote down the buildings.”

“How are you doing?” Alice asked.

“Don’t ask me that,” Terry said, obviously struggling to put on a brave face. “They’re writing the buildings where I’m supposed to go.”

Alice nodded. “You got it. Zero questions about your emotional state. Ready to go ace some finals?”

Stacey had contacted Gloria and Alice after Terry got the news about Andrew, so the three of them could full-court press to get Terry through finals. With her own to take, Stacey figured it’d work better if they took shifts. “My girl is not getting kicked out of this school over some prehistoric nonsense. She’s taking her tests,” she’d said.

Neither of them argued. They agreed. They would drag Terry to the end of this school year if it killed them.

Gloria gathered her coat and purse. She paused beside Alice. “How are you?” she asked, keeping her voice down. “Ready for tomorrow?”

Tomorrow was Thursday.

“I’m not going,” Terry said, overhearing. “To the lab tomorrow. I haven’t figured out what to do yet. To stop it.”

Gloria and Alice exchanged a look.

Stacey scoffed, “Damn right you’re not going back to that place. Why would you? You have enough to worry about.”

“We probably should go,” Gloria said. “See how he takes it.”

“You guys should really just all stop going,” Stacey said. “Let that guy Ken go…”

Alice looked at Gloria. Stacey could hardly understand that it was so much worse than her own experience. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alice said to Gloria, who nodded and left.

Terry would figure out what to do, or wake up and feel more like herself and less like the star of a tragedy, and when that happened she’d want to know that Kali was okay, too. Alice could find out. She could also keep looking in the future for anything that might help them now.

“Let’s get her shoes on,” Stacey said.

“I’m right here,” Terry said. “I’m Terry, not ‘her.’?”

“Good.” Stacey pointed to the wardrobe. “Then pick out your own shoes and put them on.”

Alice let her struggle with the laces of her sneakers for sixty seconds, then took over. “We don’t stop to appreciate what a technological marvel these things must’ve been, the first time someone laced fabric together,” she said.

Terry looked down at Alice and then threw her head back in laughter. “My tennis shoes are marvels and— No, that’s you.” She kept laughing, and Alice was just glad to see that spark there. Terry would come back from this. They’d make sure of it.

“Wonders and marvels,” Terry said, rubbing a hand across her belly. Her top was long and loose, no doubt chosen purposely for that reason by Stacey or Gloria. “What a farce this is.”

Alice didn’t know what Terry meant. “Saying things like that, I bet you’re going to knock this test out of the park. That’s how I always figured college professors talked.” Terry smiled at her, and Alice finished tying the shoes with a gentle tug. “It’s only been a few days. You’ll get past this.”

“I know,” Terry said, almost dreamy. Her eyes were red, but not as puffy as the day before. “I remember from my folks’ accident. You think it’ll never get better, but days pass and you make a space to carry it with you.”

Alice nodded to Terry’s stomach. “Maybe you just don’t have the room yet. That’s already full.”

“There’s always room to carry your family.”

“Heartwarming as this is,” Stacey interrupted, “you better get going or you’ll be late.”

Alice dutifully escorted Terry to the English building, as indicated on Gloria’s note. It had a small classics library in the lobby and so, while Terry took her test, Alice hung out reading sections of books by flipping to a random page number she decided on beforehand.

Andrew had been a good man. When Gloria called to tell her, Alice took it hard. But apparently it was Ken who’d taken it hardest. Well, besides Terry. She hadn’t even realized Andrew and Ken knew each other well. It was sweet, but Ken couldn’t help in any way except taking on diner shifts, since he wasn’t allowed on and off Terry’s dorm floor. Besides, this was only for a couple more days, and then they’d be moving her home to live with her sister in their parents’ house.

Alice regretted that she didn’t get to say goodbye to Andrew. But not as much as she hated him not knowing he’d have a child. Terry had decided not to tell his family, at least not yet—her reasoning was that it might put them in danger from Brenner. Alice could guess part of her skipping the lab this week was a test to see what he’d do.

She shivered, considering it.