People Like Us(35)

“You’re way off.” I turn around and glance back at the juniors, contemplating setting the record straight about exactly what went down with Tai and Tricia. But Brie gently pulls me back toward Barton Hall.

“There’s one more thing.” We’ve reached the stone steps of Barton and she gazes up at my window. “Somehow it got out that Jessica and Spencer slept together. And people think it’s weird that she died right after that. Now, with you turning on all your friends and hanging out with Nola, who has a reputation for necrophilia and devil worship—”

“That’s bullshit. We made up that rumor.”

“Well, it’s coming around to bite you in the ass now. Maybe reconsider hanging around with her until the investigation wraps up.”

I kick the grass and stifle a scream of frustration. “This sucks.”

“It’s going to be okay. We just need to lie low and ride it out.”

I study her. “You still think suicide?”

She takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “It’s tough to say without seeing the evidence.” A lawyer answer. She looks at her watch. “I have a ton of Latin.”

“French.”

“So, no more Nola?” It’s never easy to argue with Brie. First, she phrases requests like statements. Second, her level of self-confidence makes me doubt myself. And third, standing this close, I forget why my side of the argument was important in the first place.

“Come on. Would you stop hanging out with Justine if I asked you to?” I try to say it casually, like it isn’t an actual question.

Brie’s face clouds over. “Fine. I didn’t realize you and Nola were so close.” She flings my jacket at me. “Talk soon.”

I stomp into the building and up the stairs to my room. I have to get some actual homework done tonight. It takes me until midnight to catch up on my work and I almost fall asleep at my desk, but Nola’s jabs are bothering me. Obviously I’m not dating Greg, nor am I interested, but I do need to learn more about Jessica and what she might have known about my past.

Greg is probably the last person I should be speaking to, after what Detective Morgan said. But he also knows Jessica better than anyone else. I brush my teeth, change into my pajamas, climb into bed, and switch off the light before I decide to call him. He doesn’t pick up, which makes sense, because by now it’s approaching one o’clock. I decide not to leave him a message. He’ll see that I called. If he wants to call back, he will.

But by one thirty, I still can’t sleep and I somehow end up dialing Spencer’s number.

“Katie D. How many lives have you ruined today?” he greets.

“Never mind.”

“Don’t hang up,” he says hastily. I can hear him typing rapidly. “Sorry. I’m in a bad mood because I’m losing. Let me die.” For a moment I hear him punching his keyboard violently, and then there’s silence. “Sorry. I’ve missed our Insomniacs Anonymous meetings.”

“Can’t say the same.” I could. But I never would. Both of us are terrible sleepers. We think too much. Night was one thing Brie and I could never really share, because she’s an early sleeper, so as much as I love lying next to her for the first hour, it very quickly becomes torturous staring up at a dark ceiling. Spencer and I drove around, made out, talked endlessly about nothing, threw rocks at the moon. Stuff you do when there’s nothing else to do. I snuck Spencer into my dorm overnight once—an infraction that could have resulted in expulsion—and we climbed the tower and spent the night watching for shooting stars. I fell asleep eventually, but when I woke, his forehead was still pressed against the window, his eyes trained on the thin halo of light rising over the lake. That was the night I told everyone Spencer and I finally had sex, the night it was supposed to happen. Somehow, though, we ended up just watching, waiting. There was supposed to be a meteor shower. The heavens failed us.

“I love your honesty.” I hear him lighting a cigarette and opening his bedroom window. I imagine myself there with him. I’ve always hated the smell of smoke, except in the freezing cold, tucked under his battered down parka. I can’t explain it.

“Then tell me something.”

“Ladies’ choice.”

I want to ask both about Jessica and whether the police have questioned him, but Spencer is impulsive about telling the truth. He’s more likely to be forthcoming if he brings it up himself than if I ask him and it’s obvious that I care. Because then it’s a game. “Are you seeing anyone?” I ask instead.

“Cops aren’t exactly my type, you know?”

His other talent is seeing right through me.

“Let’s meet up.”

“Seriously?”

“Sure. Sleep is becoming a vanishing memory at this point. Meet me at Old Road in fifteen.”

He doesn’t hesitate. “Bring snacks.”

I show up with two Vitaminwaters and a handful of energy bars. I don’t really have anything else. When he pulls up, I climb into his car and am immediately enveloped by the smells of vanilla coffee and cigarette smoke. He gestures to the cup holder and I pick up a coffee cup gratefully.

“I knew you would screw up the snack mission. There are doughnuts in the back.”

I reach behind me and pick out a glazed chocolate. “Thanks.”