The Nowhere Girls(29)

“That’s what we’re going to figure out,” Grace says. “Are you with us?”

“With you for what? You don’t exactly have a plan. And who’s going to listen?”

Grace and Rosina look at each other. They deflate just a little.

Grace thinks about the messages Lucy left in her room. She thinks about telling Rosina and Erin about them. But something about that feels wrong, as if those words are secrets meant only for Grace, as if telling people about them would be betraying Lucy’s trust.

“Erin’s right,” Rosina says. “It can’t be just us. No one’s going to listen to three weird girls.”

“Let me state for the record that I still haven’t agreed to anything,” Erin says.

Grace bristles a little at the “weird” label, but then she reminds herself that she chose to sit with these girls at lunch. God led her here, He gave her a choice, and she made it.

“There has to be a way we can reach all the girls of the school and bring them together,” Grace says. “Like have a meeting or something.”

They sit in silence for a long time. No one is eating. The drama of the lunchroom goes on around them, a wall of white noise. They cannot look at one another. They don’t want to admit their idea is doomed just as it got started.

“You could e-mail them,” Erin finally says, like it was obvious the whole time.

“How are we going to e-mail every girl in the school?” Rosina says.

“Easy,” Erin says. “I can get their e-mail addresses from the office. I have access to everyone’s information.”

“So we’ll send everyone an e-mail that says, ‘Hi, it’s us, three nobodies, and we’re still pissed off about old news that everyone wants to forget about, and we’re bringing it up because we want to make everyone’s lives miserable. So who’s with us?’?” Rosina rolls her eyes. “Why don’t we just toilet paper the guys’ houses or something? That’d probably be equally as effective.”

Grace feels something open inside her, a tiny whisper, a tiny light. “What if it wasn’t us?” she says. “What if it was nobody?” She pauses for a second. “What if it was everybody?”

“What are you talking about?” Rosina says.

“The e-mail,” Grace says. She is spinning. She is electric. “What if we sent it anonymously? It’d be coming from, like, nowhere. Then no one would know it was from us. And people would be intrigued by the mystery, right? They’d come to the meeting just to see what it’s all about.”

“?‘The Nowhere Girls,’?” Erin says. “That’s what we can call ourselves. On the e-mails.”

“Yes!” Rosina says. “The Nowhere Girls! Erin, you are on such a roll today.”

“I am not rolling anywhere,” Erin says. “But thank you.”

They sit in silence, all trying to imagine what a meeting called by nobody, from nowhere, would look like.

“But what’s going to happen once everyone gets there?” Rosina finally says. “If we want to stay anonymous, who’s going to lead the meeting?”

“Anyone could,” Grace says.

“But what if nobody does? What if it’s awkward and no one says anything? Or what if it’s total chaos?”

“What if it turns into a riot?” Erin says.

The bell rings, signaling lunch is over. The movement and sound of hundreds of students intensify as everyone packs up to leave, and the girls feel their bubble quickly losing form. They will soon be swept back into the world of high school.

“It’s not going to turn into a riot,” Grace says, speaking fast. “We’ll figure something out.”

“It’s time to go to class,” Erin says.

“Can we meet after school?” Grace says. “To plan this?”

“My shift starts at five, but I can meet for a couple of hours,” Rosina says. “Holy shit, we’re really going to do this?”

They look at Erin. She’s busy packing up her lunch.

“Erin?” Grace says. “What about you? Is after school today okay?”

She zips up her backpack. “After school is when I do my homework,” she says. “Then I watch my episode of TNG. I’ll have just enough time to do some extracurricular reading before dinner. If I meet after school, it will disrupt my schedule and throw everything into chaos.”

“Really, Erin?” Rosina says. “Chaos? That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

The lunchroom empties, and they are the last ones sitting in a sea of vacant tables, surrounded by dirty trays and soiled napkins.

“Erin,” Grace says. “Look at me.” Erin meets her eyes for almost a full second. “What’s more important? Your schedule, or doing something to stop the rapist assholes holding this school hostage?”

“?‘Holding this school hostage’?” Rosina says. “That’s good, New Girl.”

Erin fidgets with the zipper of her backpack. “I’m going to miss my episode,” she says, not looking up.

“So you’re coming?” Grace says.

Erin takes a deep breath, squints her eyes closed, and nods slightly. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today.”