The Nowhere Girls(75)

“Thank you for coming to the restaurant,” Mrs. Suarez says.

“See, Mami,” Rosina says. “Grace is totally normal and totally a good influence on me.” Both sets of moms and daughters laugh.

“Rosina is a good influence on me, too,” Grace says.

“I doubt that,” Mrs. Suarez says, but with a hint of her daughter’s signature sass.

“Maria!” a man calls from the back of the restaurant.

“Tío José beckons,” Rosina says, rolling her eyes.

“I have to return to the kitchen,” Mrs. Suarez says. “It was very nice to meet you, Grace. And Mrs.—?”

“You can call me Robin.”

“Very nice to meet you, Robin. I hope you enjoy your meal.”

Rosina bounces away after her mom, and Grace can’t help but smile, imagining her as a little girl with pigtails, full of the same fire but in a much smaller and less coordinated body.

“Seems like you’ve settled in pretty well here,” Mom says.

“Yeah,” Grace says. “I guess I have.”

“I’m proud of you, honey,” Mom says. “I know things ended kind of badly in Adeline with your friends.”

Grace feels the sting of sudden tears in her eyes, but she shrugs in feigned indifference.

“People can be very cruel and closed minded when faced with things they don’t understand.” She pauses and looks down. She smoothes the napkin on her lap. “I want you to know I’m sorry. You suffered because of things I did. That wasn’t fair to you. I wish it could have been different.”

“You were called,” Grace says. “You had to answer.”

“That’s true.” Mom smiles. “But I’m taking you with me, aren’t I? I never asked you if you wanted to come.”

“I was mad at you for a long time,” Grace says. Something in her body is different. Her bones are harder; her blood is thicker. “But now, I think maybe it happened for a reason. For you, obviously. But for me, too. Those girls weren’t ever really my friends if they could drop me that easily. What happened brought us here. And I think I like it here. I think I’m happy.”

Grace realizes the truth of these words as they come out of her mouth. As much struggle as she’s had here, as much heartache, she has found something she never had in Adeline, something she never even knew she wanted.

“Oh, honey,” Mom says. “That makes me so glad.”

“So thank you, I guess,” Grace says. “For totally destroying my life and making me move across the country to this weird town.”

“You’re very welcome,” Mom says. She raises her glass. “To us.”

“To us,” Grace says, raising hers.

*

Grace and Mom sit on the living room couch, eating mint chip ice cream out of the container.

“I can’t believe I even have room for this after that dinner,” Mom groans. “It was so good.”

“Remember, all Salters have a separate dessert stomach,” Grace says. “That stomach is still empty.”

“Ah, yes,” Mom says. “Right you are.”

“What should we watch?” Grace says, clicking through the channels.

“I don’t know. I haven’t had time to watch TV in so long. I don’t even know what shows are on anymore.”

Grace stops clicking. She blinks. She wonders if she’s hallucinating.

The title on the screen reads: TROUBLE AT PRESCOTT HIGH SCHOOL.

“My school’s on the news,” Grace says, turning up the volume.

“Oh, yeah,” Mom says. “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you. They interviewed me this morning about all the vandalism that’s been happening and the secret girls’ club—what’s it called?”

“The Nowhere Girls,” Grace says.

“That’s right. Do you know anything about it?”

Grace hesitates. “No,” she lies, and something twists inside her as she does. Why can’t she tell her?

“I wonder if they’re going to show my interview,” Mom says, licking her ice-cream spoon.

A male reporter stands in front of the school with a microphone in his hand. It is long after school hours; the shot is empty and dark, almost sinister, as if a violent crime has been committed. The reporter says with journalistic gravitas: “A local high school is mired in conflict resulting from the activities of an underground feminist group calling themselves the ‘Nowhere Girls.’?”

Cut to a close-up of crumpled posters in a garbage can. “In recent weeks Prescott High School has been plagued by vandalism and increasingly volatile altercations between students. The group is also suspected of stealing sensitive computer data from the school. It is unclear how many members the group has, but the school administration believes it consists entirely of female students.”

Cut to a shot of the empty football field. “Targets of the group have included the Prescott High football team, who were last year’s regional champions but have a total losing streak so far this season, which Coach Dwayne Baxter believes is a direct result of bullying and slander by propaganda spread by the Nowhere Girls.”

The screen cuts to Coach Baxter, sitting at the desk Grace recognizes all too well. “You wouldn’t believe the team’s loss of morale,” he says. “They’re just devastated. These girls are accusing them of awful things, stuff I know my guys wouldn’t do. These are good guys. They’ve trained hard for this season. And now all their talent is being wasted because a group of troublemakers is going around spreading lies. These are hate crimes is what they are. Pure and simple. My guys are being singled out because they’re boys, because of their gender.”