All the Rage(31)

“I know about it,” he says. “Ibis has dumbass traditions too. Stupid.”

“Well, stupid me.”

“You walked out on your shift to go to a party?”

“Yep.”

“Seriously?” He sounds so unimpressed. I just nod. He shakes his head. “I feel like I’m missing something here, Romy, because—”

“You ever do anything stupid before?”

“Well, yeah, but—” His forehead crinkles. He stares at the ground like he’s angry at it and it makes me angry with him because I can tell he’s not just going to leave it which means I need to be lies ahead of any of his questions and I’m not sure I can think that fast today. “When your mom called, she said they found you on a road thirty miles out from Godwit. She said you were…”

“Drunk?”

That quiets him a second. “No. Just wrung out.”

I stare at the fence, try to fill the blank space with the right kind of lie; the right kind of lie for Leon. Jack Phelps. It comes to me, in Turner’s voice.

“This guy, Jack Phelps—he’s kind of a legend around here. Be my mom’s age now. When it was his turn at the lake, he got drunk and ended up in Godwit. Seemed like a neat idea to see if I could get that far.” God, it sounds just stupid enough to my ears, it could be true. “I bet you’re sorry you looked for me now.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because a real girl is missing.”

“What?”

“Because a girl is really missing and I was okay.”

“You’re telling me you were so wasted you thought heading to Godwit on your own was a good idea? Doesn’t really sound to me like you were all that okay.”

“I’m okay now.”

“Well, good.” He looks at me and I make myself look back. I need the girl he was looking for to be the one he’s seeing now. He says, “I’m not sorry I looked for you.”

You. You. Me.

Her.

He leans over and gives me a small kiss. Seals it in.





i get up quietly. I get myself ready.

I brush my teeth and then my hair, pulling it into a ponytail that makes the bruise on my cheek more pronounced because they’ll tear me apart if they think I’m trying to hide anything. Downstairs, Todd’s making coffee. He glances at me. Grabs two mugs and holds one out. I shake my head and he puts it back.

“Thought I’d let your mom sleep in. She didn’t get much shut-eye this weekend.”

“Sorry,” I mumble and I sense an apology coming because Todd isn’t the kind of guy who makes digs and he thinks I took it that way. He was just saying how it is. Mom didn’t get much sleep this weekend and it was because of me. “Any word about Penny?”

“Only if word is she’s still missing.” He crosses his arms and leans against the counter. “Be front of the Grebe News, I bet. Definitely talk of the school.”

“Yeah.”

“Bet plenty of people’ll be relieved about that, after the lake.”

Sometimes I want to ask Todd how he’s so good at that. Knowing more than he lets on. But I have a feeling it’s from all those years he spent on the outside after his accident. When all you can do is watch, you see.

“Maybe. Anyway. I better go.”

“Straight to school.” He says it so firmly, it startles me, seems to startle him a little too. “You go straight to school.”

“I will.”


I walk slowly. I’m in no hurry to get there. When the building finally comes into view, my body starts to rebel, one part of me right after the other. My chest tingles, my pulse doubles, my throat constricts. A girl is missing.

Let that girl be the one they talk about.

It’s quiet when I reach the parking lot, a point in the morning between arrivals. I spot something out of place on the student side, sinister as a black dog; Turner’s Explorer. There’s life past the front doors—bodies moving on their way to wherever. John and Jane holding up the background. Jane. That was less than a week ago.

I take a deep breath and step inside. There are eyes on me, eyes giving me good, long looks that make me want to disappear but what they’re talking about is Penny.

While they look at me.

I pass the main office, and I see Turner, the grim center of a group of faculty members pressing him with questions. His mouth is moving but his gaze flicks my way and lingers. A cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. I don’t want people to see me near Turner, for the thoughts that would make them think. I slip past some lockers, turn a blind corner, and then I’m standing in an alcove and Brock is nearby, at his locker. He spots me before I can find somewhere else and at first, it seems like he’s not sure what he wants to do about this. Alek isn’t with him. Penny gone. Me, here. He closes his locker, takes me in from the bruise on my cheek down.

“Wow,” he says softly. “You sure got f*cked on Friday.”

My heart in a fist. Is a fist.

“Say that again, Brock.”

“Up,” he amends. “I mean f*cked up. You need someone to tell you about it?”

“What makes you think I need telling?”

“Well, the good sheriff says you don’t remember a goddamn thing. But I could let you in on it. You want to hear?”