Beat the Band (Swim the Fly #2)(81)

And then both of them are busting up again.

I break into a run, taking the stairs two by two. Bolting down the second floor hallway, I have to skid to a stop when I finally reach the girl’s bathroom. I knock on the hollow metal door, trying to catch my breath. “Helen? Are you okay?”

There are voices coming from the other side but I can’t make out what they’re saying.

I pound the door with my fist. “Helen! Are you in there? Is everything all right?”

Several eternal seconds pass. I raise my fist to knock again, when Valerie cracks open the door. She has this I-hate-your-guts scowl on her face. I can hear Helen’s heaving sobs coming from inside the bathroom, and it breaks my heart.

“You’re such a bastard, Coop.” Her tone is contained but you can tell she’s pissed because her French accent is thicker than usual. “How could you?”

The terrible look in her eyes startles me more than her words. “How could I what? What happened? Let me see her.” I try to look past Val but she doesn’t budge.

“Didn’t she have enough to deal with already?”

Helen’s sobbing is suddenly louder, like she’s just been hit with a wave of impossible grief. Valerie glances over her shoulder, then returns her accusing eyes to me. “Is it true? You helped Prudence and her friends pull all those pranks? Took a dead frog from biology so they could put it in her sandwich? Stole her locker combination so they could break in?” Valerie’s voice is laced with anger and disbelief. “And then helped them fill out an application to Our Lady of Mercy?”

“Did they tell you that? They’re full of crap.” But my stomach heaves with guilt, because I was the one who stole her locker combo. And who filled out the application. But the rest was all Prudence. Prudence and her minions.

“That’s what we thought, too.” Valerie shakes her head. “Then they showed us the video of you guys planning it all. And the text message you sent Prudence, the one with Helen’s locker combination.”

“OK, Val, listen —”

“And then,” she says, “they handed over a copy of the filled-out application form. In your handwriting. Helen told me about all the questions you asked her. To ‘get to know her better.’ You’re despicable, Cooper.”

“No, it wasn’t . . .” I can’t get the air deep enough in my lungs. “Look, let me —”

“I hope it was worth it,” Valerie says. “You completely destroyed her.”

“Let me talk to her, please!” I try to push past her.

Valerie doesn’t move. “She has nothing to say to you. You’re an *, Coop.”

“Helen!” I call over Valerie’s shoulder. “It’s Coop. Listen to me. I’m sorry! Come out. I can explain. Please!”

Valerie glares at me. “Go away.”

“But —”

She cuts me off with her dark stare. “Do the right thing for once in your life and leave her alone.”

Valerie disappears into the bathroom, the door swinging slowly shut behind her.

My body sags, like my skeleton’s turned to rubber. I lean back against the wall, trying to steady myself. Just as I turn to go, I see Matt and Sean approaching.

“Hey, Coop,” Sean calls out.

“They’re about to start,” Matt says, jittery with nerves. “We should —” The look in his eyes suddenly shifts. Restlessness replaced by concern. “What’s going on?”

“I f*cked up,” I say, feeling dead inside. “Completely and absolutely.”

“What happened?” Sean asks.

“I’m a huge tool. What can I say?” I gesture with my head toward the bathroom door. “They’ll tell you all about it. I have to get out of here.”

I turn and start walking toward the stairs.

“Coop, what’s going on?” Matt calls after me.

I don’t answer. Just keep moving.

“What about the show?” Sean says.

I trudge down the steps and head out the side door, into the blizzard. My feet crunch the snow on the ground. It’s dark. And freezing cold. But I don’t care.

I just keep walking.





BY THE TIME I LOOK UP from the snow-caked ground I realize I’ve walked at least a mile from the school. All the way up to the Rockville Avenue Pool.

Everything’s so quiet. Like the world is holding its breath.

I step up to the fence and grip it. Press my forehead against the chain links. They’ve emptied the pool for the season. It’s just a concrete hole now, filling up with snow. It’s weird being here in the winter. I forget all about this place once they close it down at the end of August. I mean, I know it still exists. It’s just that it’s like a television that’s been turned off. You pass by, you know it’s still there, but you just sort of ignore it.

I scale the fence. Don’t care if anyone sees me. It’s like I’ve gone numb. Don’t even feel the rawness in the air anymore, the sting on my skin.

It’s a good thing they take the diving boards down in the winter or I might be tempted to see if I could survive a cannonball into the powder that’s accumulated on the bottom of the pool. It’s only a few inches deep, so probably not.