One Small Thing(44)

I’m just placing a pot of water on the stove when I hear the front door open. My heart sinks. Dammit. They’re home early!

“Lizzie?” Mom calls.

“In the kitchen!”

Footsteps echo in the hallway. It sounds like more than one set.

“Is Dad with you?” I call back. “I was just making us some dinner.”

“You were?” Mom enters the kitchen and looks at the counter in happy surprise. “What a lovely treat!”

I turn back to the stove so she can’t see my smile of satisfaction.

“Your father’s just parking the car. He finished his delivery earlier than scheduled. But dinner will have to wait, I’m afraid. We have something to discuss first.”

I tamp down my uneasiness and turn around to face her again. That’s when I see a flash of movement from the doorway. A second later, someone else appears.

It’s a police officer.





18

Dad is right behind him. The three adults stand in the kitchen, all of them staring at me.

A bolt of terror pins my feet to the ground. Am I getting arrested for going to see Chase? Can disobeying your parents be a crime? I swing my head toward Mom, wondering if I can get some mercy from her corner.

Dad gestures me forward. “Lizzie, come meet Nick Malloy. Officer Malloy, this is my daughter Elizabeth.”

I still don’t move, but I manage a weak “Hi.”

Mom brushes by me. “Can I get you something to drink, Officer Malloy?”

“No, thank you, and it’s Nick, remember?”

I swear he winks at her. Okay, he wouldn’t be winking at her if he meant to throw me in the slammer. Right?

Is this how Chase felt when the police arrived at his house the night he ran over Rachel? Or did he get arrested at the scene? I suddenly realize I have no idea how it all went down. I only remember the police showing up at our door to give us the devastating news. My mom falling to her knees and wailing in anguish. My dad clutching his chest as if someone had just torn his heart out of it.

Chase did that to us. He made my mother cry and he hurt my father. And I sat in his bedroom today and talked to him like we were best friends. I had sex with him.

Oh God, I feel like I’m going to faint. Or throw up. Or both.

“Elizabeth, Officer Malloy is here to help us with your school problem,” Mom says. She makes a face at me, one that says for me to get my ass into the living room.

I trudge over and tip my chin in Malloy’s direction.

Mom grows impatient and drags me to the couch, then forces me to sit down beside her. My unreasonable panic begins to recede. There’s no way that an arrest is going down this slow and easy. Since I don’t have a school problem, this must be about someone else.

Officer Malloy takes a seat next to me and places a file folder on the coffee table. He flips it open and pulls out a form. I read it sideways. Temporary Restraining Order.

“What’s happening right now?” I ask slowly.

Mom takes my hand. “This is for you.”

“But I don’t have any problems at school.”

Officer Malloy frowns and taps his cheap ballpoint against the folder. “No problems?”

“Oh, Lizzie would never complain,” Mom says. “That’s why we need to do this.”

“This? What’s this?” I’m confused.

“So you aren’t being harassed at school?” Malloy asks.

“No, not at all.” The panic returns in a flood as I finally grasp what’s going on.

My parents want me to fill out police paperwork against Chase.

I bolt to my feet. “There’s nothing wrong at school. School’s fine.”

“Wrong,” Dad says rudely. “As long as Charles Donnelly is there, my daughter will never be safe.”

“Sit down, Lizzie,” Mom chides.

I do, but only because my legs are unsteady at the moment.

“Have you tried talking to the principal?” the officer inquires.

“Of course we have. We’ve been all the way up to the board of supervisors. Your boss, Mayor Stanton, is shouting about discrimination and lawsuits if we try to get him kicked out again.” Dad’s features are pinched. “Until he causes physical harm, damage to school property or anything that would warrant an expulsion, he stays.”

Good. I send a mutinous look at Officer Malloy. “And since he’s not bothering me, there’s no need for that.” I jab a finger at the form.

“Your parents said he intimidated you in the library,” the cop prompts. “Are you scared of him? Is that why you don’t want to report what happened? These restraining orders are here to protect you.”

I’m numb with shock. How do they know about the library thing? It happened today. Are they spying on me at school?

“Scarlett’s mother called me at work,” Mom explains, reading my confusion. “Scarlett told her he was harassing you in the library.”

Dammit. My lie is coming back to haunt me. I sink into the cushions and cover my face with my hands. “He wasn’t bothering me,” I say, but no one believes me.

“Obviously I called Principal Geary right away, but he said even if you came in and filed a complaint, it’ll be just a suspension because it’s Donnelly’s first bullying offense.”