What Would Emma Do? Part 10

"Emma, perhaps you should stop by the first aid room and talk with this young woman. It might change your mind about keeping any secrets."

The last thing I wanted to do was sit vigil next to a hysterical popular wannabe with Darci and her cronies.

"I should really get back to math," I said, trying to put a hint of regret into my voice, as if the allure of my education was just too much. Officer Ryan had a strange smile on his face, and a minute before the words left his mouth I had a horrible feeling what he was going to say.

"Are you sure? It's Joann."

19.

G.o.d, does math come easily to you? I notice you didn't seem to have any trouble with multiplying loaves and fishes. Maybe that should be our story problem. "If you are the Son of G.o.d and have to feed a crowd of several hundred, how many times will you have to increase the loaves and fishes to meet the needs of the crowd, a.s.suming each crowd member wants one fish and one loaf? Then rework the problem a.s.suming 25 percent of the crowd are vegetarians and won't eat the fish, but will want double the bread."

Joann lay on the cot in the first aid room. Calling it a first aid room is really a bit of a stretch. TES is too small of a school to afford a trained health professional and a separate s.p.a.ce for first aid needs. In reality, the first aid room is a large supply closet with a cot and a gym teacher who wishes he had gone to medical school. That gym teacher, Mr. Hansen, was holding Joann's limp wrist, taking her pulse. His face was grim and serious, as if at any moment he would have to perform open-heart surgery on her using only a Bic pen and his shoelaces. Mr. Pointer stood to the side with his arms crossed, no doubt devastated to have his train speed lecture interrupted. Joann's eyes widened when she saw me at the door. I raised a hand in greeting.

"Ms. Proctor?" said Mr. Pointer, looking at me. "If your meeting with Mr. Karp is over, you need to report back to cla.s.s, that is, unless you got lost."

"I needed to stop in here before coming back," I said. "I have a, uh, women's issue." My face flushed, but it was nothing compared to Mr. Pointer's reaction. He took a step back, as if I had admitted to having a small problem with the Ebola virus. He gave a brisk nod and without another word left the room, leaving my female issues up to more trained professionals. Clearly he was afraid of some kind of wild menstruation breakout. Mr. Hansen gave me an annoyed look. He had a real medical emergency on his hands; he didn't want to have to deal with something as common as a period.

"I'll get the key to the feminine product machine in the ladies' room. Will you wait here with Joann in case she starts to feel lightheaded again?"

Both of us looked down at Joann. She was doing her best to look wan and frail, like a Victorian lady with the vapors.

"I'll just lie here till my mom comes," Joann said in a soft, whispery voice.

Mr. Hansen patted her shoulder, as if she was being very brave and she might not make it until he returned. I was getting nauseated with all this drama. Once Mr. Hansen left I sat down on the end of the cot. Joann propped herself up on her elbows.

"You're getting your period?" She rummaged through her purse, looking for her emergency stash of supplies. Joann had a black hole of a purse that contained everything you might need for up to a two-week camping trip.

"No, I heard what happened and wanted to see you." Joann's eyes s.h.i.+fted away from me.

"What did Officer Ryan want?" she asked.

"They think Todd is behind all the stuff that's been happening. They're implying that he was planning some kind of school violence, a terrorist attack thing."

Joann's eyes went wide. Suddenly she didn't look so ill; she looked excited to be on the ground floor of what was sure to be prime TES gossip.

"Wow," she said finally. "I can't believe he did that. I mean, I knew he was different, but still." Her voice trailed off as she shook her head. I looked at her with my mouth falling open.

"What are you talking about? Todd didn't do anything."

"You just told me the police said he's behind everything."

"I said the police think he's behind everything. There's a difference."

"You know, Todd never liked Darci and Kimberly."

"No one likes them."

"Well, someone likes them or they wouldn't be popular. Everyone makes judgments about them, and they're really nice."

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. It wasn't that long ago that Joann couldn't stand Darci or Kimberly, but I guess all had been forgiven now that they had joined forces on important issues like making sure the spring dance was a success.

"They're saying he slipped something into the food when he was working in the caf."

"I always thought it was a bad idea to make us work off detentions in the cafeteria. I heard Kyle spit into the mac and cheese when he was there."

"Maybe Kyle did it."

"Do you think he was involved?" Joann lowered her voice.

"No, I don't, but what do you think? Did anything taste funny in your lunch today?" I smacked my forehead as if just realizing something. "I totally forgot. You brought your lunch, didn't you? Puts a hole in the whole hot lunch distribution theory."

"Yeah, I guess." Joann didn't meet my eyes.

"The important thing is, Todd didn't do anything to anyone."

"How do you know? I mean, is it possible that your crush on him is blurring the facts for you?"

"I don't have a crush," I said.

Joann gave me a knowing smile with a raised eyebrow.

"What? I don't have a thing for him. Maybe-and I mean this is at best-maybe I am mildly intrigued with the guy. He's a bit different. He's nice. I wouldn't mind getting to know him better. It is a million miles away from being in love and wanting to date him."

"I didn't say love, I said like."

"Are you listening to me? I don't like him. Only in this town does talking to a guy once or twice mean that you want to have his future children."

"Fine," Joann said, giving a tired sigh.

"So what happened?"

Joann's face flushed red, and she looked away again.

"I suddenly felt really lightheaded and the light seemed all funny, and the next thing I knew I must have pa.s.sed out, because I woke up with Mr. Pointer looking down at me."

"Well that should give you nightmares for a few years."

Joann gave a nervous laugh.

"You've never pa.s.sed out before," I said, pointing out the obvious. "Did you skip breakfast or something?"

"I didn't fake it, if that's what you think."

"I didn't say you did."

"I'm not saying anyone did anything to me. Maybe I just pa.s.sed out."

"There's a lot of that going around these days."

Joann opened her mouth but didn't have a chance to speak before Darci swooped in like the angel of death.

"Oh. My. G.o.d! Kimberly just told me what happened." Darci held her hands up near her heart, as if she had just received the news that Joann had been mauled to death in a tragic tractor accident. "I told Justin to find Colin and tell him what happened. I'm sure he'll want to be here."

"I'm fine too, in case you were concerned," I said.

Darci looked over at me and then chose to ignore me. She sat on the edge of the cot and rubbed Joann's arm.

"Someone's got to do something." Darci shook her head in disgust. "What is the school waiting for, someone to be killed? Didn't I tell you just the other day that you were at risk?"

"I gotta go," I said. Both of them looked at me. Joann seemed surprised that I was still there.

"Take care of yourself," said Joann. I'm sure she didn't mean it the way it sounded, but it felt like a threat. I slipped out into the hallway. There was still no sign of Mr. Hansen. I couldn't fathom going back to math, and I didn't want to stay there and wait for Colin to rush to Joann's side. I felt the note Joann had pa.s.sed me in math wadded up in my pocket. I pulled it out to see how she had responded to the Todd interesting or odd question. Her answer was at the bottom in her typical rounded printing that looked like cartoon lettering: Interesting and odd.

I read it again. Interesting and odd. Just like my life.

I waited for a beat and then pushed open the door and walked out of the school.

20.

G.o.d, I totally get why people in the Bible wandered out in the desert for forty days and forty nights-they wanted some time to themselves. One of the many problems with Indiana is there are no deserts. If you want some time to yourself around here, people won't leave you alone. They just keep asking, "What's wrong?" over and over until you feel like running away screaming. Maybe that's why Moses wandered off-he wanted to get out of his small town.

How boring is it if I admit I had never skipped school before? How did I make it to senior year without skipping a few cla.s.ses? If I'm going to be this well behaved at seventeen, how boring am I going to be at thirty? There have been a few times when I stayed home "sick" when the only thing that was really wrong with me was being sick of school, but this was the first time I just flat-out skipped. I froze outside the school door. I wondered if some kind of alarm would go off, as if I'd made a prison break. For all I knew a searchlight would pop out of the top of the building and a pack of wild German shepherds would be released to chase me down.

Nothing happened. I took slow deep breaths, waiting. Still nothing. I heard the bell go off inside and the sound of people moving around in the halls. There was the clang of lockers and the buzz of everyone talking. I gave the TES gossip network five minutes before everyone knew that Joann had joined the selected afflicted, and that Todd was suspended pending his status as chief suspect.

In fairy tales the beautiful princess is woken up with a kiss. For me everything went to h.e.l.l with one kiss. Just one lousy kiss (that for the record, I really don't think should count, since I didn't know it was coming and it was over before I knew it started). Colin has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I think I love the idea of him always being a part of my life more than I love him. With that kiss everything between us changed, and it spilled over to Joann and from her to the rest of the school. I gave the door one more look and then walked away.

I wanted to see Todd. When I told Joann I didn't like him, that might have been going a bit too far. I'm not saying that I did like him, but rather that the situation was still unclear. I decided to wander casually past Todd's house. I wanted him to know that I had told the police I knew he didn't do it. When I rounded the corner to his street, I stopped in my tracks. The stay-at-home-mom brigade was outside his house. They had their strollers parked, their arms crossed, and their tongues wagging. It was the Wheaton version of villagers with torches and pitchforks. It hadn't taken long for the news to spread about the idea of Todd being mixed up in what was happening. It could turn ugly if Todd were to wander outside. If I walked up to the front door, I estimated it would take no less than five minutes for the word to spread that I was a member of Todd's poison gang. There was no way I could even walk past. They would be on their phones before I got ten paces. I turned and cut through the lawn and walked along the greenbelt that ran behind the street. I counted the houses to figure out which one was Todd's. I sat on the pine needles, trying to figure out what to do next. I waited, hoping Todd would walk past a window, but no such luck. His house appeared to be in lockdown mode. Then again, if I were being accused of taking out my cla.s.smates in an efficient poison plan I might lie low too. I waited another ten minutes and then walked up to the back of the house. I tried to look casual, like I might have just wandered into their backyard by accident. I didn't see anyone; they seemed to be all out front. I gave the back door a sharp knock. It seemed as loud as a cannon shot.

No one answered, and I was raising my hand to knock again when the door flew open.

"I told you to get away," Todd yelled in my face.

I wasn't sure what Todd was going to say when we saw each other again, but I hadn't expected that. I stood there with my arm still in knocking position and my mouth open.

"Emma?" Todd gave a quick look around and then pulled me into the house by my elbow. "I didn't know it was you. The holier-than-thou brigade has been stopping by all afternoon to let me know I'm d.a.m.ned to h.e.l.l. I thought you were one of them." He looked over at the clock that hung in the kitchen. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in cla.s.s?"

"You know me, rebel with a cause."

"You cut cla.s.s?" Todd looked impressed, as if I had displayed the ability to pull off a particularly tricky yoga maneuver.

"Karp called me into his office and asked me about you. He had Officer Ryan with him."

"They gave my parents a big song and dance about how the whole thing would be kept confidential while they did their investigation." Todd made finger quotations around the word "investigation."

"Shoot first, ask questions later, always a great TES motto. Just like Jesus would do."

"Don't forget, if it's different it's probably wrong."

"Or the time-honored favorite, guilty until we decide otherwise."

Todd gave a laugh. He looked at me.

"I didn't do this," he said, his voice suddenly serious.

"I know."

Todd smiled at me. He had this way of letting his smile creep up on his face, like slow-moving maple syrup. It started at one corner and then just slunk over to the other side.

"Things still complicated?"

"Less complicated."

Todd took a step closer so that we were inches apart. I could feel his breath on my face. Peppermint. I closed my eyes, leaning forward, waiting.

Nothing.

I opened one eye, peeking at him. He was smiling.

"I never do what's expected," he said.

"Me neither." Then before I could second-guess myself, I leaned in and kissed him. I could feel him start with surprise, but a second later he was kissing me back. He pulled me tight to him, his hands caught up in my hair.

This was the kind of kiss that would wake up a princess. Heck, this was the kind of kiss that would wake the nearly dead. I could feel every atom of my skin; every nerve was standing on end, humming with energy.

Todd leaned back, taking a breath. We looked at each other, nearly panting.

"Well, that was unexpected," he said.

I shrugged. "I like the idea of keeping you on your toes."

"I have to say this was a pretty lousy day, but it's getting better."

"I would hate for you to have a bad day." And then we were kissing again. The phone rang, and we broke apart as if caught. Todd looked over.

"I should get that. My parents went to talk to a lawyer. Wait right here."