The Beginning Of After Part 4

Mom was a painter too. She made money at it. Deborah Meisner Portraits had its own website and regular ads in the PennySaver. Two or three days a week, my mother spent the day at a studio she shared with another artist, and covered canvases with happy families, smiling kids, cuddly dogs, kissing couples in their wedding wear. Clients would give her photos and she'd take it from there, and now her work hung in houses all over town.

She painted her own things when she had time, which wasn't often. Sometimes I'd visit her studio and there would be an easel in the corner, tucked away like she was ashamed of it. A half-finished image of an old man on a park bench, or an abstract splatter of shapes that only suggested a face. Mom often talked about entering art shows or trying to arrange a gallery collection, but it never happened. The work that earned her a living took priority.

In our own house, there were just two of her paintings. One of my dad that she painted shortly after they first met, when he was still writing for a newspaper in the city. He's sitting in front of an open window with skysc.r.a.pers and looks so young, most people who saw it thought it was Toby. I always used to look at that painting and think about him giving up the newspaper job for one in advertising right after they got married and Mom got pregnant, because it offered a higher salary.

They had each made their sacrifices, for our family.

The other painting, hanging in our dining room, was one of my brother and me as little kids, leaning against a tree in our backyard. We have the same face, an eerie medley of our mother's and father's features; I'm just taller and have longer straight brown hair than he does. I'm holding a cat that I don't remember us ever owning.

"You have so much talent," Mom had said to me the last time she saw one of my scenery flats. "But you never draw people."

"I can't. I've tried. They come out looking really disturbing." We'd had this conversation at least a dozen times by then.

"Take a life drawing cla.s.s. There's a good one at the community arts center."

"I just don't have time," I'd said to her, but to myself: She's so embarra.s.sed. It must suck to be a portrait painter and have a daughter who can only draw scenery!

She used to take me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art once a month. I loved those trips, even though she often borrowed my drawing pad to go sit on a bench somewhere, sketching other visitors, while I wandered the rooms alone.

The sadness came into my chest again, so I pushed away the image of my mother sketching and thought of how much I loved taking a tall canvas and turning it into something with dimension and depth; a street that curves on forever or deep rows of green hills. Maybe the truth was, I just didn't like painting people.

"How are they doing with the flats?" I asked Meg.

"They still need some work. That's why it would be great for you to come and help. Even Sam said so."

"That's just because of what's happened. Do you remember how obnoxious he was a few weeks ago when I tried to start a house without him?" Samuel Ching was the stage manager in charge of the sets and generally a control freak. I was a better artist than he was, everyone knew it, but he never let me do anything without his approval. Once he painted over an Alp I did for The Sound of Music, which made me cry a little.

"I remember," said Meg, "but they really do need you."

I followed her into the auditorium, where most of the cast was goofing off in the seats and some of the finished scenery flats-a stone wall, a front door-were already onstage. She nodded me a little silent good-bye, and I headed for the backstage door. Inside, I found Samuel cleaning paintbrushes in front of a blank scenery flat.

"Hi, Sam," I said.

He looked up at me and seemed surprised at first, but then his mouth settled into something practiced.

"Laurel, I'm so glad to see you!"

"Need help?" Now I felt we were reciting lines in a little play of our own.

"Do we ever. Here," he said, handing me a brush and nodding toward the tall canvas. "This is the town square wall you sketched out before"- he tripped up for a moment-"last time. Do you think you could tackle it?"

Sam usually liked to be the one to paint on my sketches. It always felt like he was grabbing credit for the things I drew, but I couldn't do anything about it because he was a senior and in charge and I didn't want to be a whiny tattletale.

Now I smiled and said, "Just leave it to me."

The next day, at my locker, taking too long to switch out my books because I knew I could be late for cla.s.s and it wouldn't matter, I overheard two seniors talking around the corner.

"I can't believe Laurel Meisner's back already," said one, whose voice I couldn't identify. I froze when I heard my name.

"Yeah, if it were me, I'd pull a David Kaufman and vanish," said the other. "But she looks pretty good."

Flattering.

"I heard the police found out there was another car involved, some kid from Rose Hills who was driving too fast."

"Really? That's weird, because my mom said that Mr. Kaufman tested way over the limit for DWI and they're going to arrest him."

"Jamie, he's in a coma. How are they going to arrest him?"

The voices moved away and I started to breathe again. I didn't know which to feel weirder about, the fact that people were talking about me or that there were rumors like this floating around. At least, I hoped they were rumors.

I called Nana, who said, "Laurel, do you really think the police would keep information like that from us? People like to gossip. It gets them attention."

At lunch I asked Meg, who rolled her eyes. "Those aren't even the most creative ones I've heard," she said. "My favorite is the one about someone leaving an anony-mous note at the scene of the accident saying sorry. I mean, people should get creative writing course credit for some of these whoppers."

Meg looked at me, and it must have shown that I didn't find these as funny as she did.

"You make it sound like there are a lot," I said.

"Not really." She shrugged, then looked at me again. Something shadowy flickered across her face. "Okay, yeah," she continued, her voice serious now. "There are a lot. This is a boring town. Rumors are, like, a specialty here."

"But you tell people when they're not true, right?"

"With some of them, of course."

"Like what?"

Meg frowned. "Do you really want to know?"

Did I? I wasn't sure, but I said yes anyway, as firmly as I could.

Meg sighed, like she was prepping herself. "Well, I've heard a few people say that the reason you and David weren't in the car that night was because you guys were, you know. Together somewhere."

I jerked my head back. The thought of David and me and the words together somewhere being linked in any way made me instantly nauseous.

"Gross," was all I could say. I tried to make it sound funny, but Meg knew better.

"I always set them straight on that one," she said, putting her hand on my back. "Always, Laurel. As soon as anyone brings it up."

So maybe that's what some of those looks were. They thought I'd been fooling around with the Railroad Crowd's biggest pothead while my family was burning to death.

I felt the tears hot and sharp in the corners of my eyes, and the urge to bolt to the nearest bathroom to throw up. But that meant everyone in the cafeteria seeing me run out, and maybe someone in the bathroom hearing me puke. And that meant more gossip that I didn't want to give them.

So I swallowed hard and took a sip of water, and blinked until I could see again, then shrugged Meg's hand off my back.

On my third day back, our school princ.i.p.al, Mr. Duffy, called me into his office. He had a huge potbelly and a bright red face. Some students liked to mess with their little siblings and tell them he was really Santa.

"Laurel, I didn't get a chance to attend the funeral, so I wanted to tell you in person, privately, how very sorry I am. How are you holding up?"

"I'm taking it day by day." I liked saying this. It was honest, short, and seemed to satisfy people.

"That's all you can do. Are you . . . Do you have professional support?"

For a second I thought he was talking about my bra.

"You know," he continued, "a doctor or counselor . . ."

"There's someone the police hooked me up with," I said. "A crisis person."

"And what about David Kaufman? Have you seen him or talked to him?"

"I saw him a few days ago."

"How's his father? We haven't been able to get in touch."

"I think he's about the same."

It felt very strange to be providing this direct line to David's state of affairs. Mr. Duffy nodded and pushed a piece of paper toward me.

"I'm giving you off-campus privileges. In case you want to go home or just need a break, or to see someone. I thought it might help make things easier."

I looked at the paper, which was an official-looking form he'd filled out and signed. Wow. This was a really, really nice thing to do, and it would actually make things easier.

"Thank you," was all I said, my voice shaky.

He put his hand lightly on my shoulder as I stood up. "You're welcome. Anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask."

I looked at the paper in my hand and had a brainstorm.

"Actually," I offered, "the one problem with this is that I'm sort of not driving these days, if you know what I mean. Could we extend these privileges to Megan Dill? She's been chauffeuring me around."

Without even a second's pause, Mr. Duffy took the paper and laid it on his desk again, scribbled something on the side, and gave it back to me.

"All set," he said with a grin.

The next day when fourth period ended, Meg and I rendezvoused by my locker. We were going to McDonald's. Not just because we could, but because lunchtime had become my toughest period. People were trying so hard not to get caught staring at me. I still felt like they were watching me out of the corners of their eyes, every bite and every chew, and I was having a hard enough time wanting to eat as it was.

Meg and I strolled through the north lobby, through the crowd, and out the door toward the parking lot. We walked slowly, making it obvious that we were doing nothing wrong. Flaunting it.

At McDonald's, we sat in the corner by the window. I scanned the room and realized with relief that I didn't recognize a single face. Meg took the first, eye-crossing drag on her milk-shake straw and leaned back, looking amused.

"What?" I asked.

"I heard something, but I'm not sure if I should tell you."

My heart sank. "It's not something else about me and David Kaufman, is it?"

"No, this is a good one. I think you should be prepared, in case it's true." She took another short sip of milk shake and shot a glance around the restaurant. "Okay," she said, looking me square in the eye. "It's very possible that Joe Lasky is going to ask you to the prom."

"Who?"

"Lasky!"

It seemed like all noise in McDonald's, the hum of voices and ringing of cash registers and even the sizzling grill sounds, stopped suddenly. Because the key words here, Joe Lasky and ask and prom, had plugged up my ears, making them pop a bit.

"Shut up," was all I could say.

I hadn't really thought about the prom since the night of the accident. There was a photo in the family room of my mother in her baby-blue prom dress, all taffeta and ruffles, standing at the base of her parents' staircase with some nerdy, pizza-face date. She used to tell me that when I went to prom, she'd snap a photo just like that of me, and then we'd put the two pictures in a nice double frame. And I'd nod and think, Not even a pizza-face nerd would take me to the prom, but you believe what you want to.

When I felt my throat start to close up again, I pushed the thought of Mom's photo away. It doesn't exist, it never existed. Concentrate on something else.

What I thought of was a word from my SAT list. Aghast: "struck with terror and amazement."

Joe Lasky. Even though we hadn't spoken since eighth grade, he was on my personal list of Ten Cutest Guys at school. Meg and I had made one up back in September; while Meg kept revising hers, mine held fast. Even though he was not unhandsome, he was crazy tall, with such bony legs and arms that most people called him Joe Skellington. But I loved the way he bounced a little when he walked, and how he'd worn his brown hair in the same Beatles cut for years, and the way he sketched made-up superheroes on his notebooks.

"Mary heard it from his sister's friend, or something," said Meg. "I think that's a decently reliable source."

"Why? Out of pity?"

"Laurel, don't-"

"He's asking me out of pity."

"What makes you think that?" Meg grabbed a couple of french fries, looking down, away from me.

"Why else?" I watched Meg shove her fries into her mouth, and remembered that she and Joe were on Debate Team together. The question came out before I could think it through. "Did you put him up to it?"

"No!" she said, through the french fries, her eyes wide with hurt. "No way!"

Now I felt guilty. "Sorry. It's just . . . he's never acted like he likes me."

"So what? You've never acted like you cared about any of the guys you've liked. I don't think I've ever seen you as cruel as when you were crus.h.i.+ng on Mike Sh.o.r.e. You totally ignored him."

It was true. I wasn't good with liking someone. My instinct was total self-preservation; show no sign of weakness. This was my pathetic way of being shy.

"Isn't he worried about David Kaufman and me?" I said sarcastically. "I mean, hasn't he heard the buzz?"

Meg looked down and her shoulders sagged. "Laurel, you need to get over that. Anyone with half a brain or who knows you at all knows it's BS."

"This is great," I said. "Now I'm going to be walking around every day, wondering when it's coming . . . if it's coming."

Meg raised her head hopefully. "If it is, what will you say?"

From Meg's face, I could tell that this was very important to her. It made sense. Me saying yes to the prom meant it was okay for her to say yes to it too.

"I don't know what I would say. Joe Lasky, huh?" I drew out the moment, taking a bite of my burger. Something about this piece of news made me feel strangely hopeful. Just like the SATs, here was something that would carry me through the next few weeks.

Looming up ahead and blocking everything that came after it, there it was: PROM.