Jack_ Secret Vengeance - F. Paul Wilson [19]
He shrugged. “She’s a year ahead of me. I hardly see her at all during the day.”
No lie there.
“I know,” she said, nodding. “Eddie has no idea either. Look, I know you came over to see Eddie, but do you think you could talk to Weezy? You two are friends. Maybe she’ll tell you what’s wrong.”
He didn’t correct her about coming over to see Eddie.
“I’ll give it a try.”
He took the stairs up to her door and knocked.
“Hey, Weez, it’s me.”
“Jack? Come in.” As he opened the door and stepped through, she added, “Close it behind you.”
The room was dim, lit only by a tiny bedside lamp. Dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans, looking paler than usual, Weezy sat cross-legged on her unmade bed.
“What’s it like at school?” she said.
Jack shrugged. “Same old same old.”
“Still talking about ‘Easy Weezy’?” She spoke the words as if they tasted bad.
Jack wanted to tell her it was already yesterday’s news, but couldn’t lie to her … couldn’t have her step on the bus tomorrow thinking she wouldn’t hear those words.
“A couple of people asked about you…”
“Asked about ‘Easy Weezy’?”
He had to tell her. “Yeah.”
Frowning and shaking her head, she folded her arms and leaned back against the headboard.
“Damn them,” she said through her teeth. “Damn them all.”
“It’s going to get old real quick, Weez. This is 1983, not … not colonial times. You’re not going to have to wear a big red ‘A’ on your shirt.”
“But why me? Why do I have to be known as a slut? Me of all people? I don’t even date!”
“We both know why.”
Weezy stared at him. “Yeah, we do. I wish there was some way to get back at him.”
Jack felt his mouth opening, felt the words forming on his tongue. He so wanted to tell her his plan, but he pulled back. No … no one could know. This was between him and Carson Toliver, and Toliver especially could not know.
“You ever think you might be making it worse—I mean, prolonging it by not going to school?”
“I don’t care, because I’m never going back.”
“Weeeeez…”
“I’m serious. I’m not going back to a place where they all hate me or look down on me.”
The words shocked him. That wasn’t anywhere near true—at least in real life. But maybe to Weezy it was. She couldn’t see how she’d blown everything out of proportion. He sensed she was beyond reason. Was this the sort of thing she’d been seeing the psychiatrist about?
“Weez, that isn’t true. You—”
“It is.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks. “That’s why I’m never going back. And they can’t make me. No one can make me. They can drag me to the bus stop but I won’t get on. And if they force me on, I’ll get off at the very next stop. And if they drive me to school, I won’t get out of the car. And if they drag me out of the car and into the school, I’ll walk out the first exit I see.”
“But aren’t there laws—?”
“I don’t care. I don’t care about anything. I just want to be left alone.”
“Does that mean you want me to leave?”
“I’m tired. I need to sleep.”
That stung, and would have hurt more if he hadn’t known she wasn’t really herself now.
Desperate, he fabricated a surefire way to get her moving.
“I saw a couple of pine lights earlier. Want to chase?”
Jack thought he saw a spark of interest in her eyes—yes!—but it died so quickly he wondered if he’d imagined it.
“Like I said, Jack. I’m really tired.”
She turned out the light.
His heart sank. This was awful. She wasn’t Weezy anymore.
He sighed. “Okay, Weez. Get some sleep. I’ll stop by tomorrow.” He paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Hey, Weez, you gotta know you’ve got at least one person at school who doesn’t think you’re Easy Weezy.”
“You mean you?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t think so because you know the truth. But what if you didn’t? What would you think then?”
“Depends on what you told me. If you said it wasn’t true, that would settle it.”
A sob came out of the darkness.
“You’d better go.”
“Sure?”
“Please.”
As he stepped out into the hall he heard her say, “I’m sorry, Jack.”
“’Sokay.”
He shut the door.
Sorry