Sloppy Firsts_ A Jessica Darling Novel - Megan McCafferty [45]
"Yes."
That’s good. Keep it simple. Don’t elaborate.
"Nurse Payne says that you were in the recovery room that afternoon."
"Yes."
Good. Simple. Good.
"What were you doing there?"
"Oh. I had some, uh … feminine problems …"
"Oh!" he exclaimed, looking embarrassed. "Sorry."
He shifted in his creaky leather chair and stroked his bushy gray beard. His ample stomach strained against his cheap brown polyester suit.
My life is about to be destroyed by a fat man in a cheap brown polyester suit.
"The reason I’ve asked you here is because you were the only one in there about the time that Marcus was called down for his test …"
Here it comes. He’s moving in for the kill. I’m dead. Done. Toast.
"Did you see him with anyone? Don’t be afraid to tell me."
What?
"I know that these troublemakers might have put pressure on you …"
Is he suggesting what I think he—
"They might have even threatened you physically …"
Hallelujah! He didn’t suspect me at all. Once I understood the goal of our meeting—to rat out the troublemaker who did this—I was able to speak more freely. I told him that no one had threatened me. I was asleep the whole time. I hadn’t seen Marcus or anyone else.
"I wish I had, so I could help you out," I said.
"I wish you had, too," he said.
My cutesy last name and straight As had saved me again.
the thirteenth
My conversation with Principal Masters had calmed me down quite a bit. But I knew that until they found the culprit, I’d never be completely off the hook.
Today, they got one. And no one was more stunned than I was.
"They found out who peed in the cup!" Sara cried in homeroom.
"They did?"
"Yeah. A total nobody named Taryn Baker."
Taryn Baker is a dweeby freshman, so desperate for notoriety that she voluntarily confessed to the crime that she didn’t commit. At band practice yesterday, she bragged to a bunch of her fellow clarinet players that she was the one who had peed in the cup. They turned her in because they were sick of her ego trip. Band nerd betrayal.
The administration is so thrilled to have a guilty party that they aren’t even checking out her story. Marcus didn’t confirm or deny it. Of course, poor, insecure Taryn couldn’t help but do whatever the cold, calculating Marcus told her to do, so she’s getting off relatively unscathed: suspension for the rest of the year. While I certainly appreciate her voluntary scapegoating, I can’t help but pity her. Doesn’t she know about Pineville’s short-term memory? That the name she’s making for herself today will be forgotten when she comes back next year?
The evil Marcus, on the other hand, is being sent to Middlebury. Word is he won’t be coming back. His parents are sending him to military school. I know I’ll never hear from him. He’s too smart to trust the confidentiality of any form of correspondence.
I keep telling myself that even if I had had nothing to do with this, the end result would’ve been the same. He would’ve ended up in rehab. I wish I knew that was the best thing for him. I can’t help but think about what happened to Heath. Getting kicked out of school didn’t help him. That special high school for "high-risk" students didn’t straighten Heath out or keep him off the streets. Or even save his life.
The phone ban has been lifted. But I still can’t tell Hope about any of this. How can I possibly tell her that I helped one of the people she hates most in the world get away with one of the sins she hates most in the world? I can’t afford to lose her friendship over something as insanely stupid as this.
So all I can do is vent here.
Who is this for, anyway? Who are you? Who actually found this notebook and cares enough to read it? You must have little to do. Wait. Are you me twenty-five years from now? Too weird. Stop thinking, Jessica. Stop getting so ahead of yourself. Just stop.
the sixteenth
At 1:42 A.M.I heard some cracking noises at my window. I was awake, so it didn’t take me long to react. I opened the window and leaned out to take a look.
"You’re awake!"
It was Scotty with a handful of pebbles.