“The loss of Taylah McIntosh is shocking and tragic. She was a great friend and student, and she will be greatly missed. If any of you would like to speak to someone about what has occurred, please book a time with Miss Hirche, our trusted school counselor.”
“I feel sorry for the doc,” said Xavier. “He’s been getting phone calls all morning. The parents are up in arms about this.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Schools go down over incidents like this,” he said. “Everyone wants to know what happened, why the school didn’t do more to prevent it. People start to worry about their own kids.”
I was outraged. “But this had nothing to do with the school.”
“Well, the parents sure don’t see it that way,” Xavier said.
After the assembly, Molly caught up with me, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Xavier saw that she wanted to talk in private and excused himself to go to a water-polo meeting.
“How are you holding up?” I asked, taking her hand. Molly shook her head, and fresh tears trickled down her cheeks.
“It just feels so weird being here at the moment,” she said in a choked voice. “It’s not the same without her.”
“I know,” I said softly.
“I don’t get it,” Molly said. “I can’t believe she would do something like that. Why didn’t she talk to me? I didn’t even know she was depressed — I’m the worst friend!” She let out a sob, and I rushed forward to hug her. It seemed she might collapse if something wasn’t holding her up.
“This isn’t your fault,” I said. “Sometimes things happen that no one could’ve predicted.”
“But…,” Molly began.
“No.” I cut her off. “Trust me — there was nothing you could have done to stop this.”
“I wish I could believe that,” Molly whispered. “Did you hear how they found her in all that blood? It’s like something out of a horror movie.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. The last thing I wanted was to relive the experience. “Molly, maybe you should talk to a counselor,” I said gently. “It might help.”
“No.” Molly shook her head forcefully and then laughed. It sounded high-pitched and hysterical. “I just want to forget that it ever happened. I want to forget that she was ever here.”
“But, Molly, you can’t just pretend things are okay.”
“Watch me,” she said, her voice suddenly falsely cheerful and bright. “Something good actually happened the other day.” She smiled broadly, her eyes still shining with tears. It was frightening to watch.
“What?” I asked, wondering whether she might give up the charade if I played along.
“Well, it turns out that Jake Thorn is in my IT class.”
“Oh,” I said, amazed at how quickly the conversation was spiraling downhill. “That’s great.”
“Yeah, it really is,” Molly said. “Because he asked me out.”
“What!” I burst out, spinning around to face her.
“I know,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it either.” It was obvious the shock had messed with her head. She was grasping at any sort of distraction that would take her mind off the pain of her loss.
“What did you say?” I asked.
She laughed harshly. “Don’t be stupid, Beth. What do you think I said? We’re going out this Sunday with some of his friends. Oh, I almost forgot, are you okay with it, after what happened at the prom? Because you said you didn’t have feelings for him…”
“No! I mean, of course I don’t have feelings for him.”
“Then you don’t mind?”
“Molly, I do mind, but not for the reasons you think. Jake’s bad news — you can’t go out with him. And would you please quit acting like everything’s fine!” My voice had gone up an octave, and I knew I sounded stressed.
Molly looked confused. “What’s the problem? Why are you being all weird about it? I thought you’d be happy for me.”
“Oh, Molly, I would be if you were going out with anyone but him,” I cried. “You can’t trust him — surely you can see that. He’s got trouble written all over him.”
Molly got suddenly defensive.
“You just don’t like him because he made trouble for you and Xavier,” she said heatedly.
“That’s not true. I don’t trust him, and you’re not thinking straight!” I said.
“Maybe you’re jealous of his uniqueness,” Molly spit out. “He said there are some people like that.”
“What?” I spluttered. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Sure it does,” Molly replied. “You think that you and Xavier are the only people who deserve to be happy. I deserve to be happy too, Beth, especially now.”
“Molly, don’t be crazy,” I said. “Of course I don’t think that.”
“Then why don’t you want me to go out with him?”
“Because he scares me,” I said truthfully. “And I don’t want to see you make a huge mistake because you’re a mess over what happened to Taylah.”
But Molly didn’t seem to be listening to me anymore.
“Do you want him? Is that it? Well, you can’t have all the guys in the world, Beth, you have to leave some for the rest of us.”
“I don’t want him anywhere near me or you…,” I began.
“Why not?”
“Because he killed Taylah!” I yelled.
Molly stopped and stared at me, her eyes wide. I couldn’t believe I’d spoken those words aloud, but if they got Molly to come to her senses, if they could save her from falling prey to Jake, then it would be worth it. But a moment later Molly narrowed her eyes.
“You’re out of your mind,” she hissed and took a step back from me.
“Molly, wait!” I cried. “Just hear me out. ..”
“No!” Molly interrupted. “I don’t want to hear it. You can hate Jake as much as you want, but I’m still going to see him because I want to. He’s the most amazing guy I’ve ever met, and I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to be with him just because you’re having a little PMS freak-out.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “And for your information, he says you’re a bitch.”
I opened my mouth to respond when a shadow fell across the pavement and a figure appeared at Molly’s side. Jake leered at me as he draped an arm around Molly’s shoulders and pulled her close. She nestled into his chest and giggled.
“Envy is a deadly sin, Bethany,” Jake purred. His eyes were completely covered by a glistening black film, so I couldn’t distinguish between pupil and iris. “You should know that. Why don’t you just congratulate Molly and be gracious?”
“Or start writing her eulogy,” I snapped.
“Now, now, that’s below the belt,” he said. “Don’t you worry; I’ll take care of your friend. It seems we have a lot in common.”
Then he turned and swept Molly away. I watched her disappear from sight, russet curls bobbing.
I spent the rest of the afternoon desperately looking for Molly so I could explain things to her in a way she might understand, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. I told Xavier what had happened and saw the muscles in his face tighten ever so slightly. Together we looked all over the school for Molly, and with every empty classroom I felt my insides twisting with anxiety. Xavier made me sit down on a bench when I began breathing loudly and erratically.
“Hey, hey,” he said, lifting up my face so we were looking eye to eye, “calm down. She’s going to be okay. Everything is.”
“How?” I asked. “He’s dangerous! He’s completely unstable! I know what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to get to me through her. He knows she’s my friend.”
Xavier sat down beside me.
“Think about it for a moment, Beth,” he said. “Jake Thorn hasn’t hurt anyone in his inner circle yet. He wants to recruit people — it’s what he does. So long as he has Molly on his side, she’ll be safe.”