Gravity

  Lainey hauled her fist back in a decidedly unladylike gesture to punch Theo. Before I could yell, Coach Fletcher appeared, with an unfamiliar woman in a white uniform at her side, and caught the dainty wrist of Lainey's punching arm.

  "Enough!" she growled. "Office. Both of you. Now!"

  "But..." Lainey spluttered, her face flushed.

  "Not fair!" Theo said.

  "Go. Now!" Coach repeated, pointing to the open gym doors. The fact that everybody had lost the ability to use complete sentences tickled me. Maybe due to massive blood loss. I snorted a laugh and immediately regretted it as blood sprayed out of my nose.

  Lainey screamed in frustration, clenching her fists so hard her manicured nails must have cut her palms. She stormed off, messy ponytail swishing behind her. Madison followed meekly, even though no one told her to.

  "You too," Coach said to Theo.

  "But she's my friend," Theo objected.

  "I'll tend to her." Her statement was final.

  Theo glanced at me, caught between crying and rage. I attempted a little wave and fell back on my elbows. For a moment, she looked as though she would shirk Coach's orders. Then she was gone, too.

  A moment later Coach and the other woman knelt down next to me.

  "How are you feeling?" Coach asked gently, surprising me. People change when you're wounded. She held up starched white towels to my still bleeding nose.

  "Lightheaded," I said, my voice crackling.

  "I brought the school nurse," she said, and it almost sounded like an apology.

  "Lie down," the nurse said, rolling up a towel and placing it on the floor. She guided my head down so the towel supported my neck. She was pretty and youthful, with caramel-colored skin and kind eyes. Sparkly green baubles dangled from her ears. "You look like you were in a prize fight," she said, smirking at me.

  "The nose is bad enough, but she hit the back of her head pretty hard when she went down," Coach said to her as if I wasn't there. She seemed scared, talking too fast. The nurse nodded, her face professionally emotionless. She pulled out a stethoscope and held the metal end to my chest.

  "What about us?" A boy in basketball shorts whined. Now that their entertainment was gone, the masses were getting restless.

  "You're dismissed, go change," Coach said distractedly, as she cracked an ice pack and placed it gingerly on my nose. The gym emptied out quickly, everyone chatting loudly. In that moment, I would have given anything to know what they were saying. The nurse continued to check my vitals.

  "I'm Nurse Callie, by the way," she said. "I'm going to take you to the office. It's really important that you see a doctor, okay? So, either we call your parents, or we call an ambulance if they're working and can't come pick you up."

  "Call Hugh...my dad, he can come. He'll...be able..." The lightheadedness was getting worse even on the floor, and the gym was twirling gently like a Ferris wheel.

  "Okay. Does the office have his number?" she asked, maintaining eye contact with me. I nodded. She checked my pupils with her pen flashlight.

  "Can you stand?" she asked finally.

  "I don't know, but I can try."

  They each took hold of one of my arms while I pushed my body up. I was unsteady on my feet, but I figured I could make it to the office. It wasn't very far from the gym through the commons.

  "Lean on me, we can make it," Nurse Callie said resolutely.

  "Can I get a new shirt? This one is gross," I said. I didn't even want to know what my face looked like. From the feel of it, Quasimodo would be about right.

  Nurse Callie chucked. "A little blood goes a long way. I'm sure we have a few extras lying around. Never know when someone is going to throw up."

  I instinctively wrinkled my nose at the image, and winced at the sharp pain that followed.

  "You okay?" she asked. We finally left the gym, passing by the trophy case that took up half of the opposite wall.

  "Can we just rest here for a moment?" I asked hoarsely. The Ferris wheel was turned up to high and nausea was overtaking me. I didn't want to revisit breakfast.

  "Of course," she said, helping me lean up against the trophy case.

  "McPherson would hate me even touching this...with my unworthy fingers..." I said, shutting my eyes and laughing a little.

  To my surprise, Nurse Callie laughed back. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

  After a moment, we began again, as I leaned on her for support. In the commons, most of the kids who had been dismissed from gym were sitting around, enjoying their free time. I groaned. Several of them openly gawked at me, not surprising considering I was drenched in blood.

  "Just ignore them," Nurse Callie whispered in my ear. I tried to focus on my steps on the floor. I had never realized just how huge the commons was. We finally navigated out and down the long, empty hall to the front of the school. When we arrived at the office, the bell rang for the end of class.

  "Good timing," Callie said.

  She held the door to the office open and ushered me inside. The door shut with a shushing sound, shutting us off from the sudden deluge of noise. The secretary behind the desk gasped beneath her blonde, poodle-permed hairdo, nearly dropping the phone in her hand.

  "What happened to you?" she asked. "Were you in a fight?"

  "Sports accident," Callie said, picking up a clipboard off of the counter and scribbling on it. "Got it covered."

  She led me back down to a little closet of a room with a cot. Fluffy white clouds were sponge-painted on the baby blue walls. My nausea rolled into my throat again. The starchy cot sagged as I sat down.

  "Just lie down here and I'll call your dad, okay?" she said, smiling encouragingly. I wondered how old she was; she couldn't have been more than twenty-five. "And I'll get you some less gruesome clothing."

  She returned a second later with an oversized t-shirt with Hawthorne's mascot on it, the Hawthorne Hellcat. It had always looked like a tiger with horns pasted on its head to me.

  "Thank you," I said, realizing I hadn't before. She just nodded and shut the door for my privacy.

  I peeled off the bloody t-shirt and my bra, for once thankful I didn't really need it. Those went into the biohazard bag Callie had provided and into the trash.

  I grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser on the wall and wet them in the little sink that stood in the corner. For the first time I glimpsed myself in the mirror. As I wiped blood off of my chest, I examined my face.

  Blood choked my nostrils and ran down to my chin. The bridge of my nose and my cheeks were puffy and purple. All in all it wasn't as bad as I'd expected beneath the gruesomeness, but I still looked like crap. I had no idea how someone could cause that much damage with a tennis ball, and the hatred that had fueled the attack made me shudder.

  Now that I no longer looked like a murder victim, I sat down on the cot, leaning my head back against the wall. My legs wouldn't stop jiggling as thoughts stumbled through my head. Hugh would be so worried, not to mention Claire. I hoped he wouldn't tell her until she got out of work, knowing that was futile.

  I looked around the room for a distraction. Flyers addressing good health habits filled a plastic wall rack. The whole room smelled of illness, with hints of cough syrup and vapor rub.

  I sat up when I recognized Theo's voice. It was coming from out in the hallway. And she didn't sound happy.

  CHAPTER 22

  I STOOD UP, legs still weak, and crept over to the door. Voices filtered through, one of them Theo's and the other Lainey's. I opened the door carefully to avoid making noise and peered out.

  "I already told you a million times, it was an accident," Lainey said impatiently. In the minutes since she had left the gym she must have composed herself, because her voice was as steady as ever. Just hearing her speak with such ease made me angrier than the fact that she'd hit me.

  They were sitting a few doors down in McPherson's office, the door cracked an inch. I could only see Theo's skin
ny legs, but I could hear both of them clearly.

  "You aimed for her face, Lainey," Theo said. I imagined her pushing up her glasses. I had never heard her so mad, despite the few demonstrations of her anger streak I had witnessed.

  "What motive would she have to hurt Ms. Donovan?" McPherson interjected, his tone maddeningly disinterested. For a split second, I remembered the strange odor in his shed, the impersonal way his house was decorated.

  "Are you kidding me?" Theo asked. "Do you pay any attention?"

  "I am your principal, Ms. Weaver, I would care for you to show me some respect," he said coldly.

  "Why, when you don't respect any of us whose parents aren't rich?" Theo said, baiting him.

  C'mon, Theo, don't get in trouble, I silently begged. What I wouldn't give for telepathy.

  I knew why Lainey had attacked me, it was obvious: Henry. He was the root of the hateful, poisonous plant that Lainey had grown into. It was because I went to the dance with Henry, whom she had branded on day one as hers, whether he agreed with that or not. There was every possibility she had started that rumor about them dating, as well.

  "That's enough," McPherson growled.

  "Yeah, I mean, I was hoping that Ariel and I could be friends," Lainey purred. "But it's like they won't accept me into their little club." Now she was just pushing buttons, and hitting all the wrong ones. I wished I had stronger fists.

  "Don't exaggerate," McPherson said to her. "We need to talk about a fair punishment."

  "Punishment?" Lainey sputtered. How dare someone punish a princess?

  "You were fighting in class. We have a no tolerance policy for fighting. I think that three lunch detentions, for both of you, is an extremely fair and mild discipline..."

  "What?" Theo asked. "What about punishing her for the fact that she broke my friend's face?"

  In my lightheadedness that made me giggle randomly. I noticed warm wetness seeping out of my nose and touched my fingers to my upper lip. More blood. I could taste the iron in my throat.

  I rushed over and grabbed some paper towels. I moved too fast and swayed on my weak legs, so I rushed back to the cot. The room spun in one direction and then reversed, and I bowed my heavy head between my knees, still clutching the towels beneath my nose.

  I strained to hear the girls again, but I could only make out droning voices. I couldn't stand for a few minutes, and by then the discipline meeting was over, and Theo and Lainey were out in the hall. They must have stopped right outside the sick bay door.

  "How would you like it if Ariel's family sued the crap out of you?" Theo asked bitterly.

  "I'd like to see them try," Lainey snorted, in the same tone of voice that she probably used to talk about the weather or her credit card balance. "My father's lawyer has never lost a case, and we'd bankrupt her family with legal fees before it was over. But give her my condolences for her nose, anyway. My uncle's a plastic surgeon; I should give her his card."

  "What is wrong with you? Are you even human?" Theo asked incredulously, speaking my feelings out loud. I feared for her safety, even in the office with adults around.

  Lainey dropped her voice low and slithery. "Maybe she shouldn't have gone after what was mine."

  I heard her footsteps trod down the hall. When I was sure she was gone, I cracked the door open and stuck my head out. Theo was frozen, clinging to a yellow detention slip and looking like a wounded rabbit. I felt a rush of affection and protectiveness for my friend, glad that Lainey hadn't gone postal on her, at least.

  "Well, didn't that just suck?" I said. Theo turned unfocused eyes to me. Without a word, she came over and hugged me tightly. She pulled back and studied my face, wincing at what she saw.

  "Okay, maybe it's a little bad," I murmured self consciously.

  "I'm sorry," she said, looking as though she might cry again. Pink glitter was smudged all over her cheeks and forehead, and her eyes were bright red from crying.

  "For what?" I asked, touching her arm briefly.

  "That all of this happened."

  "Uh, it's not your fault," I said, leaning against the door. "There was no way you could have known she would bitch out on me."

  Theo sniffled again. "Are you okay? It looks terrible." She tilted her head to inspect my wound from a different angle.

  "Well, it hurts, yeah." Now that the pain had lessened a little, I was more concerned about how bad it must have looked.

  "It made a really nasty sound when you hit the floor," she said, shaking her head. "That was really twisted."

  "That's Lainey for you."

  "He didn't even punish her for hitting you," Theo said, jerking her thumb in the direction of McPherson's office. "He said it was an unfortunate accident. He just gave us detention for fighting."

  "I heard," I sighed. "We just can't win."

  "Because everyone puts up with it," Theo barked, green eyes flashing. Her anger was coming back. I could tell she had quite the temper buried beneath the colorful cuteness.

  "Can I remind you not to piss Lainey off?" I said gently. "Remember, more money, more connections, way more power than we lowly worker ants?"

  She pounded her fist against the wall. "That's the same crap she pulled when she sprained my ankle."

  "What?" I asked, frowning.

  Theo bit her bottom lip, hesitating before she spoke. "She knocked me down at the mall. That's how my ankle got twisted. She'd never even met me before." Her eyes flickered to one of the many pictures of missing girls that were in the hallway. "And I wasn't going to say this, but...I'm pretty sure that she was there, too. I recognized her when the posters went up."

  I glanced at the picture. She was talking about Jenna.

  "But that was back in May, so I didn't think it was important," she continued.

  the bell rang, the perfect excuse for her to bolt.

  "I've got to go," Theo said, scampering away before I had a chance to digest what she was saying.

  "Theo!" I called, but she just ignored me.

  ###

  "Your dad is here," Nurse Callie said, appearing behind me from the door to the nurse's station. She eyed me sternly and pursed her red lips. "You were supposed to be lying down."

  "I thought that I was going to throw up. Walking around helped." It wasn't a lie, I just told it backwards.

  I followed her to the front office. Hugh was standing in his tweed coat, looking uncomfortable and worried. There were circles under his eyes, and I felt terrible that he'd had to rush up to school without knowing what had happened. When he saw me, both relief and unanswered questions flitted across his face. He held out his arms and I rushed into them.

  "What happened?" he asked, hugging me but avoiding my nose. It felt too intense to look at my father, like my eyes might give me away. I stared at an inspirational kitten poster tacked up behind the desk, but his presence gave me comfort.

  "What happened?" he repeated, this time turning to Callie. She opened her mouth to speak, but McPherson breezed in from the hallway like he'd been waiting to make his move.

  "Just a little accident during gym class," McPherson said, his ugly smile appearing beneath his bushy mustache. He missed his calling as a mortician.

  "What kind of accident, Edgar?" Hugh said coldly. I had no idea that was McPherson's first name, and it took me a second to connect the two.

  "Another student hit her with a tennis ball," Callie supplied.

  McPherson gave her a look that said shut up. Callie backed away, pressing her lips together, but her eyes told a different story.

  "The situation has been dealt with. I assure you that everyone here feels terrible about it," McPherson said.

  "The situation has not been dealt with," Hugh said, anger rising in his voice. It took a lot to make my father angry, but once he got there, his rage escalated quickly. His arm was still tightly around my shoulder. "My child was just injured on school property, so I want answers. Who is responsible?"

  "The identi
ty of the student isn't important..." McPherson started.

  "Lainey Ford," I mumbled. No way I'd let him ignore who hurt me, even if he wanted to. McPherson glared at me like I was a bug to squish.

  "And why not?" Hugh said, his angry laugh almost a scream. "How much money have the Fords dumped into this pet project of the Thornhill Society? Of course they would have you comfortably stashed in their back pocket."

  "Thornhill has nothing to do with this!" McPherson said, raising his voice in anger. I just wanted to lay down. This was too much. The walls started to undulate, the counter swooping up and down. Nurse Callie and I made eye contact.

  "Gentlemen, I think that's enough. Ariel needs to see a doctor," Callie advised, stepping in between them. That brought Hugh back down to earth. She handed him my backpack, which had appeared in one of the office chairs.

  "Right now, I need to drive my daughter to the emergency room," Hugh said through gritted teeth. "But this discussion isn't over."

  McPherson nodded his head and retreated, swinging his arms like a soldier. Hugh, grim-faced, signed me out of the office as I waited beside him.

  "Good luck," Callie said, her pretty face sympathetic as she winked at me.

  It was raining heavily when we got out to the parking lot. Hugh opened the umbrella he'd brought over our heads. We didn't speak until we were safely buckled inside his car.

  "Accident?" Hugh echoed, turning to me. His eyebrows were raised nearly up to his sandy hair. He waited for my reply.

  I bit my bottom lip. How could I put it so Hugh wouldn't get all up in arms? I didn't want my family to go up against Lainey's; she was right, they would bankrupt us for looking at them funny. I worried my lip in hesitation.

  "That's what she says," I said carefully. "We were playing tennis in gym, and she hit the ball, which struck my nose. It could have been an accident, yes."

  Hugh gently grabbed my chin and rotated my head side to side.

  "I think you made enemies with the wrong person," he said, and started the car.

  We spent the afternoon at the local hospital. The emergency waiting room was packed when we arrived, full of coughing kids and broken limbs. It took nearly forty-five minutes for the triage nurse to get to me. I felt goofy as I explained what had happened. She gave me a sticker with a foil daisy on it and I stuck it to my knee.

  After more waiting in the exam room, a technician performed a CT scan on my head to check for problems. But when the doctor breezed in, he told me there was no internal bleeding or real cause for concern.