"An excuse? For what?"
"For liking what he's doing. I think Shakespeare is telling us same people are just driven by pure evil and enjoy hurting other people. They don't need a whole lot of reason. They take pleasure in someone else's pain," I continued and then glanced at Massy again.
"Interesting," Mr, Mullens said. "Maybe you should continue daydreaming." he added.
There was some more tittering, but somehow I had deflected the brunt of his reprimand and escaped any more embarrassment. Afterward. I apologized to him.
"It's all right. I know you've had a great deal of new excitement in your life. Just hang in there," he advised and smiled at me. I was running an A in his class and I did enjoy it.
When period three began. I took my seat and watched the classroom door with anticipation. I thought Heyden might have just come late to school this morning. The students filed in, a few rushing to beat the bell, but Heyden did not enter, and his seat remained empty when the class began. Trying not to appear too interested. I asked Michael Scranton, the only boy I had seen speak with Heyden much, if he had seen him today. I tried to be as casual as I could,
'He didn't come to school," he said. "Probably just didn't feel like it." he added with a smirk. "Why? He awe you money or something?"
"No," I said.
"You're lucky," he replied and turned away as the teacher began.
Where was Heyden? Why didn't he come to school? He hadn't mentioned any other problem when we had spoken the night before. It troubled me all day. My girlfriends, urged an by Massy Hewlett. I'm sure, caught up with me at lunch and started to ask questions about him.
"I don't know any more about Heyden Reynolds than any of you do." I told Tina Olsen. "Why are you all asking me these questions?"
"You looked very cozy with him yesterday at lunch.' Brigitte said.
"So?"
"So we were just wondering, that's all. Why are you so defensive?" she asked.
"I'm not. I just... just don't know anything that would interest you."
"Bet you'd like to know more about him," Massy said, looking for a way to satisfy her thirst for revenge.
I shrugged. "Maybe. Now that you're making me think about him. maybe I would," I said.
"You're kidding," Natalie Alexander said. "You know where he lives and what he is."
"Where he lives isn't important, and last I looked, he was a human being."
"Yeah, right," she said. "Miss Liberal America." she added, and they all laughed.
I wondered if they could see the smoke flowing out of my ears. I was that hot and angry. but I smiled back at them.
"Be careful. girls. Your snob-quotient is rising. You'll all start looking like you have flies in your noses."
I said. It was an expression our old
housekeeper Betty Davis used to use.
"If you hang out with Heyden, you'll be the one swatting flies," Massy quipped.
They all laughed. I decided not to talk about Heyden anymore, and they quickly went on to other topics. After school, still concerned about him. I made an impulsive decision to drive to his house instead of returning to Joya Del Mar. I knew Mommy would be home from the hospital by now, but I thought another half hour or so wouldn't matter that much. When I pulled up in front of his home. I hesitated, wondering if I should have tried to call him first. I sat there, my heart thumping. Was I being too forward?
Finally I told myself I had come this far. It would be stupid to just drive off and go home without speaking to him and seeing if he was all right. I stepped out and walked to the front door. There was a buzzer button, but after I pressed it. I heard nothing and thought it might not work. I knocked and waited. A few moments later the door was pulled open so abruptly, the suction nearly pulled me inside. Elisha stood there glaring out at me.
"What do you want?" she demanded. She had her hair down and wore a thin, V-neck brown blouse and a short brown skirt. I also noticed she had a small nose ring, something I had not seen. She was barefoot and looked like she had been crying.
"I would like to see Heyden," I said.
"He locked himself in his room," she replied. "He hasn't even come out to eat. Maybe he's dead in there," she added.