I stood looking after her with just as shocked a face as they had. She didn’t look back. She pounded her way up as if she were trying to stamp out bugs on the steps.
“What happened?” Mrs. March asked me as she approached. “When I called, she said you were all at a restaurant and were having a great time.”
I shook my head. What was I supposed to be saying? Had Kiera forgotten to prepare me?
“Did something bad happen on the boat?” Mr. March asked, stepping up beside Mrs. March. “No accidents, I hope.”
“No,” I said.
“Well, then, what is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll go talk to her.”
“What the hell …” He looked at Mrs. March, who just shook her head.
I moved quickly to get away from them, fearful that I would say the wrong thing. Kiera had her door closed, so I knocked. She didn’t open it or respond.
“Kiera? What’s going on? Your parents are confused, and so am I.” I looked back to be sure they hadn’t followed me up. “What am I supposed to say?”
She opened the door partway and looked out at me with a face so full of anger it took my breath away. I stepped back.
“Tell them whatever lies you want,” she said. “I’m tired of covering up for you.”
“What?”
She slammed the door. I stood there dumbfounded. When I looked toward the stairway, I saw that Mrs. March had come up and was standing there gaping at me. I hurried to my suite and went in quickly. My head was spinning. I was still woozy and a little confused from what had happened on the boat, but this added so much weight to it I felt as if my head had turned to stone. I sat on my bed, dazed, my heart thumping. I hadn’t closed my door, so I heard Mrs. March knock on Kiera’s door. Instead of the usual unfriendly “What do you want?” I heard the door being opened, muffled voices, what sounded like Kiera crying, and then the door being closed.
I sat absolutely still, trying to hear something more, but I heard nothing for the longest time. Then I thought I heard heavy footsteps in the hallway and got up to listen at my doorway. I heard Mr. March ask, “What’s this all about?” Then he, too, went into Kiera’s room, and the door closed again. I closed my door softly and retreated to my bathroom. From the moment I had stepped off the boat, I could think of nothing else but a hot shower. I felt so dirty inside and out. I decided to wash my hair as well. Afterward, I wrapped a bath towel around myself and went to my vanity table to blow-dry my hair and brush it out.
The shower had refreshed me, but I could feel the deep fatigue in every muscle in my body, even in my bones. My eyes wanted to close and did for a moment. When I opened them, I saw both Mr. and Mrs. March captured in the mirror. They were standing behind me, looking very upset. I spun around.
“Sasha,” Mrs. March began. “Do you have a tattoo very low down on your back?”
For a moment, I couldn’t speak. My throat tightened so hard I couldn’t breathe. Why would Kiera have told them about that? There was no other way, no other reason, they would be asking about it.
“Yes,” I finally said.
“I’d like to see it,” Mr. March said, more to Mrs. March than to me. “Now,” he emphasized so sternly that I winced.
“Please turn around again, Sasha, and undo the bath towel so we can see the tattoo,” Mrs. March asked. She looked as if she was going to burst into tears any second. “Please,” she added.
I fumbled with the towel so I could open it and cover the front of my body while lifting the towel enough to expose the tattoo.
Mr. March stepped closer and looked at it. “Where’s Alena’s digital camera?” he asked Mrs. March.
“Donald, please.”
“Where is it?” he practically shouted at her.
She looked flustered for a moment but then went to a drawer in the desk and took out a camera. She brought it to
him. He turned it on and took a picture of my tattoo.
“You ask about the rest,” he said. “I’m going to my office to send this to have it checked.”
He left the suite, and I wrapped the towel around myself again. I had no idea what I was supposed to do or say. Had someone informed Kiera’s parents about the VA club? Were we all in trouble? Mrs. March, her body looking as if it was slipping off her bones, slinked over to a chair and sat.
“Kiera is upset,” she began. “She says you stole her boyfriend today, Ricky Burns. She says you were intimate with him on the boat and didn’t care that everyone knew it. She says you seduced Ricky.”