Snowbound

slightly odd note in his voice, Fiona didn’t pause to

analyze it.

Instead she hurried upstairs and knocked on the

bathroom door. “Willow?”

Her teary voice said, “Yes?”

“I found some pads.”

“Really?” The door opened a crack, and Erin held

a hand out.

Fiona gave her the pads. Then, with a sigh, she went

to the bedroom next door and knocked. “Amy?”

“Go away!”

“We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk!”

Tough, she wanted to say.

“You can’t hide up here for the next three days.”

“I want to go home!”

“We all want to go home.” Except, maybe, Fiona.

She decided to shelve the slightly startling realization

to think about later. “Can I come in?”

After a long pause, Amy said, “Oh, fine,” a bitter note

in her voice. I can’t stop you, she might as well have

said, but I don’t have to be nice.

Or maybe, Fiona thought, trying to be charitable,

I really do want to talk to you, but I’m sulking so I

can’t admit it.

Amy lay flat on her back on one of the beds, staring

up at the ceiling. Fiona could tell she had hastily wiped

away tears.

“You okay?” she asked gently, sitting on the other bed.

“They all act like they hate me.”

“No, they were just expressing disapproval.”

“She’s such a mouse, ” Amy spat.

Fiona counted to five. “Not everyone has your confidence, Amy.”

“You should have seen her outside. She was all

over Hopper.”

Ah. Was revenge sweet?

“Are you sure she was flirting, and not just playing?”

“Playing?” Amy rolled a sidelong, incredulous look

at Fiona. “Oh, right.”

“Willow is young in a lot of ways…”

“Not that young.”

Willow’s confidences weren’t hers to tell, and

anyway, Fiona wasn’t so sure Amy would care that the

other girl’s mother had died and that might be why she

was clinging to childhood.

“No matter what you think Willow did to you, you

owe her an apology.”

Tears abruptly filled the sixteen-year-old’s eyes, and

she flipped so her back was to Fiona. “No way!”

“To some extent the decision is yours.” Fiona paused.

“But I suspect you’ll get the cold shoulder from the

others until you say you’re sorry.”

Voice smothered by the pillow, Amy cried, “But

I’m not!”

Fiona stood. “If you make your apology gracious

enough, everyone will assume they were mistaken

about your motives. Think about it.”

Quietly she left the room, shutting the door behind

her. Had it been smart, she wondered, to give a girl like

Amy advice on how to manipulate people? How to get

along with other people, yes. But she’d done more than

that. She’d as good as said, Here’s how to act out the

scene so you’ll look good.

She made a face. It was done, and she couldn’t take

it back. She couldn’t say, If you’re not sorry, we’ll all

be able to see right through you.

Willow’s and Erin’s voices now came from their

bedroom.

Fiona rapped lightly on their half-open door. “Can

I come in?”

“Sure,” Erin said.

Willow’s eyes were still puffy. She sat cross-legged

on the bed, a pillow clutched to her stomach. “Um…

were those the only two pads?”

“No, John has quite a collection, apparently. I’ll get

them later.” She smiled. “I’m going on down. Why

don’t you two come with me?”

Willow hunched over and squeezed the pillow harder.

“I can’t! Everyone knows… And I acted so stupid.”

“I think you’ll find everyone sympathizes with you.

And, thanks to sex ed if not their own mothers, boys do

know about menstruation.”

Erin nodded, her black hair shimmering. “Come on.

It’s better to get it over with.”

“Is Amy down there?”

“No,” Fiona said. “Right now, she’s…in her room.”

She’d almost said, Sulking. Thank goodness she’d swallowed the admission in time.