“I thank you in advance for your cooperation.”
The chief pushed himself away from the podium and leaned down to whisper something to the dean. It was all the pause the student body needed before breaking into full pandemonium.
“Do you think he bailed?”
“Maybe he was kidnapped.”
“I bet that freak Marco knows where he is. You think the police have talked to him yet?”
“Why would they? No one in the administration knows where he got his shit. They're so oblivious.”
Marco? Who the hell is Marco?
I squirmed, trying to ignore all the voices around me. I tried even harder to ignore the implications of what they were saying-- that it seemed that these random girls might actually know more about Thomas than I did.
39
“Please. I bet the kid just scored some tainted shit and is lying in a pool of his own vomit somewhere.”
Okay. That was it. Suddenly, all the morbid thoughts I had been trying to keep at bay for the past two days hit my already fragile skull with the force of a freight train. In that moment, the feeble hope that Thomas was fine was all but obliterated. My heart pounded shallowly and, panicked, I leaned forward to press my forehead into the cool back rail of the pew in front of mine. The sour taste in my mouth intensified.
Breathe. Just breathe.
I could sense everyone looking at me. Could feel their curious, intrigued stares.
“Reed. Are you okay? Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?” Constance asked, laying her hand on my back.
“Take her to a shower first,” Missy suggested helpfully.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Kidnapped. Tainted. Vomit.
Where the hell was Thomas? Where the hell had he gone?
40
THE GIRLFRIEND
The whispers followed me out of the pew and all the way back down the aisle after services. I crossed my arms over my stomach and held on tight, trying to keep all the nervousness and fear and total conspicuousness I felt from bursting out of me in all directions. Thomas was missing. Thomas was missing and the police were looking at all of us like we were suspects. And as if that wasn't bad enough, now the entire school was watching me too.
Why couldn't he just come back? If Thomas could just show his face for five seconds on campus, all of this would go away. I just wanted it to go away.
Ariana and Taylor stepped away from the arched doorway to the chapel as I approached and I was relieved to see friendly faces, even if they were the same faces that had dragged me out of bed and into an apron that morning. My grip on my own elbows even loosened a bit.
But then Taylor whispered something quickly to Ariana, cast me an almost skittish look, ducked her head, and speed-?walked
41
off across the quad. I wondered if she was feeling guilty about what she and her friends had done to me earlier. She had, after all, always displayed a tad more of a conscience than the rest of the Billings Girls.
“But I heard they broke up. . . .”
“I know, but they got back together, like, the day he disappeared. ...”
I glared over my shoulder and two sophomore girls I recognized from class quickly blushed scarlet and hurried away. Ariana fell into step next to me and I was glad to have her there. My gossip buffer.
“Everything all right?” she asked.