She Was the Quiet One Page 9

  Heath’s eyes darkened. “Sarah, it’s resolved. I told them to cut it out, and they did. I mean, what do you suggest we do? Complain to Simon?” he asked, referring to the headmaster. “Go to the Disciplinary Committee? Then it becomes a federal case, and suddenly our spotless record for keeping order at Moreland is no longer so spotless.”

  So that was it. Heath had made a calculated decision not to take further action, on the theory that informing the school about Darcy’s “contest” would reflect badly on their management of Moreland. He had a point there. It wasn’t just Pat; other teachers had commented to Sarah that Moreland seemed finally to be on a good track this year. People were already crediting Heath and Sarah with achieving a miraculous turnaround. She knew how much that meant to him. If she insisted on reporting this, she’d undermine their success. His success. She couldn’t do that to him. Not when he was feeling happy and excited about his career for the first time in years.

  Heath had a strategy. They would follow it.

  “I didn’t think about how reporting this might look bad for us,” Sarah said. “I understand your point now. We won’t report it. This time. But if anything else happens—”

  “Yes, of course. Thank you. Now, what about Pat?”

  “What about her?”

  “I think you should go back to her and say there’s nothing to the rumor. You asked me about it, and I hadn’t noticed anything. Otherwise, she might talk. We can’t have this getting around.”

  “Heath, that would be a lie.”

  “I know, but what else can we do? If we tell her the truth, she’ll tell us to report the girls to the Disciplinary Committee, and then everybody says, Oh, the Donovans can’t handle Moreland.”

  “I don’t want to lie to her. She’s my boss.”

  “Then I’ll talk to her myself, and finesse it so I don’t have to lie directly. Okay?”

  “All right,” Sarah said, though she didn’t see how Heath could throw Pat off the scent without actually lying.

  The whole mess made for a pit of dread in her stomach. Heath had bent the truth on matters of importance before, and it hadn’t ended well. He wasn’t a liar, per se. He just really wanted to get ahead, and sometimes he took shortcuts. Sarah understood that he was trying to prove himself to her, and to support their family, so she forgave him for it. But it made her nervous.

  “In the future,” she said, “when something happens in Moreland, with these girls, promise you’ll keep me in the loop.”

  “Absolutely. I’ll tell you everything, always. We’re teammates, love.”

  He smiled and leaned in for a kiss, and she felt much better.

  * * *

  Now, at family dinner, as Sarah watched Darcy and Tessa behave like coconspirators plotting an imminent attack, her confidence from the afternoon dried up and blew away. Heath was an optimist who saw the best in people. Sarah envied him his sunny outlook, and his blithe confidence in the world, but she couldn’t share it. Whether those girls were still working on their outrageous contest, or whether they had some other mischief in mind, she didn’t know. But she knew she’d better keep her eye on them, or their scheming would come back to bite her, and her family.

  15

  At family dinner on Friday night, Rose sat next to Lucy Ogunwe, who told her that Bel had gone to the infirmary after slipping and falling on a patch of ice during cross-country practice. She’d hurt her knee pretty badly, Lucy said, and wouldn’t be coming to dinner tonight.

  Rose was more upset to hear that than the injury really warranted. She understood that a knee injury couldn’t possibly be life-threatening. But their recent reconciliation had left her feeling protective enough of her twin that the thought of Bel laid up, in pain, was terrible. Rose jumped up and went to the head of the table to talk to Miss Chaudry, a science teacher who was one of the dorm associates in Moreland Hall.

  “I just learned that my sister was hurt in an accident this afternoon,” Rose said. “She’s in her room, all alone. May I be excused to take dinner to her?”

  “That’s very sweet of you, Rose. Go ahead, you have my permission,” Miss Chaudry said.

  Rose went up to the buffet and filled a plate for Bel, making sure to add extra rolls and a brownie because Bel liked them especially. She covered the plate with a napkin, and carried it down deserted pathways, all the way back to Moreland Hall, where she climbed the stairs to the third floor.

  There was no answer when she knocked on Bel’s door. She peeked in and saw Bel fast asleep in the bottom bunk, with bandages and an ice pack strapped to her leg. Rose went into the room and looked down at her sister, watching her breathe. Bel’s breathing seemed strangely shallow, and her mouth hung open like she was in a stupor. Was that normal? Rose hadn’t watched Bel sleep in years. She wished she could ask somebody for a second opinion, but everyone was at dinner. The dorm was empty. Rose put the plate of food down on Bel’s desk, and came back to feel her forehead. Bel didn’t have a temperature. How bad could it be if there was no temperature? This was a simple knee injury. You couldn’t die from it. She went back to the desk, tore a sheet from Bel’s math binder and left a note.

  Hey, Belly, sad you got hurt! I brought you some dinner. Text me when you wake up, and I’ll bring you Oreos. Hugs! Rose

  On the way out, she leaned down and kissed her sister on the forehead.

  * * *

  Rose opened her eyes in the semidarkness, feeling like she’d heard a noise. Something had woken her up. She strained to listen and heard only Skyler Stone’s regular breathing, coming from the bottom bunk. Ever since her mother’s illness, Rose had become a light sleeper. That didn’t serve her well in the dorm, where the presence of twenty girls per floor made creaks and cracks and bumps in the night inevitable. She sighed and turned toward the wall, pulling the covers over her head.

  There it was again.

  She’d definitely heard something this time. Rose turned back over, her heart thumping. Someone was in the hallway, standing outside their door. There was creaking, breathing, suppressed laughter.

  The door banged open. Rose sat up in a panic and whacked her head on the ceiling, grunting with pain. The light flicked on in the room. It took a moment for her vision to clear and her eyes to adjust. There were people in the room, three of them, wearing ski masks. A robbery! She screamed, but in her terror, it came out more like a croak. Then she heard girls laughing and whispering, and realized this was something else entirely.

  “Get Stone first,” Darcy Madden said, her voice unmistakable through the ski mask. “She’s such a bitch.”

  “I thought we came for the sister,” Tessa Romano replied.

  “She’s next. C’mon, move.”

  What the hell—? Rose lay down quickly and pulled the covers up around her, pretending to be asleep, as Darcy and Tessa converged on Skyler’s bunk. Rose heard the thud of a body against the floor. They must have dragged Skyler from her bed. Were they physically attacking her? Rose peeked out from under her blanket, trembling.

  “Wha’s happen?” Skyler mumbled.

  “Old Moreland tradition. You’re getting spanked. Rip her clothes off,” Darcy said.

  Rose watched in horror as Darcy grabbed Skyler’s arms from behind, while Tessa tugged at her top. It tore with a loud ripping sound, exposing her small breasts.

  “Her pants, idiot,” Darcy said. “I’m not spanking her tits.”

  “You said clothes!”

  “God, do I have to do everything around here?”

  Tessa proceeded to strip Skyler completely naked, while the third intruder slumped against the wall near the door and watched.

  Skyler was wide awake now, thrashing on the floor like a hooked fish. “Perverts! Stop! Rose, help!”

  “Ooh, she’s a wild one,” Darcy said, laughing. She looked over at the third girl. “C’mon, Snapchat it. They’re waiting.”

  The third girl raised her iPhone, moving in a strangely unhurried way, as if she was drugged, or wading through deep
water. Rose saw the brace on her knee, the dark hair tumbling from the ski mask, and realized—that it was Bel. Shit!

  Darcy pulled a fuzzy pink slipper from her pocket, as Tessa grabbed at Skyler’s thrashing legs. Skyler kicked and flailed, trying desperately to cover herself with her hands, but it was two against one.

  “Rose, she’s filming me! Make her stop.”

  Skyler was right: Bel had a phone in her hand, pointed at Skyler, whose privates were exposed for the whole world to see. For all her Jersey attitude, Skyler was modest, and changed in the bathroom rather than let Rose see her naked. If Darcy was to be believed, they were Snapchatting it—streaming it to someone who wasn’t in the room. A boy? Multiple boys? Fucking savages. This would destroy Skyler.

  Rose grabbed her pillow and jumped down from the top bunk, landing on top of Darcy, who yelped. Panting, Rose whacked at Darcy and Tessa with all her might, but they didn’t stop. They were laughing, the monsters.

  Darcy raised an arm to fend off Rose’s blows. “Get this crazy bitch off me!”

  But the others were too preoccupied to try to stop Rose. Tessa had flipped Skyler over onto her stomach and was struggling to hold her down to be spanked. As Bel continued to film, Darcy administered a series of quick, sharp taps to Skyler’s naked behind with the slipper. Skyler shrieked loud enough to wake the dead, but nobody came to help them.

  “Got her! Ha, slippering returns to Moreland Hall!”

  Rose faced the open door and yelled at the top of her lungs. “Help! We’re being attacked!”

  “Attacked? Oh, for Chrissakes. It’s a slipper, you little priss! Zoom in on her ass, Enright!” Darcy said to Bel.

  Bel moved in closer and raised her phone. Rose was breathless with shock that Bel would do something this mean, this stupid. She was going to end up expelled, and she deserved to. Rose whirled on her sister, pummeling her with the pillow.

  “How dare you? You’re as bad as them. Get out, get out now!”

  Bel raised her arms and retreated, moving jerkily, as if not fully in command of her body. Rose suddenly remembered Bel’s heavy stupor when she’d visited her room earlier tonight. Was there something going on beyond the knee injury?

  “Hey. Are you all right?” Rose said, lowering her pillow.

  Bel didn’t reply. She hadn’t said a word the whole time. She backed away and slipped out the door, limping, ski mask still on. Rose poked her head out. A couple of freshman who lived next door, and some seniors from a few rooms down, were milling in the hallway.

  “What’s going on?” a freshman asked, a frightened look on her face.

  “Darcy and Tessa attacked us,” Rose said.

  One of the seniors made a snorting noise. “Attacked? You can’t take a joke, can you? And you,” she said to the freshman, “mind your business. Go back to bed.”

  Rose ducked back into the room.

  “Where’d Enright go?” Darcy said, getting to her feet. “That wuss ran out on us! Oh, she’s gonna pay for this.”

  Tessa jumped up. Skyler was in a heap on the floor, naked and sobbing. Darcy and Tessa headed for the door, but Rose stepped in front of them, her head hot with rage. How dare they? She lashed out viciously with the pillow, whacking Darcy in the face.

  “Fucking psycho, get away from me,” Darcy said, reeling back, but Rose wouldn’t let up.

  “You’re the psycho. Get out of here!”

  Darcy and Tessa pushed past Rose and out the door.

  “I’m telling!” Rose screamed after them.

  “You better not, or I swear to God you’re dead,” Darcy said, over her shoulder.

  Rose helped Skyler up. She stumbled to her bunk, crying quietly and tugging her pajama bottoms up. Rose got her a sweatshirt to cover the ripped camisole.

  “Here, put this on.”

  “What the hell just happened?” Skyler said, sniffling. “They hit me with a slipper?”

  Rose sat down next to Skyler and hugged her close. “It was some kind of hazing ritual, I think. Are you hurt?”

  Skyler was shaking all over. “Yes, I’m hurt. Not, like, going to the hospital hurt, but I’m so upset. Did they film it?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Rose replied.

  Skyler gave her a sharp look. “You think so?”

  “Yes. They Snapchatted it.”

  “Who did they send it to?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Did they send it to boys?”

  “They didn’t say.”

  “That was your sister who filmed me. You know it was.”

  What was the point in lying? Rose couldn’t’ve protected Bel if she wanted to. And she didn’t want to.

  “Sky, I can’t believe she did that. I’m so sorry.”

  “I think they were targeting you.”

  “It can’t be. Bel and I have been good lately. Just tonight, I brought her food. I think it was random.”

  “You can’t possibly think that. They targeted our room. You know I’m right. Your sister’s as much of a psycho as those other two. I’m going to the dorm heads,” Skyler said, standing up unsteadily.

  “It’s the middle of the night. Shouldn’t you wait until the morning?” Rose asked.

  “Why? You’re not protecting her, are you?”

  “No.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “No. I just think— Do you really want to wake up the dorm heads?”

  “I don’t give a shit if I wake them up. I want to catch those assholes with the evidence. I want that video erased.”

  “If it’s Snapchat, it’s already gone.”

  “Fine, but there’s evidence,” Skyler said, mopping at her wet face with her sleeve. “I bet you a hundred bucks they’re sitting in Darcy’s room right now, high-fiving and laughing at me. They’ll still have the ski masks. The Donovans can catch them before they get rid of the proof. I want them kicked out of this friggin’ school. I don’t give a shit if one of them is your sister.”

  “Look, I understand. If you want to go to the Donovans tonight, I won’t stop you.”

  “Not only won’t you stop me. You’re coming with me. I need a witness to back me up.”

  Rose hesitated.

  “I heard you tell Darcy you’d report her,” Skyler said. “Were you just blowing smoke? Pretending to be tough?”

  “No. But I—I can’t. It’s my sister.”

  “So the fuck what? After what she did.”

  Ratting on girls as connected as Darcy and Tessa would be social suicide. But ratting on her own sister—even if she deserved it—felt like a real betrayal.

  Then again, hadn’t Bel betrayed her?

  “Come on, you just defended me like a total badass,” Skyler said. “Don’t pussy out on me now. You can’t feel sorry for Bel after what she did to us. She’s an evil bitch, just like the others.”

  Rose did feel sorry for Bel. Or, not sorry—protective. It was an old instinct, and hard to shake. Yet, what Bel and her friends had just done was no joke. It was a physical assault, a rape, almost, and Bel was just as guilty as the other two, even if she’d only filmed it.

  Only? Rose ought to stop making excuses for her twin. If Bel shared a video of Skyler, naked, getting attacked, that was despicable. And a huge violation of school rules. All that social-media stuff got you in trouble worse than anything. But that was the problem. If Rose ratted, Bel would get expelled.

  “I hear you, I really do,” Rose said, sighing. “But she’s my sister, and I feel like there must be another explanation.”

  “Then you’re a fucking sap. The explanation is: She’s a lowlife. She agreed to attack you. They came here for both of us. If you hadn’t fought them off, you were gonna be next. They said it.”

  Skyler was right. Rose had been personally targeted, not just Skyler. Tessa said so at the beginning. We came for the sister. Rose knew that in her heart. Bel had sided with her delinquent friends over Rose. After everything Rose had done, after how hard she’d tried to be a good sister, Bel betr
ayed her. Rose didn’t want to believe it. But it was true. Bel was on Darcy’s side now. She had to be stopped.

  “You’re right,” Rose said, with a sad sigh. “I’ll go with you to the Donovans. Now, before I get cold feet.”

  16

  Transcript of Witness Interview conducted by Lieutenant Robert Kriscunas, State Police—Major Crime Unit and Detective Melissa Howard, Odell NH, PD, with Miss Skyler Stone.

  Howard: Thank you for sharing your story with us, Skyler. I know the incident itself was traumatic for you. But it’s important to our investigation, so we really appreciate you talking to us.

  Stone: Okay. But there’s something I want to get straight. I’m not taking the fall here.

  Howard: Taking the fall for what? I don’t understand.

  Stone: For the murder. People on Facebook are blaming me.

  Kriscunas: How is that possible, when you were no longer at the school at the time of the killing?

  Stone: I know, right? But kids are putting out there that I started the feud between Rose and Bel. I pressured Rose to squeal to the Donovans, and that made the twins turn on each other. Total BS. Rose wanted to go to the Donovans as much as I did. She hated her sister after that attack. But not just because of the attack. The twins hated each other, and the slipper thing was only part of it.

  Kriscunas: Tell us what you know. Why did the twins hate each other?

  Stone: Stupid shit. Emma Kim’ll tell you Rose made a habit of stealing Bel’s clothes. Bel had really cool clothes. She had an eye, a style about her. Rose used to go in and quote-unquote “borrow” them—all the time. They had a fight about that in the dining hall on the first day of school. Ask anybody. But it wasn’t only clothes they fought over. There was a boy, too. Those girls were at each other’s throats.

  Kriscunas: Which boy?

  Stone: Rose was crazy for Zach Cuddy. I mean, obsessed with him. She went on and on about him all the time. She would Web-stalk him.

  Kriscunas: Web-stalk?

  Stone: You know, chase him on Facebook and Snapchat and Insta. Like, any time he was on or posted something new, she’d try to chat him up. But Zach wasn’t having it, because he was obsessed with Bel. Honestly, I never thought Bel was as gorgeous as people say, but you know, that kind of dark and sultry look gets them. The big lips, the witchy eyes.