me, anyway?
In homeroom, a girl who sat behind me was talking about how her father ran the police department tip site.
"The missing child inquiry is clogged," she said. I listened intently without turning around. "They've been getting a bunch of false leads and prank submissions, hundreds that they have to sort through a day."
I knew that Jenna's own fanpage had blown up with posts from various people with clues and bogus "tips". At first I had been extremely excited, until I started scrolling through them and saw that it was a bunch of garbage. The page had been cleared out and shut down, with a note to contact the Hell Police Department directly.
I tried not to look at the flyers, but I gravitated towards them. Jenna's face seemed to follow me everywhere. On the paper, her eyes reminded me of how black they were in my vision.
The lights began flickering often in school, and no one could figure out the cause of it. Which drove everyone nuts, especially the teachers. The electricians still hadn't been called, and even though we kept hearing it would happen during the morning announcements, there was always an excuse as to why it didn't happen.
"This is no way to conduct school," Warwick muttered after another blackout. The only teacher who didn't seem to be affected was Ms. Fellows. Her projector would shut off, and she would merely stare at the roll down screen, blinking, until the power came back on.
After class late in the week, Mr. Warwick pulled me aside. My nose was healing pretty fast, although it was so still so bruised that concealer hardly made a difference.
"Great job on the test, Ariel, really," he said. I had gotten an A on practically every assignment I'd done in History, but it still gave me an accomplished feeling. Seeing the big red letter on the page brought me back to first grade, when we would get check marks or minuses. I always felt smart when I'd get those little checks.
He sat on the edge of his desk, looking at me expectantly. Warwick was the same age as my dad, which made sense considering they went to school together forever ago. His cautious gray eyes analyzed my face. He was familiar to me, but at the same time cut off, sort of in the same way Aunt Corinne was.
"It must be hard for you," he said finally, crossing his arms. The pale blue stripes on his shirt contorted and twisted at odd angles.
"What's hard for me?" I asked. My eyes found the globe behind his shoulder and focused there, picking out England, Spain, China.
"Seeing your friend's face all over school," he said. "You've been doing great in my class, but I can tell that you're upset. You don't interact much with the other students. You don't ever raise your hand even though I know you know the answers."
"I don't have anything to say," I said, shifting my binder from one arm to the other. I was very uncomfortable with heartfelt talks. My heart could stay right off my sleeve and inside my chest. "I prefer to write my answers down."
"I just wanted to let you know if you ever need anything, there are people you can trust here. I'm one of them. Your dad and I have been friends for many years," he said. "You could tell me anything that was bothering you."
I mumbled my appreciation, looking at the floor. I was suddenly feeling weirded out, and I didn't know why.
"Thanks," I said.
"So is there anything you want to share?" he asked. There was an unusual twinkle in his yes I'd never seen before. I didn't want to say anything.
"No, not right now," I said.
"Okay," he said, jumping off of his desk. "Just wanted to let you know that I was there. Go on off to class now, I'll write you a hall pass."
I took the pass and walked out of his classroom. In all honesty, I couldn't stand being treated like that, even if it was from someone who cared. I wondered if that made me a bad person.
Would it always be this way? Would I be getting print outs in the mail in ten years, age progressed to make Jenna look like she was twenty-five? Maybe I would never know what happened to her.
Before school on Friday, I waited at a table for Theo in the commons before first bell. We were going to quiz each other for math since we both had Geometry,