droning announcements over the loudspeaker, but Natalie and I ignore the noise.
“Everybody keeps telling me how Jamie has always practically idolized Blake,” I say, and Natalie nods in agreement. “But that’s not what I see. Jamie acts like he hates him. There’s all this tension between them, yet they seem like they’re joined at the hip.”
Natalie mmmms her agreement. “Jamie got really hot over the summer. He was kinda scrawny before, kinda wimpy, really shy. Nobody paid much attention to him. He was always in Blake’s shadow.”
“That’s what I’ve heard,” I say. “And that would explain why Blake might suddenly resent Jamie—I’m finally getting that he can’t stand sharing the spotlight—but it wouldn’t explain why Jamie is so hostile toward Blake. And that’s what it is: hostility.”
“Trust me, I’ve asked Rebecca a thousand times what’s up,” Natalie says. “We really got close while Blake and Cara were dating, and we got extra close after Cara died. She’s cried on my shoulder more times than I can count. But getting any specifics from her—why she hates Jamie—she won’t say.”
“Jamie was supposed to speak at Cara’s memorial service,” I say, and Natalie nods.
“I know. That killed her. She was so upset, and so relieved when he ended up staying in his seat. She never, you know, accused him of hurting her or anything, but something happened before Cara died that turned her against him. Then, when I told Rebecca that Jamie was dating Melanie, she … freaked out. She felt like she had to protect her, even though she doesn’t know her. The night after the bonfire, when you guys had gone on another date, I drove her to Melanie’s house so she could put a note in her mailbox. She didn’t show it to me, and she didn’t tell me it was anonymous. You know, I’m not an idiot, and I figured she was trying to let Melanie know that Jamie was bad news, but I didn’t know any specifics. Then, when they kept dating, she asked me to put a couple more notes in Melanie’s locker.”
I narrow my eyes. “You weren’t tempted to peek?”
Natalie shrugs. “The envelopes were sealed. Plus, I’m not really that interested in Jamie or Melanie.”
I can’t help shaking my head ruefully at her guilelessness.
“I didn’t know the earth would practically explode when Blake saw me putting one of the notes in Melanie’s locker,” Natalie says. “I called Rebecca right away and asked if I could tell everybody that she was the one writing them. She said she’d think about it and let me know. Then she called me this morning with the news about Cara’s body being found.”
“Hmmmmmm … ”
Natalie studies me cryptically. “What are you thinking?”
I clasp my hands together. “Sounds like a good way to deflect your question. To keep from having to answer it.”
“No,” Natalie insists, “she said she’d just gotten off the phone with Cara’s mother … ”
“But a body being found after months in the ocean in the height of summer?” I say. “Really? Like I said, it sounds like a good way to get you to change the subject, or … ”
Natalie leans closer. “Yes?”
I stare into space. “Or to try to bring things to a head.”
Twenty-Four
“Anne!”
I suck in a breath. Blake has jumped out from behind a wall as I’m walking from the restroom to my class.
“Where have you been?” he asks, gripping my forearm tightly.
I glance at my arm. “Let go, please.”
“What?”
I set my chin. “Please let go of my arm.”
He tosses his hands in the air. “Jesus Christ ! Would you just tell me what the hell is going on?”
I furrow my brow. “Why aren’t you in class?”
“Why aren’t you?”
I cock my head to the side. “Have you been waiting on me?”
He shakes his head slowly, one of his many mannerisms that, I’ve come to recognize, signals his incredulity at how stupid the people around him are. “So it’s a big shock that I’d be interested in knowing what Nutcase Natalie had to say?”
“If you’re interested in knowing what she has to say, you can ask her yourself. You might want to curb the cruelty; now that you need something from her, it would be a good time to trot out the charm.”
I resume my walk toward class.
Blake huffs and follows me, his sneakers pounding the tile. “So now I’m the bad guy? After the crap she’s been pulling? And don’t think I believe her for a minute: ‘Ooooooohhh, they found the body. Everybody look